Leadership

  • A picture of a leadership member David Flum, MD, MPH
    Professor, Departments of Surgery and Health Services, University of Washington
    Director, Surgical Outcomes Research Center

    • Biography

    • Dr. David Flum is a gastrointestinal surgeon and outcomes researcher at the University of Washington. He holds the rank of Professor in the Schools of Medicine, Public Health and Pharmacy and serves as the Director of the Surgical Outcomes Research Center (SORCE) at the University of Washington. He earned a Masters Degree in Public Health in the field of health services research while in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at the University of Washington. Dr. Flum has developed a national reputation as a surgical epidemiologist and outcomes researcher, becoming a leader in bridging clinical care and public health issues. He describes this work as aiming to improve the healthcare of society at large by studying the impact of surgery in common practice and trying to improve healthcare quality by identifying processes of care that work and encouraging their use.

      Dr. Flum founded and served as Medical Director of the Surgical Care and Outcomes Assessment Program (SCOAP), a quality of care improvement program providing hospital-specific data feedback and best practices regarding processes of care and outcomes across the Pacific Northwest. He is currently Medical Director of SCOAP's Comparative Effectiveness Research Translation Network (CERTAIN), developing a learning healthcare system in Washington State. He is also one of the Principal Investigators of the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (LABS) study-the first NIH-funded study evaluating efficacy and effectiveness in bariatric surgery - and the Feasibility, Efficacy, and Mechanisms of Surgical vs. Medical Diabetes Treatment study (funded by the NIDDK). <\p>

      He is the contributing editor for surgery at the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and chairs the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgeons Research Committee and the American College of Surgeons Surgical Outcomes Club.

      UW Research Centers: Surgical Outcomes Research Center

  • A picture of a leadership member Sean D. Sullivan, BScPharm, MSc, PhD
    Professor of Pharmacy, Medicine and Health Services, University of Washington
    Director, Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research & Policy Program

    • Biography

    • Sean D. Sullivan, BScPharm, MSc, PhD, is Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy. He holds a joint appointment as Professor of Health Services in the School of Public Health, is Director of the UW Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program (PORPP) and co-Director of the University of Washington Centers for Comparative and Health Systems Effectiveness (CHASE Alliance). He holds adjunct appointments in the School of Medicine, the Public Health Sciences Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and at Group Health Research Institute. He completed his bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Oregon State University in 1983, master’s degree in administrative and economic sciences from the University of Texas in 1986 and PhD in health economics and policy from the University of California-Berkeley in 1991.

      Dr. Sullivan has authored more than 300 journal articles, book chapters, task force reports and organizational and governmental publications. In many of these writings, he has assessed the evidence and applications of medical technology in relation to coverage and reimbursement decisions. His research interests include technology assessment, medical decision-making and economic evaluation of medical technology. He is the past chair of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy executive committee on the AMCP Format for Formulary Submissions – the United States evidence-based guidelines for formulary decision-making. Dr. Sullivan is a member of the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee. He is also on the editorial boards of Value in Health, PharmacoEconomics, European Journal of Health Economics and Core Evidence. He is a past president of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research.

      UW Research Centers: Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program

  • A picture of a leadership member Larry G. Kessler, Sc.D
    Chair, Department of Health Services

    • Biography

    • Dr. Larry Kessler is chair of the Department of Health Services at the University of Washington School of Public Health. He directs a department with 45 full time faculty and another 270 clinical and associate faculty who span the broad range of academic disciplines important for this training grant. In various degree (MPH, MHA, PhD) and professional certificate programs, the Department faculty reaches approximately 500 students per year. The Department also contains four centers, three concerned with different aspects of public health research and the fourth is the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice.

      Dr. Kessler has had a distinguished career in mental health services research and cancer surveillance research. Prior to his University of Washington appointment, he served as chief of the Applied Research Branch at the National Cancer Institute, an interdisciplinary research unit performing applied research on modeling and statistics in the understanding of cancer rates and trends, economics and health services research on cancer prevention and control, and a program of applied nutrition research and surveillance. Thereafter, Dr. Kessler spent 13 years at the Food and Drug Administration directing two separate offices, amassing significant regulatory knowledge. Currently, he is the co-PI of a research team investigating the comparative effectiveness of cancer diagnostics under a GO Grant from NIH, Advancing Innovative Comparative Effectiveness Research in Cancer Diagnostics (ADVICE).

  • A picture of a leadership member Jeffrey Jarvik, MD, MPH
    Professor of Radiology and Neurosurgery, University of Washington
    Director, Comparative Effectiveness, Cost and Outcomes Research Center

    • Biography

    • Dr. Jeffrey Jarvik, Professor in Radiology and Neurosurgery and Adjunct Professor in Health Services, is also the Director of the Comparative Effectiveness, Cost and Outcomes Research Center (CECORC) at the University of Washington. He has led or collaborated on multiple technology assessments using multidisciplinary teams involving a wide variety of medical and surgical specialties and non-clinical disciplines of biostatistics, economics, epidemiology, and health services. But equally importantly, he has training in health services research and study design. After finishing his residency in Radiology and fellowship in Neuroradiology at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Jarvik became a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Washington, where he earned his Masters in Public Health.

      Dr. Jarvik is currently the PI of the Back pain Outcomes using Longitudinal Data (BOLD) project, a $10 million project funded by AHRQ to investigate diagnostic and therapeutic interventions in seniors with low back pain.

      UW Research Centers: Comparative Effectiveness, Cost and Outcomes Research Center

  • A picture of a leadership member Donald L. Patrick, PhD, MSPH
    Professor, Department of Health Services
    Director, Seattle Quality of Life Group

    • Biography

    • Dr. Donald Patrick, a social scientist and outcomes researcher, is Professor of Health Services at the University of Washington with appointments in the Departments of Epidemiology, Sociology, Rehabilitation Medicine and Pharmacy. He is a Full Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He teaches one of the major courses in outcomes assessment in the School of Public Health and directs the Biobehavioral Cancer Prevention and Control.training program as well as co-directing the End-of-Life Research Program. Dr. Patrick has an international reputation in the development and application of patient-important outcome measures in application to health effectiveness evaluation with special expertise in populations with chronic conditions and disability. He was Inaugural President of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Research and has consulted widely with the US Federal Government and health agencies around the world.

      Dr. Patrick currently directs projects related to obesity, care of HIV patients, and children and adolescents who are deaf and hard of hearing. His expertise includes development of culturally-appropriate interventions, qualitative research in outcomes assessment, psychometric methods, and cost-effectiveness. He is co-convenor of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Methods Group of the Cochrane Collaboration. Dr. Patrick is a member of the Institute of Medicine.

      UW Research Centers: Seattle Quality of Life Group

  • A picture of a leadership member Beth Ebel, MD, MPH
    Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington
    Director, Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center

    • Biography

    • Beth Ebel is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington and the director of the Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center. Her research interests include injury prevention, community interventions and health behaviors with emphasis on high-risk populations. She has been principal investigator in recent studies of the Seattle campaign to encourage booster seat use for young passengers and a multi-site community intervention to improve child passenger safety in Latino communities. She is also the principal investigator for several studies measuring the health care costs of unrestrained motor vehicle occupants. Ebel received a master's in science in development economics from Oxford University in 1989, her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and the MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program in 1996, and a master's in public health from the University of Washington in 2001.

      UW Research Centers: Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center

      http://depts.washington.edu/hiprc/

  • A picture of a leadership member Stephan Fihn, MD, MPH
    Chief, Division of General Internal Medicine; Professor, Medicine and Health Services
    Director, VA Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence

    • Biography

    • Dr. Stephan Fihn is a general internist and health services researcher at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System (VAPSHCS) and the University of Washington in Seattle. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and earned a masters degree in public health. Dr. Fihn has served as Director of the Northwest VA Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence at VAPSHCS, since 1993. He has also served as Head of the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Washington, since 1996. Dr. Fihn has recently served as the Chief Quality and Performance Officer for Veterans Health Administration, managing the major national clinical quality and performance programs which have a significant impact on every medical center. Dr. Fihn is also active in several academic organizations including the Society of General Internal Medicine, the American College of Physicians, the Society for Medical Decision Making, and the American College of Cardiology. He is a Past-President of the Society of General Internal Medicine and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

      His research interests relate to developing strategies for improving the efficiency and quality of primary medical care and understanding the epidemiology of common ambulatory problems. He received the Department of Veterans Affairs Under Secretary's Award for Outstanding Contributions in Health Services Research in 2002. He served as Acting Chief Research and Development Officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2004-5. He has published over 200 original articles and book chapters, co-edited two editions of a textbook entitled Outpatient Medicine, and edited the primary care section of the 13th edition of the Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program (MKSAP), published by the American College of Physicians.

  • A picture of a leadership member Brenda K. Zierler, PhD, RN, FAAN
    Professor, Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems, University of Washington
    Co-Director, Center for Health Sciences Interprofessional Education, Practice & Research
    Associate Director, Institute for Simulation & Interprofessional Studies

    • Biography

    • Brenda K. Zierler PhD, RN, FAAN, is Professor of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems in the School of Nursing, with adjunct appointments in the Department of Health Services at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine; and Departments of Surgery and Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education in the School of Medicine. She is the Co-Director of the Center for Health Sciences Interprofessional Education, Research and Practice. She is also the Associate Director of the Institute for Simulation and Interprofessional Studies (School of Medicine and UW Medicine System).

      Dr. Zierler’s research explores the relationships between the delivery of health care and outcomes—at both the patient and system level. In collaboration with other scholars and clinicians in the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy, she created an interdisciplinary work group that developed appropriate and specific health outcome measures to evaluate the effectiveness of a coordinated approach in care delivery for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Her previous research supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (Patient Safety Grant) focused on the implementation and evaluation of a system-supported VTE Safety Toolkit. The Toolkit has been disseminated nationally for the purpose of improving the quality and safety of care. As co-principle investigator of a Josiah Macy Foundation-funded study (with Brian Ross, MD, PhD,) Dr. Zierler leads a group of interprofessional faculty and students in the development of a simulation-based, team training program to improve collaborative interprofessional communication both within teams and with patients. Her team will conduct a validation study of the impact of a simulation-based team training program on students’ interprofessional communication skills as measured by an innovative web-based assessment tool. In addition, Dr. Zierler and team will prepare the validated training program for dissemination to other health sciences schools by creating an exportable “Interprofessional Training Toolkit.”

      Dr. Zierler is the Co-PI of a second Josiah Macy Foundation grant focused on faculty development for interprofessional education and collaborative practice. She also leads a HRSA training grant focusing on faculty development in the use of technology across a 5-state collaborative. Dr. Zierler is a Board Member of the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative, a member of the IOM Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education, and is on the Advisory Committee for the RWJF New Careers in Nursing Program. She was a fellow in the RWJ Nurse Executive Program (2008-2011).

      UW Research Centers: School of Nursing