Faculty

faculty photo
Larry Kessler
Professor and Chair
ScD  
Johns Hopkins University, 1978
Health Services Admin
BS  
Boston University, 1973
Mathematics

Department of Health Services Program Affiliations:
  -  PhD program in Health Services
  -  Master of Health Administration Program

Larry Kessler is the current Chair of the Department of Health Services. Dr. Kessler served as Director of the Office of Surveillance and Biometrics, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, FDA until 2008. From 1984 to 1995, he headed and developed the Applied Research Branch at NCI. In 2001, he spent a year as a visiting scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and served on the faculty of the Department of Health Services.

Contact Information
University of Washington
Department of Health Services
Box:  357660
Seattle, WA 98195
kesslerl@u.washington.edu
Teaching Interests
Introduction to Public Health
  • HSERV 511   (Clinical Fellows Program)
    Introduction to Health Services and Public Health
  • HSERV 592
    Health Services Department Seminar
Research Interests
Cost-effectiveness and diagnostic value of medical technology in screening for cancer and other diseases
Projects
National Emphysema Treatment Trial
Collaborating on a cost-effectiveness study of a very controversial surgical treatment for emphysema patients.
CanCORS
Collaborating on studies of outcomes and patterns of care of both colorectal cancer and lung cancer. We are looking into what kinds of treatment certain types of patients receive and how we can improve the process of obtaining the best cancer care.
CISNET
Collaborating on a study focused on the tremendous increase in the rate of prostate cancer incidence during the 1990's. Much of this disease may represent 'overdiagnosis' which is accompanied by significant loss of quality of life in many cases.
Selected Publications

Baker, S.G., Connor, R.J., and Kessler, L.G. “The Partial Testing Design: A Less Costly Way to Test Equivalence for Sensitivity and Specificity.” Statistics in Medicine (1998). 17(19): 2219-2232

Chang, Lao S., Gross, Thomas P., Kessler, Larry G. “Proposed Statistical Methods for Signal Detection of Adverse Medical Device Events.” DIJ (1998). 32(1): 183-191.

Kessler, L., Brenner, R.J. “Serendipitous Breast Lesions on Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Why is this Lesion Different from all Other Lesions?” J Natl. Cancer Institute (1998). 90(23): 1760-1761.

Bernard GR, Sopko G, Cerra F, Demling R, Edmunds H, Kaplan S, Kessler L, Masur H, Parsons P, Shure D, Webb C, Weidemann H, Weinmann, Williams D. “Pulmonary Artery Catheterization and Clinical Outcomes: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and Food and Drug Administration Workshop Report.” Consensus Statement. JAMA (2000). 17; 283(19): 2568-72.