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Technology Evaluation Center Medical Advisory Panel

TEC is guided by the Medical Advisory Panel (MAP), which is composed of nationally respected physician experts. The MAP has final scientific and clinical authority for all TEC assessments. Chaired by the Senior Vice President, Office of Clinical Affairs, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the MAP comprises experts in technology assessment, clinical research methodology and implementation and clinical practice. MAP membership is diversified to ensure representation by a wide variety of viewpoints within the healthcare community. A majority of members hold academic appointments and are independent medical experts without affiliation to healthcare payers.

Chairman

Allan M. Korn, M.D., F.A.C.P.  Senior Vice President, Office of Clinical Affairs/Medical Director, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association:

  • Former Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois (1996–1999)
  • Former Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs, Premier Health Alliance (Premier/AmHs/SunHealth) and Principal, William H. Mercer, Inc.
  • Member of work groups/committees at the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
  • Oversees the National Council of Physician Executives, senior BCBS Plan physicians that advise the Association
  • Member of the American Medical Association and the Board of Directors of e-Health Initiative
  • Serves on the Steering Committee of Connecting for Health and the Institute of Medicine's Forum on Drug Discovery
  • Fellow of the American College of Physicians/American Society of Internal Medicine
  • Board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine

Co-Scientific Advisors (full biographical information following)

Alan M. Garber, M.D., Ph.D.  Staff Physician, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Henry J. Kaiser, Jr., Professor, and Professor of Medicine, Economics, and Health Research and Policy, Stanford University:

  • Specialty: Internal Medicine and Economics

Steven N. Goodman, M.D., M.H.S., Ph.D.  Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Department of Oncology, Division of Biostatistics (joint appointments in Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Pediatrics):

  • American Academy of Pediatrics Appointee to the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Medical Advisory Panel
  • Specialty: Pediatrics, Biostatistics, Epidemiology

Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association
Medical Advisory Panel Members

Peter C. Albertsen, M.D.  Professor, Chief of Urology, and Residency Program Director, University of Connecticut Health Center:

  • Specialty:  Urology
  • Member of the Patient Outcomes Research Team (PORT) II for Prostate Diseases and the National Cancer Institute Special Study of Prostate Cancer Health Care and Quality of Life
  • Member of the Residency Review Committee for Urology of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
  • Editorial Board member of Urology and Urology Times; reviewer for JAMA, Cancer, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and others
  • Widely published author in the area of prostate disease
  • Trustee of the American Board of Urology

Joan M. Bathon, M.D.  Professor of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine:

  • Specialty:  Rheumatology
  • Deputy Director, Johns Hopkins Division of Rheumatology
  • Director, Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center
  • Associate Editor, Arthritis Research and Therapy, Advisory Editor, Arthritis and Rheumatism, and Editorial Advisory Board, Rheumatology News
  • Widely published author in the area of rheumatology and immunology
  • Board-certified in internal medicine and rheumatology

Sarah T. Corley, M.D.  Chief Medical Officer, NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc:

  • American College of Physicians Appointee to the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Medical Advisory Panel
  • Specialty:  Internal Medicine, Medical Informatics
  • Past-Governor, now member of the Governor's Council, Virginia Chapter, American College of Physicians
  • Member, Executive Committee Board of Governors, American College of Physicians
  • Co-chair Ambulatory Functionality Workgroup, Certification Commission for Health Information Technology
  • Board-certified in internal medicine

Helen Darling, M.A.  President, National Business Group on Health:

  • Purchaser/Consumer Representative
  • President of NBGH, which has 264 mostly large employer members, including 64 of the Fortune 100. Provides solutions to the health care cost and affordability crisis; serves as a link between large employers/purchasers and Congress, Executive Branch and other national organizations; the single voice for large employers on an array of health, productivity and disability issues.
  • Co-chair, Cancer Measures Steering Committee for National Quality Forum; Member, Committee on Performance Measurement (oversees evolution of HEDIS), National Committee for Quality Assurance
  • Member, Board of Directors, VHA Health Foundation; Institute of Medicine Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine

Josef E. Fischer, M.D., F.A.C.S.  William V. McDermott Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School and Chair, Department of Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center:

  • American College of Surgeons' Appointee to the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Medical Advisory Panel
  • Specialty:  Surgery
  • Widely published author and researcher, member of the editorial board of 15 national medical journals, and senior editor of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons; editor of 14 texts of surgery, including the standard atlas of surgery, Mastery of Surgery
  • Recipient of numerous research grants and professional honors, including the Distinguished Service Award from the American College of Surgeons; currently serves as a Regent of the College and Chairman of the Health Policy Steering Committee; and on Executive Committee Board of Regents; has served as president of five national surgical organizations; former Chairman of the American Board of Surgery; currently on the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Surgery
  • Author of almost 850 peer-reviewed papers

Alan M. Garber, M.D., Ph.D.  Staff Physician, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Henry J. Kaiser, Jr., Professor, and Professor of Medicine, Economics, and Health Research and Policy, Stanford University:

  • Specialty: Internal Medicine and Economics
  • At Stanford University, Director of the Center for Health Policy, the Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research, and the Health Care Research and Policy Fellowship
  • Director of the Health Care Program of the National Bureau of Economic Research; Associate Director of the (VA) Center for Health Care Evaluation:  Health Services Research and Development Field  Program; Member, Institute of Medicine, American Society for Clinical Investigation, and Association of American Physicians
  • Chair, Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee
  • Research includes both methodological and applied research in cost-effectiveness analysis in health care, the effects of variation in patterns of care on costs and outcomes, the role of financial incentives in the utilization of acute services and long-term care among the elderly, projections of health expenditures, and international comparisons of health care financing, health care organization, and health outcomes; and the productivity of health care
  • Co-Scientific Advisor to the Association's Medical Advisory Panel

Steven N. Goodman, M.D., M.H.S., Ph.D.  Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Department of Oncology, Division of Biostatistics (joint appointments in Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Pediatrics):

  • American Academy of Pediatrics Appointee to the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Medical Advisory Panel
  • Specialty:  Pediatrics, Biostatistics, Epidemiology
  • Co-director, Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice Center
  • Editor in Chief of Clinical Trials: Journal of the Society for Clinical Trials, and Statistical Editor of Annals of Internal Medicine
  • Member of several IOM panels (Agent Orange, Immunization Safety) and committees for Surgeon General's reports (2001, 2002)
  • Member of Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee
  • Research and teaching focus on inferential and ethical issues in clinical research, peer review, meta-analysis
  • Board-certified by the American Board of Pediatrics
  • Co-Scientific Advisor to the Association's Medical Advisory Panel

I. Craig Henderson, M.D.  Adjunct Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco:

  • Specialty: Oncology
  • Former Chief of Medical Oncology and Associate Director of the Cancer Center at UCSF; former chairman of the Breast Cancer Committee of the Cancer and Acute Leukemia Group B (CALGB); former chairman of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration
  • Vice chairman of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Technologies for the Early Detection of Breast Cancer
  • Former chair of the World Health Organization (WHO) Committee on Essential Drugs (Cancer) and Participant in the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Cancer
  • Chairman of the Committee on Metastatic Breast Cancer of the Cochrane Collaboration on Meta-analyses.  Former chairman of the Early Breast Cancer Trialists Group (Oxford meta-analyses of breast cancer trials)
  • President of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals
  • Founder of the Breast Evaluation Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School
  • Associate editor, editorial board member and/or editorial advisory board for Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, European Journal of Cancer, The Breast, The Breast Journal, and Oncology

Walter A. Hollinger, M.D., M.M., M.H.P.E., F.A.C.P.  Senior Medical Director, Care Management, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida:

  • Specialty:  Internal Medicine/Critical Care
  • Chair of Blue Cross Blue Shield Association's (BCBSA) Medical Policy Panel
  • Responsible for medical aspects of all claims adjudication, including medical policy, utilization management, pricing, and provider relations; responsible for all member appeals, physician disputes, and critical inquiries; and accountable for medical management of large group accounts
  • Member, Hospital Acquired Infections Technical Workgroup, Agency for Health Care Administration, Tallahassee, Florida
  • Chairman of the BCBSA National Medical Management Forum
  • Member, State of Florida's Technical Advisory Panel for Bone Marrow Transplantation, Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, Tallahassee, Florida
  • Board-certified in internal medicine

Mark A. Hlatky, M.D.  Professor of Health Research and Policy and of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine), Stanford University School of Medicine

  • American College of Cardiology Appointee to the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Medical Advisory Panel
  • Specialty:  Cardiology
  • Director, Health Services Research Graduate Degree Program, Stanford University School of Medicine
  • Director, Donald W. Reynolds Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center
  • Former Co-Director, UCSF-Stanford Evidence-based Practice Center
  • Attending, Cardiovascular Medicine Service, Stanford University School of Medicine
  • Widely published researcher and editorial board member of several prestigious journals, including American Heart Journal and American Journal of Medicine

Bernard Lo, M.D.  Professor of Medicine and Director, Program in Medical Ethics, University of California, San Francisco

  • Specialty:  Medical Ethics
  • Member, Institute of Medicine Council
  • Director, Greenwall Faculty Scholars in Bioethics Program
  • Co-chair, Standards Working Ground of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
  • Co-Director, Policy and Ethics Core, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies
  • Author of Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in Clinical Practice
  • Board-certified in internal medicine

Barbara J. McNeil, M.D., Ph.D.  Ridley Watts Professor and Head, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School; Professor of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital:

  • Specialty: Technology Assessment/Quality of Care/Health Policy
  • Member of Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee and Vice Chair
  • Member, Institute of Medicine; Chair, Board of Health Care Services
  • Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • Widely published author in the areas of radiology, cost-effectiveness analysis, and quality of care
  • Board-certified by the National Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Nuclear Medicine

Joel Owerbach, Pharm.D.  Vice President and Chief Pharmacy Officer, Excellus Health Plans:

  • Specialty:  Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics
  • Member, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association's National Council of Physician and Pharmacy Executives and Executive Committee, National Medical Management Forum
  • Pioneered numerous clinical management and specialty programs, including drug information, pharmacokinetic evaluation, anticoagulation services, home intravenous therapy, and terminal care/hospice programs
  • Previously, Director, Clinical Research Division, Rochester Medical Group
  • Previously, President, HMO Pharmacy Consulting Services and HMO Pharmacy Symposium
  • Lifetime member of  the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy
  • Active in many national associations and has lectured and presented frequently to physicians, nurses, pharmacists and consumers on medication-related topics

William R. Phillips, M.D., M.P.H.  Clinical Professor of Family Medicine, University of Washington:

  • American Academy of Family Physicians appointee to the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Medical Advisory Panel
  • Specialty:  Family Medicine. Board-certified in family medicine and preventive medicine
  • Senior Research Scientist, Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation, Battelle Memorial Institute, Seattle
  • Senior Associate Editor, Annals of Family Medicine
  • Past-President, North American Primary Care Research Group
  • Past-Chair, American Academy of Family Physicians Commission on Clinical Policies and Research
  • Co-Director, Research Service Award (NRSA) Fellowship in Primary Care Research, UW
  • Author of over 100 original peer-reviewed publications

Alan B. Rosenberg, M.D.  Vice President, Medical Policy, Technology Assessment and Credentialing Programs, WellPoint, Inc.:

  • Specialty: Internal Medicine
  • Member, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s Medical Policy Panel
  • Professional responsibilities include Medical Policy and Technology Assessment, Credentialing Programs, and Utilization Management, Regulatory, Compliance and Audit
  • Member, Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee
  • Plan Provider Technology Assessment Work Group, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Cost Effectiveness Task Force
  • Board-certified in internal medicine

Maren T. Scheuner, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.M.G.  Natural Scientist, RAND Corporation; Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Health Services, UCLA School of Public Health:

  • American College of Medical Genetics Appointee to the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Medical Advisory Panel
  • Specialty:  Medical Genetics, Internal Medicine
  • Member, American Board of Medical Genetics, Board of Directors
  • Voting member, National Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee
  • Board-certified in internal medicine and medical genetics

J. Sanford Schwartz, M.D.  Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; Professor, Health Care Systems, Health Management & Economics, The Wharton School:

  • Specialty: Internal Medicine (ABIM certified)
  • Research Interests: medical decision making; health economics (cost–effectiveness analysis, cost–quality tradeoffs); assessment of medical interventions/technology assessment; adoption/diffusion medical innovation
  • Co–Director, Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, University of Pennsylvania; Former Executive Director, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania; Former Director, Cancer Center Program in Health Economics and Health Services Research, University of Pennsylvania
  • Past–President Society for Medical Decision Making; American Federation for Clinical Research
  • National Cholesterol Education Project Adult Treatment Panel III; National Advisory Committee Robert Wood Johnson Minority Faculty Development Committee; Board of Directors, ECRI; Scientific Advisory Panel, disease Management Association of America

Earl P. Steinberg, M.D., M.P.P.  President and CEO, Resolution Health, Inc.:

  • Specialty:  Technology Assessment/Internal Medicine
  • Adjunct Professor of Medicine (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine) and of Health Policy and Management (Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health)
  • Researcher in the areas of technology assessment, cost and effectiveness of alternative patterns of medical practice, methods for evaluating quality of care, strategies for improving quality of care, and the clinical and economic impacts of health care payment innovations
  • Fellow of the American College of Physicians – American Society of Internal Medicine
  • Board-certified in internal medicine

Robert T. Wanovich, Pharm.D.  Vice-President, Pharmacy Affairs, Highmark, Inc.:

  • Specialty: Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics
  • Member, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association’s National Council of Physician and Pharmacy Executives
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, Duquesne University Mylan School of Pharmacy
  • Professional Education Committee, Apothecare Collaborative Services, Inc.
  • Published in the areas of pharmacy benefit management and clinical therapeutics

A. Eugene Washington, M.D., M.Sc.  Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, University of California, San Francisco

  • Specialty:  Gynecology/Epidemiology/Health Policy
  • Chair, Internal Advisory Committee, UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center
  • Member, Institute of Medicine
  • Former Director, UCSF-Stanford Evidence-based Practice Center
  • Board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology and preventive medicine

James Weinstein, D.O., M.Sc.  Professor and Chair, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center/Dartmouth Medical School

  • Specialty: Orthopedics
  • Director, The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Dartmouth College
  • Director, Institute for Informed Patient Choice, Dartmouth Medical School
  • Senior Member, Center of the Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Dartmouth Medical School
  • Head of Clinical Chairs group, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center/Dartmouth Medical School
  • Board-certified in orthopedics

Jed Weissberg, M.D.  Associate Executive Director for Quality and Performance Improvement, The Permanente Federation

  • Specialty:  Gastroenterology
  • Chair of the Care Management Institute Board, Interregional New Technologies Committee, the Garfield Memorial Fund Board, and Medical Directors Quality Committee at Kaiser Permanente
  • Member of work groups/committees: CMO committee of the Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP), National Quality Forum (NQF), American's Health Insurance Plan (AHIP)
  • Archimedes Company, Board Director
  • Fellowship in alcoholism and substance abuse
  • Author of several important papers on the treatment of hepatitis B virus
  • Board-certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology