People & Programs—September 2014

Dr. Nelson named GHRI Director of Biostatistics

Senior Investigator Jennifer Nelson, PhD, is now GHRI Director of Biostatistics. This new leadership position reflects the growing importance of biostatistics for health care research at GHRI and worldwide, said Group Health Vice President for Research and GHRI Executive Director Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH. Dr. Nelson has leadership roles in the Food and Drug Administration’s Mini-Sentinel Initiative for monitoring medical product safety and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Safety Datalink. She will continue this work while directing the GHRI Biostatistics Unit in supporting ongoing and new GHRI studies and recruiting new faculty.

Dr. Michael Parchman hosts Australian Harkness Fellow

GHRI welcomes Paul Burgess, PhD, MPH, senior remote medical practitioner of chronic conditions, Australian Northern Territories Department of Health. Dr. Burgess is visiting GHRI until May 2015 to study how a patient-centered medical home can provide chronic condition care for vulnerable minority populations. He is supported by a Harkness Fellowship from the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation. His host is Director of GHRI’s MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation and Senior Investigator Michael L. Parchman, MD, MPH.

GHRI Affiliate Investigator Dr. Bonomi speaks on adolescent dating violence

With support from the Group Health Foundation, GHRI Affiliate Investigator and Michigan State University Chair of Human Development and Family Studies Amy Bonomi, PhD, MPH, has been studying how to prevent interpersonal violence. Her collaborators include GHRI Senior Biostatistician Melissa L. Anderson, MS. In August, as part of the Foundation's new focus on adolescents, Dr. Bonomi spoke on preventing adolescent dating violence at a Seattle/King County School-Based Health Conference.

Group Health physician researchers are among Seattle's best docs

The 2014 Seattle Met magazine list of Top Doctors and Nurses included nearly 100 from Group Health, including four physician researchers: GHRI Senior Investigator and Group Health Medical Director for Population & Purchaser Strategy David C. Grossman, MD, MPH; GHRI Senior Investigator and Assistant Medical Director, Group Health Department of Preventive Care Paula Lozano, MD, MPH; and GHRI Affiliate Investigators Chief of Genetics Services Kathleen Leppig, MD; and dermatologist Andrew W. Shors, MD.

Dr. Mroz joins the University of Washington School of Medicine faculty

GHRI congratulates Tracy Mroz, PhD, OTR/L, who recently completed her Group Health Foundation-funded postdoctoral work at GHRI and joined the faculty at the University of Washington Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. She will continue collaborations with her GHRI colleagues, including studying the ecology of home-based care at Group Health, funded by the Group Health Foundation Geriatric Research Fund; and the Ambulatory Practice Assessment Project led by Robert J. Reid, MD, PhD, GHRI senior investigator and Group Health medical director, research translation.