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Committee Member and Staff Biosketches

Brian Strom, M.D., M.P.H. (Chair), is the inaugural chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences and executive vice president for health affairs at Rutgers University. Although Dr. Strom’s interests span many areas of clinical epidemiology, his major research interest is in pharmacoepidemiology, the application of epidemiologic methods to the study of drug use and effects. Dr. Strom is a member of the American Epidemiology Society, American Society of Clinical Investigation, American Association of Physicians, National Academy of Medicine (NAM), and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the 2003 Rawls-Palmer Progress in Medicine Award and 2016 Oscar B. Hunter Career Award in Therapeutics from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Naomi M. Kanof Clinical Investigator Award of the Society for Investigative Dermatology and Sustained Scientific Excellence Award from the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology. He was the 2008 recipient of the John Phillips Memorial Award for Outstanding Work in Clinical Medicine and the 2013 Association for Clinical and Translational Science/American Federation for Medical Research National Award for Career Achievement and Contribution to Clinical and Translational Science for translation from clinical use into public benefit and policy. Dr. Strom had an advisory role with Jansen Pharmaceuticals/Johnson & Johnson 2017–2019.

Dr. Strom chaired the Institute of Medicine/NAM Committees to Assess the Safety and Efficacy of the Anthrax Vaccine, on Smallpox Vaccine Program Implementation, to Review National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Traumatic Injury Program, on the Consequences of Reducing Sodium in the Population, on a National Strategy for the Elimination of Hepatitis B and C, and on Development of a Protocol to Evaluate the Concomitant Prescribing of Opioid and Benzodiazepine Medications and Veterans’ Deaths and Suicides. He was a member of the Committee on Standards for Developing Trustworthy Clinical Practice Guidelines and IOM Drug Forum. Dr. Strom earned a B.S. in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale in 1971, an M.D. from Johns Hopkins in 1975, and an M.P.H. in epidemiology at University of California, Berkeley. His residency in internal medicine and fellowship in clinical pharmacology were both at University of California, San Francisco. He was also awarded an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Thrace in Greece.

Amy S. B. Bohnert, Ph.D., is a professor of anesthesiology, executive director for pain and opioid research at the University of Michigan and a research investigator with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Center for Clinical Management Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She leads epidemiologic and health services research related to overdose and suicide, prescription drug safety, addiction, and veteran health. Dr. Bohnert was a member

of the Stanford-Lancet Commission on the North American Opioid Crisis and has served on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panels. Dr. Bohnert earned her Ph.D. in public health at Johns Hopkins University and completed her postdoctoral fellowship with the VA National Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center in Ann Arbor. Dr. Bohnert also serves as an expert for Michigan to develop an abatement plan to address opioid-related harms in the state. She served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies) Committee on Developing a Protocol to Evaluate the Concomitant Prescribing of Opioids and Benzodiazepine Medications and Veteran Deaths and Suicides.

Adam Bress, Pharm.D., M.S., is a formally trained cardiovascular clinical pharmacist and pharmacoepidemiologist. He is a tenured associate professor and vice chair of research for the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Utah Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine. Dr. Bress is also an investigator at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Salt Lake City Health Care System. His expertise includes the application of causal inference methods to study medication use, responses, and outcomes in large electronic health records and claims databases. He is a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded PI, and his team uses causal inference methods in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and Kaiser Permanente Southern California data to determine the long-term comparative effects of antihypertensive medications on the risk of dementia, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and frailty. He has successfully designed, led, and published several studies of medication use and effects using VA data. He has substantial experience in building high-quality analysis-ready datasets from VA data and implementing rigorous causal inference methods accounting for time-varying treatment and confounding, out-of-system health care use, and intercurrent events. Dr. Bress received his Pharm.D. from the University of Maryland and his M.S. in clinical and translational science from the University of Illinois–Chicago School of Public Health. He completed his residency in pharmacy practice at Yale-New Haven Hospital and a residency in cardiology and postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Illinois–Chicago. He was the 2020 National Academy of Medicine Fellow in Pharmacy and a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute K-awardee.

Carl A. Castro, Ph.D., M.A., is a professor and director of the Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families, Military Veterans Programs at the University of Southern California (USC) Suzanne DworakPeck School of Social Work, and USC-RAND Epstein Family Foundation Center for Veterans Policy Research. Dr. Castro joined the faculty in 2013. Before USC, Dr. Castro served in the U.S. Army for over 30 years, beginning as an enlisted infantryman and retiring at the rank of colonel. He held a variety of research and leadership positions, including as director of the Military Operational Medicine Research Program, Headquarters, U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Fort Detrick, Maryland. He has completed two tours in Iraq and peacekeeping missions to Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, and Kosovo. Dr. Castro has chaired numerous NATO and international research groups and cochairs a NATO group exploring military and veteran violent radicalization. He is a Fulbright Scholar and member of several Department of Defense research advisory panels focused on psychological health. He has authored more than 300 scientific articles and reports in numerous research areas. His current research efforts focus on assessing the effects of combat and operations tempo on soldier, family, and unit readiness and evaluating service members’ transitions from military to civilian life.

Lesley H. Curtis, Ph.D., is professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences in the Duke School of Medicine. A health services researcher by training, Dr. Curtis is an expert in using Medicare claims data for health services and clinical outcomes research and a leader in national data quality efforts. Dr. Curtis has served as co-principal investigor (PI) of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Sentinel Innovation Center and coinvestigator of the Data Core for the FDA’s Sentinel Initiative to monitor the safety of FDA-regulated medical products and the coordinating center for PCORI’s National Clinical Research Network (PCORnet). She is co-PI of the National Institutes of Health Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory, an effort to strengthen the national capacity to implement cost-effective, large-scale research studies that engage health care delivery organizations as research partners. As of July 2023, Dr. Curtis is supporting the FDA Office of the Commissioner’s initiative to improve national systems for evidence generation.

Patience Moyo Dow, Ph.D., is an associate professor of health services, policy, and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health. Dr. Dow’s research focuses on the management of pain and opioid use disorder and often includes using large administrative databases to conduct epidemiologic and policy analyses relating to health services use, quality of care, and outcomes. She also carries out qualitative research focused on understanding post-acute and long-term care use by individuals with opioid use disorder. Between 2020 and 2022, Dr. Dow collaborated with researchers at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center and Providence VA Medical Center to study opioid prescribing patterns among veterans with cancer and outcomes of VA-purchased care in the community; respectively. As of September 2023, she has an active interagency personnel agreement appointment with the Providence VA Medical Center on a project related to homelessness and long-term care among veterans. She earned her Ph.D. in pharmaceutical health services research from the University of Maryland Baltimore and completed her postdoctoral training with the Health Policy Institute at the University of Pittsburgh and the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System.

John T. Farrar, Ph.D., M.D., M.S., is professor of epidemiology, neurology, and anesthesiology and critical care at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He received his M.D. from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and his Ph.D. in pharmaco-epidemiology from the Perelman School of Medicine. He is a board-certified neurologist with a subspecialty in pain medicine who has spent his career studying pain, pain measurement, and pain therapies. He has conducted clinical trials and specializes in using large patient datasets in his research, publishing over 200 articles. He has been continuously funded through the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He has been a member of several National Academies committees, including the National Academy of Science Panel, Handling Missing Data in Clinical Trials (2009–2010); IOM Committee, Report on Relief of Pain in America (2010–2011); and National Academies Panel, Report on Compounded Topical Pain Creams (2019–2020). He has served as a standing member and then chair of the FDA Anesthetic and Life Support Drugs Advisory Board.

Robert Kerns, Ph.D., M.A., is senior research scientist in the Yale School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and professor emeritus, Yale University. Dr. Kerns retired from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in 2016 after 38 years of service; he held several leadership positions, including director of the Pain Research, Informatics, Multimorbidities, and Education (PRIME) Center of Innovation (2008–2016) at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System and national program director for pain management (2005–2013). He is a director of the NIH-DOD-VA Pain Management Collaboratory Coordinating Center that supports 14 pragmatic clinical trials of nonpharmacological approaches to manage pain and common co-occurring conditions in military and veteran health systems. His scholarly and scientific contributions focus on comprehensive pain assessment, nonpharmacological approaches for pain management, individual differences and disparities in pain care, safe and effective opioid therapy, and organizational improvements in pain care. Through an IPA between Yale and the VA, Dr. Kerns is a subject matter expert and research investigator at VA’s PRIME Center in West Haven, Connecticut. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the 2006 VA David M. Worthen Award for Academic Excellence and Mark Wolcott Award for Clinical Leadership, 2010 John and Emma Bonica Public Service Award, and 2017 Wilbert E. Fordyce Clinical Investigator Award from the American Pain Society. He served as a member of the IOM Committee for Advancing Pain Research, Care, and Education. He received his undergraduate degree in psychology at West Virginia University in 1974 and his Ph.D. in bio-clinical psychology at Southern Illinois University in 1980.

Mathew Kiang, Sc.D., M.P.H., is an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is a computational social scientist and social epidemiologist whose research focuses on socioeconomic and racial/ethnic inequities in health, especially around substance use and mortality. His recent work has examined how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted U.S. opioid-related mortality. His NIH-funded projects examine ways to improve initiation and retention in treating opioid use disorder (OUD) and leverage novel data sources to predict opioid-related mortality. Dr. Kiang received his Ph.D. in quantitative methods and social epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and M.P.H. from New York University. Dr. Kiang was a postdoctoral research fellow at

the Stanford Systems Neuroscience and Pain Laboratory and a 2016 fellow in the Data Science for Social Good fellowship at the University of Chicago.

Hsien-Chang Lin, Ph.D., M.A.E, M.A., is a professor of health behavior and policy and chair of the Department of Child and Family Development at San Diego State University. Dr. Lin has a strong research program in the prevention, treatment, and effect of substance use behaviors and how the health care system interplays. Leveraging his expertise and research experiences in substance use and pharmacoepidemiology, he has conducted several studies examining physicians’ prescribing practice and patients’ use/misuse of opioid and benzodiazepine pharmacotherapies among patients with chronic pain and how the health care system and health care policy influence these behaviors. His research has important mental and psychological health aspects, including the investigation of substance use behaviors among people with mental health conditions, the psychological pathways through which risk factors and substance use behaviors are connected, the effect of substance use on affect, and how emotion dynamics are associated with substance use. Dr. Lin is active in the profession. He recently served as president of the American Academy of Health Behavior, where he is a fellow. He is also a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. Dr. Lin has received interdisciplinary education and training from National Taiwan University and the University of Michigan, encompassing economics (B.A. and two M.A.s), sociology (B.A.), health care system and policy (Ph.D.), pharmacoepidemiology (Ph.D.), and health outcomes research (postdoctoral fellowship).

Miguel Marino, Ph.D., is professor of biostatistics at Oregon Health & Science University. Dr. Marino’s current research interest lies in population-based studies using large administrative observational data sources and electronic health records (EHRs), including developing and implementing novel statistical methodology to address complexities associated with the use of EHRs to study changes in health policy and delivery (e.g., Affordable Care Act, preventive guideline changes, opioid prescribing over time) and validation of EHRs as a reliable source for rigorous observation studies. Dr. Marino’s research also focuses on understanding of equitable primary care delivery in underserved populations (Latino individuals, racial/ethnic minorities, etc.) and in methods for data disaggregation among Latino individuals, to better understand the association of Latino nativity with health outcomes. His contributions to primary care and community-based research were recognized by NAM when it selected him in 2020 as one of 10 Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine Scholars and elected him as a member in 2022. Dr. Marino is a statistical editor for JAMA Health Forum. He holds a Ph.D. in biostatistics from Harvard University, an M.S. in biostatistics, and a B.S. in mathematics from UCLA.

Anne Marie McKenzie-Brown, M.D., is interim chair of the Department of Anesthesiology, vice chair for professional development, and a professor at Emory University. She is board certified in anesthesiology and pain medicine. After anesthesiology residency at Emory University, she returned to Johns Hopkins and did fellowship training in pain medicine before returning to Emory on faculty. She was the initial program director of the Emory Multidisciplinary Pain Fellowship for 14 years; it trains future pain physicians from multiple specialties together to become the best pain practitioners and educators. She was the division chief of Emory’s Pain Division and medical director of its Pain Center for almost 20 years and is vice chair of professional development in its Department of Anesthesiology. She is a member of many professional organizations, including the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, American Society of Regional Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, American Society of Anesthesiology, and Spinal Injection Society. She is a senior board examiner and member of the American Board of Anesthesiology. Dr. McKenzie-Brown’s interests include the treatment of neck and back pain using nonopioid therapies, including interventional pain therapies, such as spinal cord and peripheral nerve stimulation, and complementary therapies for pain. Her goal is to use opioid-free techniques to relieve pain in a healthy way.

Katie J. Suda, Pharm.D., M.S., is a tenured professor at the University of Pittsburgh Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy, clinical pharmacy specialist, research health scientist, and associate director with the VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion. Dr. Suda is a national expert in outpatient prescribing patterns and antibiotic stewardship. Her research interests include antimicrobial and opioid pharmacoepidemiology and the effectiveness

of implementation strategies to improve prescribing. Dr. Suda has received over $15 million in awards as PI and coinvestigator from AHRQ, CDC, FDA, NIH, and VHA. Her research has informed national policy on outpatient opioid stewardship, provision of VA data to state prescription drug monitoring programs, and the importance of dental prescribing in identifying solutions to the opioid epidemic; she participated on an American Dental Association guideline panel on acute pain oral management released in 2023. She also published a study using 2018 data that examines opioid poisoning among veterans by race and ethnicity. Dr. Suda has served on committees and expert panels focused on evidenced-based prescribing for multiple federal agencies and professional organizations. She has received awards for teaching and research, including the CDC Shepard Science Award and SHEA Antimicrobial Stewardship Scholar Award. Her training includes a Pharm.D., M.S. in epidemiology, and postdoctoral training focused on pharmacoepidemiology.

STAFF

Donna Almario Doebler, Dr.PH., M.S., M.P.H., is a senior program officer at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She is part of the Health and Medicine Division’s Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice. Prior to joining the National Academies, Dr. Doebler was the associate vice president of Medicare Advantage at UPMC Health Plan in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she led product, strategy, and financial and clinical analytics to help manage the care of over 200,000 member lives. In addition, she worked with UPMC hospitals to develop the first community health needs assessments and implementation plans, as part of new requirements of the Affordable Care Act for all non-profit hospitals. Dr. Doebler was also an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, and worked at the Institute of Medicine and the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Dr. Doebler completed a Kellogg Health Scholars postdoctoral fellowship, has a Dr.PH. in behavioral and community health sciences, an M.S. in biostatistics—both from the University of Pittsburgh, and an M.P.H. in epidemiology from the George Washington University.

Aashaka Shinde, M.A., M.S.P.H., is a associate program officer of the Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice in the Health and Medical Division at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies). Ms. Shinde graduated from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a focus on social and behavioral interventions. During her graduate studies Ms. Shinde conducted field research on a variety of topics pertaining to health care access. In her work at the National Academies, Ms. Shinde has contributed to a study on the effects of antimicrobial resistance on human and animal health as well as another study on the reassessment of the Department of Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry. She also worked on studies focused on maternal and child health research prior to joining the National Academies.

Emma Fletcher, M.S.P.H., is a research associate of the Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice in the Health and Medical Division at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Ms. Fletcher graduated from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a focus on Health Systems. During, and following, her graduate studies, Ms. Fletcher conducted field research in peri-urban Lima, Peru, investigating the effect of COVID-19 on infant and child nutrition. Ms. Fletcher also assisted in investigating the impact of COVID-19 on the provision and utilization of health services as well as community health worker programs in West Java, Indonesia. Prior to her graduate degree, Ms. Fletcher obtained a B.Sc. in Population Health from University College London.

Mia Saltrelli, B.S., is a senior program assistant of the Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice in the Health and Medical Division at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Ms. Saltrelli graduated from Furman University with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health.

Rose Marie Martinez, Sc.D., has been the senior board director of the Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice (BPH) at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies) since 1999. BPH addresses the science base for population health and public health interventions and examines the capacity of the health system, particularly the public health infrastructure, to support disease prevention and health promotion activities, including the education and supply of health professionals necessary for carrying them out. BPH has examined such topics as the safety of childhood vaccines and other drugs, systems for evaluating and ensuring drug safety post-marketing, the health effects of cannabis and cannabinoids, the health effects of environmental exposures, population health improvement strategies, the integration of medical care and public health, women’s health services, health disparities, health literacy, tobacco control strategies, and chronic disease prevention, among others. Dr. Martinez was awarded the 2010 Institute of Medicine (IOM) Research Cecil Award for significant contributions to IOM reports of exceptional quality and influence. Prior to joining the National Academies, Dr. Martinez was a senior health researcher at Mathematica Policy Research (1995–1999), where she conducted research on the impact of health system change on public health infrastructure, access to care for vulnerable populations, managed care, and the health care workforce. Dr. Martinez is a former assistant director for health financing and policy with the U.S. General Accountability Office, where she directed evaluations and policy analysis in the area of national and public health issues (1988–1995). Her experience also includes 6 years directing research studies for the Regional Health Ministry of Madrid, Spain (1982–1988). Dr. Martinez is a former president of the Council on Education for Public Health, the accreditation body for schools of public health and public health programs. She received the degree of Doctor of Science from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF MEDICINE FELLOW

Sterling Haring, M.D., Dr.PH., is as an interventional pain physician in South Georgia and served as a Fellow with the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Haring’s research, policy work, and advocacy have been centered on injury issues such as opioids, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and childhood injuries. He worked as a clinical counselor and later administrator in a methadone clinic in South Florida in the mid-2000s, where he worked with local community leaders to try to expand access to addiction treatment. During and after his medical training, he pursued an MPH and Dr.PH. at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and served as a fellow at the Center for Surgery and Public Health, a joint venture between the Harvard School of Medicine, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He completed an epidemiology training program as a part of the TBI team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before spending a year working on issues at the intersection of health care quality and communication in southern Switzerland. After returning to the United States, he completed residency training in physical medicine and rehabilitation, as well as fellowship training in pain medicine, both at Vanderbilt University. There, he was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society and worked with enterprise leadership on institution-wide efforts to reduce opioid over-prescribing. His research and policy work have included interviews with a variety of television, print, and online media outlets ranging from CNN and The TODAY Show to NPR and The New York Times. In 2019, he was part of a team that won an Indie Book Award for a collection of essays reflecting first-person accounts of gun violence in U.S. schools.