Group Health and UW scientist Bruce M. Psaty, MD, PhD, named to Institute of Medicine

Election to national advisory group recognizes Dr. Psaty’s contributions to health and safety

Seattle, WA—The Institute of Medicine (IOM) announced today, Oct. 21, that Bruce M. Psaty, MD, PhD, has been newly elected into its membership ranks, one of the most prestigious honors in the fields health and medicine.

Dr. Psaty is a senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute (GHRI), professor of medicine in the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine, and professor of epidemiology and health services in the UW School of Public Health. He co-directs the Cardiovascular Health Research Unit, a joint program of the UW and GHRI. Dr. Psaty also practices general internal medicine at the Adult Medicine Clinic at Harborview Medical Center.

Founded in 1970, the IOM is the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences. As both an honorific organization and an advisory group, it acts as a national resource for independent, scientifically informed analysis and recommendations on health issues.

Dr. Psaty has had major roles as an epidemiologist at the coordinating centers of National Institutes of Health-funded multi-center studies, including the Cardiovascular Health Study, the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and the Women’s Health Initiative. His research interests include heart attacks, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, drug safety, and genetics.

New IOM members are elected by current members and are chosen for advancing medical science, health care, and public health. About a fourth of the members are neither health professionals nor biomedical scientists, but come from law, economics, sociology, geography, political science, and other areas. During the past year, its expert panels have addressed many public concerns, including elder abuse, violence around the world, population health implications of the Affordable Care Act, vaccine development priorities, commercial sexual exploitation of minors, pregnancy weight gain guidelines, birth settings, and the growing demand for cancer care.

Dr. Psaty is known for his work evaluating the risks and benefits of a variety of medications, including hormone therapy, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents, and drugs to treat high blood pressure, diabetes, lipid disorders, asthma, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, osteoporosis, and chronic pain. He is also interested in drug-gene interactions that may influence individual reactions to medications.

Recently, Psaty has worked with other investigators to establish the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology, or CHARGE Consortium. He has been named a Distinguished Scientist of the American Heart Association.

Psaty has served as chair of the National Institutes of Health’s Cardiovascular Disease and Sleep Epidemiology Study Section, as a member of the IOM’s Committee on the Assessment of the U.S. Drug Safety System and its Committee on Ethical and Scientific Issues in Studying the Safety of Approved Drugs. He has also served on the Executive Committee of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Instituteʼs Strategic Planning Effort and on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Netherlands Biobank Infrastructure. Currently he is a member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administrationʼs Science Board, its Mini-Sentinel Initiativeʼs Safety Science Committee, and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Instituteʼs Advisory Council.

A prolific researcher and the author of numerous papers, he also is a frequent contributor to editorial and commentary sections of medical and scientific journals, and a member of several editorial boards. He is a teacher and mentor to students, fellows, and junior faculty in medicine and in epidemiology.

Dr. Psaty joins two other GHRI investigators in the IOM. GHRI Executive Director Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH, and MacColl Institute Director Emeritus Ed Wagner, MD, MPH, were elected to the advisory body in 2007.

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