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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Appendix B
Speaker and Moderator Biographies

Amy P. Abernethy, M.D., is associate director, Population Sciences, Information Technology (IT), and Informatics, Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center; associate professor of medicine, Duke University School of Medicine; and an active clinician in both outpatient and inpatient oncology. As senior fellow with the Duke Center for Clinical Health Policy Research, home of the Duke Evidence-based Practice Center, she conducts technology assessments, evidence reviews, and studies of elements of the evidence system including compendia quality and methods, conflict of interest, payment policy, and clinical trial enrollment. She participates in national initiatives, such as caBIG® (Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid) and BIG Health, aimed at improving current biomedical research methods and infrastructure. Dr. Abernethy founded and directs the Duke Cancer Care Research Program (DCCRP), which is developing a new model of combined clinical-research inquiry in oncology and IT-based methods to support it.


Peter B. Bach, M.D., MAPP, was formerly senior adviser to the administrator on healthcare quality and cancer policy with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Currently, he is an associate attending physician with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Bach received his bachelor’s degree in English and American literature from Harvard College, his medical degree from

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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the University of Minnesota, and his master of arts degree in public policy from the University of Chicago, where he was also a Robert Wood Johnson clinical scholar. He completed his clinical training in internal medicine, pulmonary, and critical care at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Bach’s main research interests are assessment and improvement of the quality of cancer care. He has focused particularly on improving the quality of care for early-stage lung cancer and has a broader research interest in racial disparities in cancer care and outcomes.


Kenneth H. Buetow, Ph.D., has focused for more than 20 years on understanding the role of genetics in complex human diseases such as cancer and on applying sophisticated informatics technologies to solve major biomedical challenges. In his current role of National Cancer Institute associate director responsible for bioinformatics and information technology, he initiated and oversees the caBIG program, a groundbreaking initiative built to connect the entire cancer community in a “World Wide Web” of biomedical research. Dr. Buetow also serves as the director of the NCI Center for Bioinformatics and Information Technology (NCI CBIIT), which is responsible for maximizing the interoperability and integration of NCI research. He is also chief of the Laboratory of Population Genetics (LPG), where his group applies genomics to increase our understanding of the genetics of complex phenotypes. In addition to serving on the governing and advisory boards for numerous government organizations, academic institutions, and scientific and medical societies, Dr. Buetow has published more than 160 scientific papers. His recent honors and awards include the Editor’s Choice Award from Bio-IT World (2008), the Federal 100 Award (2005), the NIH Award of Merit (2004), and the NCI Director’s Gold Star Award (2004). Dr. Buetow received a B.A. in biology from Indiana University in 1980 and a Ph.D. in human genetics from the University of Pittsburgh in 1985.


Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., a clinical researcher and a practicing internist, was named director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) on February 5, 2003. Previously, she directed AHRQ’s Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research. From 1984 to 1990, Dr. Clancy was an assistant professor of medicine and director of the Medical Clinic at the Medical College of Virginia, and currently she is associate clinical professor at George Washington University’s Department of Medicine. Her health services research priorities include issues such as quality, access, and the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
×

impact of delivery system changes. Her medical specialties include primary care medicine and women’s health. Dr. Clancy has authored and coauthored six medical books, published widely in peer-reviewed medical journals, presented multiple research papers at academic conferences, and spoken to diverse audiences and the media on healthcare issues. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, the American Journal of Public Health, and the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, and she is a senior associate editor for Health Services Research. Dr. Clancy holds a B.S. degree, magna cum laude, in math and chemistry from Boston College (1975) and an M.D. from the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine (1979). Her postdoctoral training includes the Kennedy Institute of Bioethics Intensive Course at Georgetown University in 1989; the Stanford Faculty Development Program in Clinical Teaching in 1988; and the Henry Kaiser Family Foundation Fellow in General Internal Medicine from 1982 to 1984 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.


Stephen B. Edge, M.D., FACS, is professor of surgery and oncology at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Edge attended medical school and trained in surgery at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. After a fellowship in surgical oncology at the National Cancer Institute, he served as assistant professor of surgery and surgical oncology at the University of Virginia. In 1992, he moved to Roswell Park Cancer Institute, where he continues to serve as chief of the Breast Service and professor of surgery and oncology. Dr. Edge is active in breast cancer research, in techniques of surgery, and in sentinel lymph node biopsy. He is also active in efforts to define and improve the quality of cancer care for breast and other types of cancer. His work involves research with large cancer registry programs and linking those registries to other sources of cancer treatment information. He is the chair of the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons. He is the past chair of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) and is the editor-in-chief of the 7th edition of the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual published in 2009. He also is on the Board of Directors of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and is a member of the NCCN Breast Cancer Practice Guideline Panel.


Lynn Etheredge is a health economist and independent consultant working on healthcare and social policy issues, currently with the Rapid Learning Project at George Washington University. His career started at the White

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). During the Nixon and Ford administrations, he was OMB’s principal analyst for Medicare and Medicaid and led its staff work on national health insurance proposals. He returned to OMB as a senior career executive and headed its professional health staff in the Carter and Reagan administrations. He was a coauthor of the Jackson Hole Group’s proposals for healthcare reform and a co-founder of the Health Insurance Reform Project at George Washington University. During the last several years, Lynn has authored policy studies about Medicare reform, quality of care, consumer health information strategies, health insurance and flexible benefits tax credits, Medicaid, and public policies for the baby boom generation’s retirement. He is author of more than 70 publications and is a graduate of Swarthmore College.


Susannah Fox is associate director of Digital Strategy, at the Pew Internet and American Life Project. She leads the project’s health research and over-sees its digital strategy. Some of her recent reports include The Social Life of Health Information; Twitter and status updating; and Generations Online in 2009. Fox is the former editor of the website for U.S. News & World Report magazine. She has also worked as a researcher for RealNetworks and for the Harwood Group. Fox graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in anthropology.


Charles P. Friedman, Ph.D., is deputy national coordinator for health information technology in the Office of the Secretary for Health and Human Services. In this capacity, he serves as the chief operating officer of the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology, working to build collaborations in the public and private sectors and maintain cohesion across the programs that ONC undertakes. In addition, Dr. Friedman is ONC’s lead for planning and communication activities, as well as its initiatives relating to clinical decision support. Prior to joining ONC, Dr. Friedman was associate director for research informatics and information technology at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the NIH. Friedman first came to NIH in 2003, in the role of senior scholar at the National Library of Medicine, where he coordinated its research program in bioinformatics, was the library’s informatics training officer, and served as NLM’s representative to informatics programs in the NIH Roadmap. From 1996 to 2003, Dr. Friedman was professor and associate vice chancellor for biomedical informatics at the University of Pittsburgh. After receiving his Ph.D. in education, he spent more than 19

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
×

years on the faculty at the University of North Carolina (UNC). In 1985, he established the Laboratory for Computing and Cognition at UNC, and in 1992, he started UNC’s medical informatics training program. He is a past president of the American College of Medical Informatics and was the 2005 chair of the Annual Symposium of the American Medical Informatics Association. He currently serves as associate editor of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.


Gilles Frydman is a pioneer of medical online communities. He obtained a bachelor of science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem & Rehovot (Israel), majoring in animal biology. After working on various government research programs involving telecommunication technology, he became a pioneer in using computers and communication technologies to optimize the care received by cancer patients worldwide. He is the founder, in 1995, of the Association of Cancer Online Resources, the largest online social network for cancer patients, composed of close to 200 separate online support groups for individuals with cancer. ACOR has served over a half-million cancer patients and caregivers. He serves on a number of advocacy and advisory committees in support of patient-centered computing and consults with major internet based corporations. His most recent projects are all related to the ways in which online virtual environments can be used to facilitate and improve health care, particularly for people suffering from rare and deadly conditions.


Patricia A. Ganz, M.D., is professor of health services in the School of Public Health and professor of medicine in the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Ganz received her M.D. from the UCLA School of Medicine in 1973 and completed postdoctoral training in internal medicine and medical oncology at the UCLA Medical Center. She has been on the faculty of the School of Medicine since 1977 and joined the faculty of the School of Public Health in 1992. Dr. Ganz has devoted the past 25 years to the study of quality-of-life outcomes in cancer and other chronic diseases. Dr. Ganz is also director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Research of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA and leads a large research group that applies the scientific disciplines of public health (epidemiology, health services, behavioral sciences, biostatistics) to research on the prevention, detection, treatment, and supportive care of cancer. Dr. Ganz is associate editor of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the journal of the National Cancer

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Institute, and is a member of the editorial board of the Cochrane Breast Cancer Group. In 1999 she was named an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor and in 2007 she became a member of the Institute of Medicine.


Robert R. German, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., currently serves as the associate director for science for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. Bob’s experience in cancer surveillance and research has included a field assignment as a CDC epidemiologist in the West Virginia Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program, a CDC project officer for CDC’s National Program of Cancer Registries, work on the United States Cancer Statistics series, and the lead scientist for CDC’s patterns of cancer care studies and for its cancer mortality study. His work in cancer has focused on prostate cancer and the quality of cancer registry data. He received his Dr.P.H. in epidemiology in 2004 from the University of South Carolina and his M.P.H. in 1991 from Emory University.


James Allen Heywood is co-founder and chairman of PatientsLikeMeTM. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineer, he entered the field of translational research when his brother Stephen was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 1998 at the age of 29. Heywood brought an expertise in design, information technology, modeling, and industrial processes to the problems of helping patients develop treatments and manage diseases. Heywood is also the founder of the ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI), the world’s first nonprofit biotechnology company and served as its chief executive officer from 1999 to 2007. Heywood co-founded PatientsLikeMe in 2004 with his youngest brother, Benjamin, and his friend Jeff Cole. Currently, he serves as chairman, where he provides the scientific vision and architecture for its patient-centered medical platform. Heywood is a frequent speaker, media pundit, and active investment adviser. His work has been profiled in the New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, Business Week, 60 Minutes, Science, and Nature, as well as in Pulitzer Prize winner Jonathan Wiener’s biography His Brother’s Keeper and the Sundance award-winning documentary So Much So Fast.


Joseph O. Jacobson, M.D., is the chairman of the Department of Medicine at North Shore Medical Center (NSMC) and an associate clinical professor at Harvard Medical School. He is board certified in internal

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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medicine, medical oncology, and hematology and holds an M.S. (clinical effectiveness) from the Harvard School of Public Health. He has an active clinical practice. Dr. Jacobson’s focus as a department chair and as a practicing medical oncologist has been to identify means to both measure and improve patient care and safety. He was among the founding members of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Oncology Practice Initiative. Dr. Jacobson is currently the immediate past chair of the ASCO Quality of Care Committee and the chair of the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative Steering Committee. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Oncology and is an associate editor for the Journal of Oncology Practice. He is the co-chair of the Partners Healthcare Quality Oncology Leadership Group.


Joseph Lipscomb, Ph.D., is professor of health policy and management and Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Scholar at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. He is also a co-leader of the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Program at Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute. From 1999 until arriving at Emory in 2004, he was chief of the Outcomes Research Branch at the National Cancer Institute. He is a member of the Steering Committee for the Georgia Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan. He serves on national committees to improve cancer outcomes and quality at both the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer and the American Cancer Society. He has published widely on a variety of topics in health economics and outcomes research, including patient-reported outcomes assessment, quality-of-care evaluation and improvement, and the theory and practice of cost-effectiveness analysis. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1975 and a B.A. in mathematics from Vanderbilt University in 1970. From 1975 until joining the National Cancer Institute, he was on the faculty at Duke University.


Michael McGinnis, M.D., is a physician, epidemiologist, and long-time contributor to national and international health programs and policy. An elected member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies, he has since 2005 also served as IOM senior scholar, leading its initiative on evidence and value-based health care. From 1999 to 2005, he was senior vice president and founding director of the health group at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Previously, and unusual for political and policy posts, he held continuous appointment through the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations at the Department of Health and Human Services, with policy responsibilities for disease prevention and health promotion (1977-1995). Programs and policies conceived and initiated by Dr. McGinnis include the Healthy People process setting national health objectives (1979-present), the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (1984-present), the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1980-present), the Public Health Functions Steering Group and the Ten Essential Services of Public Health (1994-present), the RWJF Active Living family of programs (2000-present), the RWJF Young Epidemiology Scholars Program (2001-present), and the RWJF Health and Society Scholars Program (2002-present). His research interests are in the determinants of health and the rational allocation of social resources. Dr. McGinnis has taught (in visiting or adjunct capacities) at George Washington, UCLA, Princeton, and Duke universities. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, the UCLA Medical School, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.


William T. McGivney, Ph.D., is chief executive officer of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network—an alliance of 21 of the world’s leading cancer centers. Prior to joining the NCCN in 1997, Dr. McGivney was director of the Division of Health Care Technology at the American Medical Association from 1982 to 1991. In 1991, Dr. McGivney joined Aetna Health Plans, where he worked until 1997 as vice president for clinical and coverage policy. In 1991, in collaboration with Grace Powers Monaco, he established the first formal independent outside review process. This process was used as the model for the passage of the Knowles-Friedman Act in California in 1996, the first of many states to mandate that health plans offer an outside review option. Dr. McGivney, a recognized expert in coverage policy and in drug and device regulatory policy, was awarded the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Commissioner’s Medal of Appreciation in 1989. He has served on numerous national boards and committees including the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) Board of Directors, the Board of the Patient Advocate Foundation, and the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee. He earned his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School.


Sharon B. Murphy, M.D., joined the IOM as a scholar-in-residence in October 2008, coming to the District of Columbia from Texas where she

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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was the inaugural director of the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute and professor of pediatrics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio from 2002 to 2008. From 1988 to 2002, Dr. Murphy was chief of the Division of Hematology-Oncology at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago and professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University School of Medicine where she also led the program in pediatric oncology at the Robert H. Lurie Cancer Center. From 1974 to 1988, Dr. Murphy was on the faculty at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. A pediatric oncologist and clinical cancer researcher, Dr. Murphy has devoted her career to improving cure rates for childhood cancer, particularly childhood lymphomas and leukemias. She was chair of the Pediatric Oncology Group from 1993 to 2001. She has been recognized for her achievements by the Association of Community Cancer Centers (2001), the Distinguished Service Award for Scientific Leadership from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (2005), and the Distinguished Career Award from the American Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (2009). The author of more than 220 original articles, reviews, and book chapters, Dr. Murphy has also served on numerous editorial boards, including Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, and the Journal of Clinical Oncology. She has been a member of the boards of directors for the American Cancer Society, the American Association of Cancer Research, the American Society of Hematology, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology and has been an adviser to NCI and FDA. She earned her bachelor of science degree from the University of Wisconsin (1965) and her medical degree, cum laude, from Harvard Medical School (1969). She completed postdoctoral training in pediatrics at the University of Colorado (1969-1971) and in pediatric hematology and oncology at the University of Pennsylvania (1971-1973).


Chalapathy Neti, Ph.D., is currently the associate director, Healthcare Transformation, at IBM Research. Prior to this role, he was an executive architect in the information agenda organization, IBM Software Group. Prior to his assignment in IBM Software Group, Dr. Neti was a senior manager for information analysis and interaction technologies at IBM Research. Prior to the senior management role, he held various senior technical and management positions including the CTO of IBM’s digital media business, manager of audiovisual speech technologies, and technical roles in rich media analysis (speech, audio, and video) and mining. He has been with IBM since 1990. Dr. Neti received his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the Johns Hopkins University (1990) and B.S. from the Indian Insti-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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tute of Technology, Kanpur (1980). He has more than 20 years of advanced R&D experience and has authored more than 50 articles (conference and journal) in various fields related to biomedical informatics, medical imaging, speech and video analysis, computational neuroscience, and VLSI (very large scale integration) design. He has 16 patents and several pending. He is an active member of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the world’s leading professional association for the advancement of technology), a former member of IEEE Multimedia Signal Processing Technical Committee (2001-2004), and an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Multimedia (2002-2005).


Arnold L. Potosky, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Oncology, is director of Health Services Research at the Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC), Cancer Control Program where he was appointed in September 2008. Dr. Potosky earned his Ph.D. in health services research from John Hopkins University in 1994 and was a health scientist at the National Cancer Institute from 1987 to 2008, where he helped develop a national research program focusing on cancer-related health services and outcomes research. Dr. Potosky has conceived and implemented multisite national studies of cancer care quality and effectiveness, including the Prostate Cancer Outcomes Study (PCOS) and the Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance Consortium (CanCORS), a multisite national study of 10,000 recently diagnosed lung and colorectal cancer patients. He conducted the initial linkage of the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program-Medicare database in 1991 and developed methods for assessing costs, comorbidity, and outcomes using the linked data. Dr. Potosky’s research at Georgetown continues his earlier work on the dissemination of cancer prevention and treatments; comparisons of outcomes according to patient, provider, and delivery system factors; assessing patient-reported outcomes and complications; and evaluating the comparative effectiveness of cancer-directed therapies in observational studies.


Josh Sommer is executive director of the Chordoma Foundation, which he co-founded with his mother, Dr. Simone Sommer, after he was diagnosed with a clival chordoma in 2006. He believes that patients should play an active role in bringing about treatments for their own conditions, and that patients represent a largely untapped source of funding, energy, and know-how in the treatment development process. Josh was a freshman at

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Duke University studying environmental engineering when he was diagnosed with chordoma. Soon after his diagnosis, Josh joined the lab of Dr. Michael Kelley, a Duke oncologist studying the genetic basis of chordoma, and the only federally funded chordoma researcher. His research in Dr. Kelley’s lab included cell line characterization, gene-expression microarray analysis, candidate gene knockdown using RNA interference, and in vitro drug screening. To support his work in the lab, Josh switched majors to a self-designed bioengineering curriculum focused on modeling and solving biological “problems” that lead to disease. After finishing his junior year in May 2008, Josh was awarded a two-year Echoing Green fellowship for social entrepreneurs, and subsequently has taken a leave of absence from Duke to lead the Chordoma Foundation with Dr. Simone Sommer. To complement his work for the Chordoma Foundation, Josh has joined Duke’s Program on Global Health and Technology Access as a Fellow in Strategic Philanthropy and Health. In addition, Josh continues to participate in research in Dr. Kelley’s lab, and helps coordinate collaborations with a network of chordoma researchers at other institutions around the world. In school Josh received numerous honors and awards including the USA Today All-USA Academic First Team Award, Prudential Spirit of Community Award, CocaCola Scholarship, and AXA Achievement National Award.


Simone Sommer, M.D., M.P.H., is president of the Chordoma Foundation, which she formed in February 2007 after her only child, Josh, was diagnosed with a chordoma in 2006. The Chordoma Foundation is an innovative nonprofit organization uniting patients, doctors, and scientists to accelerate the development of effective treatments and ultimately a cure for this neglected form of cancer. Under her direction, the Chordoma Foundation has launched a coordinated international research effort that has invigorated the field of chordoma research. Dr. Sommer and her son Josh, who is now an Echoing Green Social Entrepreneur fellow, take an active role in every aspect of the research process by formulating research priorities, recruiting the best researchers, initiating new projects, brokering collaborations, and breaking down barriers to progress. Dr. Sommer is a graduate of George Washington University School of Medicine. She completed her internship at Duke University Medical Center and completed a residency and faculty development fellowship in family medicine at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Dr. Sommer also holds a master’s degree in public health in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina School of Public Health. She was formerly associate clinical professor at the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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University of North Carolina, Department of Family Medicine and previously served as medical director of the Guilford County Health Department Infectious and Chronic Disease Prevention Program. She is past president of Sommer Health Services of Greensboro, North Carolina.


William W. Stead, M.D., is associate vice chancellor for health affairs and chief strategy and information officer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He also serves as chief information architect for the university and as director of the Informatics Center. Dr. Stead received his B.A. and M.D. degrees from Duke University where he also completed specialty and subspecialty training in internal medicine and nephrology. As a faculty member in nephrology, he was the physician in the physician-engineer partnership that developed the Medical Record (TMR), one of the first practical electronic medical record systems. He helped Duke build one of the first patient-centered hospital information systems (IBM’s PCS/ASDS). He came to Vanderbilt in 1991 to work out how to link information to workflow to help people make better decisions at an enterprise scale. His team has shown how to translate techniques from the science of biomedical informatics into novel approaches to information infrastructure that reduce costs to implement and barriers to adoption. The resulting enterprise-wide electronic patient chart and communication and decision support tools promote his current focus on system-supported, evidence-based practice and research leading toward personalized medicine. Dr. Stead is McKesson Foundation Professor of Biomedical Informatics and professor of medicine. He is a founding fellow of both the American College of Medical Informatics and the American Institute for Engineering in Biology and Medicine and is an elected member of both the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and the American Clinical and Climatological Association. He was the first recipient of the Lindberg Award for Innovation in Informatics and the 2007 recipient of the Collen Award for Excellence in Medical Informatics. He was the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association and served as president of the American Association for Medical Systems and Informatics and the American College of Medical Informatics. He served as chairman of the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine, as a presidential appointee to the Commission on Systemic Interoperability, and as chair of the National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Engaging the Computer Science Research Community in Health Care Informatics. He is a member of the Council of the Institute of Medicine and Tennessee’s eHealth Advisory Council.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
×

Sandy Thames is a public health adviser with the Cancer Surveillance Branch, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is the lead on the National Program of Cancer Registries-Advancing E-cancer Reporting and Registry Operations (NPCR-AERRO) (formerly the Model Electronic Reporting Project), which is developing a consensus model for cancer surveillance. She serves as the liaison to the CDC Public Health Information Network-National Electronic Disease Surveillance System informatics activities. Ms. Thames also participates on the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise workgroups that are focused on moving forward the development of a standardized electronic health record and the secure exchange of standardized patient information across the healthcare community. She has been with the CDC since 1989.


William J. Todd has been president and CEO of the Georgia Cancer Coalition since 2003. His 38-year career has focused on healthcare and technology management in Georgia. He was the founding president of the Georgia Research Alliance in 1990, nurturing the independent not-for-profit organization that has helped build Georgia’s reputation as a center for discovery and invention and fostered major advances in science, medicine, and technology. He founded Encina Technology Ventures in 2000. His career began at Emory University hospitals, clinics, and medical school, where he held a variety of administrative posts over two decades, ultimately serving as assistant vice president for medical administration at the Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center. A 1971 graduate of the College of Management at Georgia Institute of Technology, Todd attended the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University. In 2000, he received an honorary doctor of science degree from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. Todd is board chairman of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association and a board member of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the American Cancer Society, and the Georgia Tech Foundation.


Paul Wallace, M.D., is medical director for health and productivity management programs in Kaiser Permanente’s (KP’s) national Permanente Federation. He leads work to extend KP’s experience with population-based care to further develop and integrate wellness, health maintenance, and productivity enhancement interventions. He is also active in the design and promotion of systematic approaches to comparative effectiveness

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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assessment and accelerated organizational learning. He was previously the executive director of KP’s Care Management Institute (CMI) from 2000 to 2005 and continues as a senior adviser to CMI and to Avivia Health, the KP disease management company established in 2005. Dr. Wallace joined KP in 1989 and has participated in KP’s program-wide New Technology, Research, Guidelines, and Diversity Committees. Board certified in internal medicine and hematology, he previously taught clinical and basic sciences and investigated bone marrow function as a faculty member at the Oregon Health Sciences University. Dr. Wallace is currently a member of the IOM Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice. He has previously served on the Committee on Performance Measurement and Standards Committees for the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), the National Advisory Council of AHRQ, the Medical Coverage Advisory Committee for CMS, and the Medical Advisory Panel for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Technology Evaluation Center. Wallace is a graduate of the University of Iowa School of Medicine and completed further training in internal medicine and hematology at Strong Memorial Hospital and the University of Rochester.


Janet Woodcock, M.D., is the director, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), at FDA. She previously served as FDA deputy commissioner and chief medical officer, as well as FDA deputy commissioner for operations and chief operating officer. Dr. Woodcock has led many cross-agency initiatives while at FDA. She introduced the concept of pharmaceutical risk management in 2000 as a new approach to drug safety. She has led the Pharmaceutical Quality for the 21st Century Initiative since 2002. She spearheaded an initiative on pharmacogenomics that has led to unprecedented agency-industry interactions on pharmacogenomics use in drug development. Over the last three years, she has been leading FDA’s Critical Path Initiative, which is designed to improve the scientific basis for medical product development. Dr. Woodcock was director of the CDER from 1994 to 2005. Dr. Woodcock also oversaw initiatives to automate submission and review of applications and adverse event reports. Under Dr. Woodcock’s leadership, CDER’s regulatory decision making was made more open and transparent to the public. Changes included publishing CDER’s regulatory procedures and policies, developing more than 100 technical “guidances” that describe regulatory standards, providing an unprecedented degree of participation of consumer and patient representatives in FDA processes, and creating an extensive CDER website that includes drug reviews and

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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consumer information. Prior to joining CDER, Dr. Woodcock was director of the Office of Therapeutics Research and Review, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). Dr. Woodcock has earned numerous awards, including the Gary Neal Prize for Innovation in Drug Development (American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics [ASCPT], 2009), a Presidential Rank Meritorious Executive Award, the Nathan Davis Award from the American Medical Association (1999), the Roger W. Jones Award for Executive Leadership from American University (2000), the Public Health Leadership Award (2004) from the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), the VIDA Award from the National Alliance for Hispanic Health (2005), the Leadership Award in Personalized Medicine from the Personalized Medicine Coalition (2005), the Public Service Award from the American Association for Cancer Research (2006), the Indispensable Person of the Year Award from the Alliance for Aging Research (2007), the Distinguished Service and Leadership Award from the Food and Drug Law Institute (2008), and the Distinguished Career Award from the Drug Information Association (2008). She has also received three HHS Secretary’s Distinguished Service Awards and the HHS Asian-Pacific Network Achievement Award (2001) and six FDA Commissioner’s Special Citations. Dr. Woodcock received her M.D. from Northwestern University Medical School in 1977. She received her undergraduate degree from Bucknell University. She has held teaching appointments at Pennsylvania State University and the University of California at San Francisco.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker and Moderator Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12868.
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A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary Get This Book
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The IOM's National Cancer Policy Forum held a workshop October 5-6, 2009, to examine how to apply the concept of a 'rapid learning health system' to the problem of cancer. This document summarizes the workshop.

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