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Committee Member and Staff Biographies
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Tracy A. Lieu, M.D., M.P.H., is the director of the Division of Research for Kaiser Permanente Northern California. She leads a group of 600 people who conduct studies in clinical effectiveness, delivery science, and epidemiology to enhance the health of Kaiser Permanente members and society at large. Dr. Lieu is a practicing pediatrician who has led nationally recognized work in vaccine safety and policy and childhood asthma. Previously, Dr. Lieu was a professor and the founding director of the Center for Child Health Care Studies in the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and Harvard Medical School. Her national roles have included membership on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the chair of the Health Services Organization and Delivery study section of the National Institutes of Health. She has served on three previous National Academies consensus study committees. Dr. Lieu has an M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, and an M.P.H. from the University of California, Berkeley. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Cathy J. Bradley, Ph.D., M.P.A., is a professor and the associate dean for research at the Colorado School of Public Health and the deputy director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center. She holds the Bunn Chair in Cancer Research. Prior to joining the University of Colorado, she was the founding chair of the Department of Healthcare Policy and Research
and the associate director of cancer prevention and control at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. Dr. Bradley is an internationally recognized expert in health services research and health economics. Her expertise is in labor market outcomes of cancer survivors, health policy, and health disparities. Dr. Bradley is on the editorial board of the Journal of Cancer Survivorship. She has previously served on a National Academies consensus study committee and currently serves on the National Cancer Policy Forum. Dr. Bradley has a Ph.D. and an M.P.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Theodore G. Ganiats, M.D., is a professor emeritus in family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Dr. Ganiats is a member of many professional associations, including the Society for Medical Decision Making, AcademyHealth, the American Public Health Association, and the International Society for Quality of Life Research. He was the founder and the first executive director of the UCSD Health Services Research Center. While representing the American Academy of Family Physicians, Dr. Ganiats reviewed dozens of reports for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. He has served as a member or the chair of more than 50 national guideline, quality, and performance panels spanning multiple disciplines. He served as the director of the National Center for Excellence in Primary Care Research at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. He has previously served on two National Academies consensus study committees. Dr. Ganiats has an M.D. from UCSD. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Keng-Yen Huang, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.A., is an associate professor of population health and child and adolescent psychiatry at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine. Dr. Huang is a co-investigator of the African Center for Collaborative Child Mental Health Implementation Research, which aims to build capacity for evidence-based child behavioral health policy and implementation research in Uganda, Ghana, and Kenya. In addition, she serves as the principal investigator and co-investigator on numerous child development and mental health implementation research projects in international contexts. Dr. Huang is a prevention and translational researcher with strong expertise across multiple disciplines, including epidemiology, behavioral health, pediatric health and development, health disparities, global public health, implementation and dissemination science, and health policy and management. Her current research efforts focus on child mental and behavioral health implementation and epidemiological research in primary care and in community service contexts both in low- and middle-income countries and in the
United States. Dr. Huang has a Ph.D. and an M.A. from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and an M.P.H. from New York University.
Preeti Gokal Kochar, Ph.D., is a technical information specialist at the National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health. At NLM, Dr. Kochar analyzes biomedical journal articles and assigns the relevant Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). She previously created and led a team that made a prototype of an app that uses MeSH taxonomy to create a visualization to search PubMed. Dr. Kochar works on projects involving data science, and her goal is to use data science to turn biomedical information into knowledge. Currently, she is leading a team to pro-grammatically identify new concepts in PubMed/MEDLINE citations as part of NLM’s Indexing Automation effort. Her areas of expertise include controlled vocabularies, information retrieval, literature-based discovery, genetics, molecular biology, and biochemistry. Dr. Kochar has a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina.
Ann E. Kurth, Ph.D., C.N.M., M.P.H., M.S.N., is the dean and the Linda Koch Lorimer Professor at the Yale University School of Nursing and a professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. As an epidemiologist and clinically trained nurse-midwife, Dr. Kurth’s research focuses on HIV/reproductive health and global health system strengthening, particularly in the context of climate change. Dr. Kurth has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and scholarly monographs and has presented at hundreds of scientific conferences and invited talks. She has received awards for her science and leadership including the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research Award and the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame award from Sigma Theta Tau International, the global nursing honor society. Dr. Kurth is a former member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a current member of the New York Academy of Medicine and the CT Academy of Science and Engineering, and a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She has previously served on two National Academies consensus study committees and currently chairs the Board on Global Health. Dr. Kurth has a Ph.D. from the University of Washington; an M.S.N., R.N., and C.S.N. from Yale University in Connecticut; and an M.P.H. from Columbia University in New York. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Tianjing Li, M.D., Ph.D., M.H.S., is an associate professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Colorado (CU) Anschutz Medical Campus with a secondary appointment in the Department of Epidemiology at the CU School of Public Health. Prior to her roles at CU,
Dr. Li worked as an associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHBSPH). The primary focus of Dr. Li’s research is to develop, evaluate, and disseminate efficient methods for comparing health care interventions and to provide trustworthy evidence for decision making. Dr. Li holds leadership roles within Cochrane, including serving as the associate director for Cochrane United States from 2012 to 2018, a coordinating editor for Cochrane Eyes and Vision since 2018, a co-convener for the Cochrane Comparing Multiple Interventions Methods Group since 2011, and a member of the Cochrane Methods Executive Committee since 2019. Dr. Li was the 2019 recipient of Cochrane’s Anne Anderson Award, which recognized her cumulative accomplishment, originality, and independence of thought, leadership, and inspiration for women within Cochrane. Dr. Li is the president elect of the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology. She serves as the Society’s secretary and received its inaugural Early Career Award in 2016. Dr. Li has previously served on a National Academies consensus study committee. She has an M.D. from Sichuan University in China, and a Ph.D. and an M.H.S. from JHBSPH.
K. M. Venkat Narayan, M.D., M.Sc., M.B.A., is the director of the Emory Global Diabetes Research Center, a professor of global health and epidemiology at the Emory Rollins School of Public Health, and a professor of medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Narayan studies diabetes and noncommunicable disease pathophysiology, epidemiology, control, prevention, and policy. He has been involved in scientific leadership of several major national and international multi-center epidemiological studies, public health surveillance, translation research, intervention studies, economic models, and health policy. Dr. Narayan has previously served on two National Academies consensus study committees. He has an M.D. from St. John’s Medical College in India, an M.Sc. from the University of Edinburgh, and an M.B.A from Herriot Watt University in Scotland. Dr. Narayan is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Wanda K. Nicholson, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., is the chair of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ Working Group on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Excellence and serves on the Board of Directors for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is a practicing obstetrician-gynecologist in North Carolina and a researcher in population health and health equity, population improvement, and access to care for rural populations. Her research focus centers on social determinants of health and management of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Nicholson works to develop research performance measures for value--
based care and better health outcomes. She is an associate editor for the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a former member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Dr. Nicholson has an M.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an M.P.H. from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.B.A. from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.
Elizabeth O. Ofili, M.D., M.P.H., FACC, is a professor of medicine at the Morehouse School of Medicine and the chief medical officer of the Morehouse Choice Accountable Care Organization in Georgia. Dr. Ofili is a national and internationally recognized clinician scientist with particular focus on cardiovascular disparities and women’s health. As the president of the Association of Black Cardiologists, she led the initiative to implement the landmark African American Heart Failure Trial, whose findings led to a change in practice guidelines for the treatment of heart failure in African Americans. She has previously served on a National Academies consensus study committee and currently serves on the Roundtable on the Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Dr. Ofili has an M.D. from Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria and an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Nicolaas P. Pronk, Ph.D., M.A., is the president of HealthPartners Institute and the chief science officer at HealthPartners in Minnesota. He serves as the co-chair of the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services’ Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2030. In addition, he holds a faculty appointment as an adjunct professor of social and behavioral sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Massachusetts and an affiliate full professor of health policy and management at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Dr. Pronk’s work is focused on connecting evidence of effectiveness with practical applications of programs, practices, policies, and systems that measurably improve population health and well-being. He is a former member of the Community Preventive Services Task Force and the Defense Health Board. He has previously served on four National Academies consensus study committees and currently chairs the Roundtable on Obesity Solutions. Dr. Pronk has a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University College Station and an M.A. from Kearney State College in Nebraska.
Robert B. Wallace, M.D., M.Sc., is the Irene Ensminger Stecher Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology and Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa College of Public Health. He is currently involved in several active
research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health. He has conducted many population health studies and clinical trials focusing on the prevention and control of chronic illnesses and other disabling conditions of older persons. Dr. Wallace was a member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the National Advisory Council on Aging of the National Institute on Aging and is a fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine. He received the National Academy of Medicine’s Walsh McDermott Medal in recognition for his distinguished service, having participated in more than 20 National Academies consensus study committees. Dr. Wallace has an M.D. from Northwestern University in Illinois and an M.Sc. from State University of New York at Buffalo. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
STAFF
Kathleen R. Stratton, Ph.D., serves as the study director for the Committee on Addressing Evidence Gaps in Clinical Prevention Recommendations. Dr. Stratton began her career at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in 1990 in the Institute of Medicine (IOM). She has spent most of her time with the Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice. She has staffed committees addressing vaccine safety and development, pandemic preparedness, environmental and occupational health, drug safety, and tobacco control. Dr. Stratton received the IOM Cecil Research Award for sustained contributions to vaccine safety and was made a staff Scholar in 2005. After 2 years at The Pew Charitable Trusts working on Food and Drug Administration reform, she returned to the National Academies in fall 2013. Dr. Stratton is currently involved in a workshop on sponsor influence on health research. She is also directing one study related to evaluating Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration–funded programs under the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act in addition to this one on addressing research gaps in clinical prevention recommendations. Dr. Stratton received a B.A. in natural sciences from Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She conducted postdoctoral research in the Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Alexis Wojtowicz is an associate program officer who has supported the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice since 2016. She has also supported the Roundtable on Health Literacy, an action collaborative on preventing firearm violence, and consensus studies about Medicare
payment and the public health effects of e-cigarettes. Before joining the National Academies, Wojtowicz conducted recruitment and intake at a culinary job training program in Washington, DC, and prior to that, coordinated an AmeriCorps VISTA program that placed Summer Associate members at anti-hunger nonprofit organizations across the United States. Wojtowicz has a B.A. in art history from the University of Maryland and is currently pursuing an M.P.H. at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she is a Bloomberg American Health Initiative Fellow.
Ayshia Coletrane recently joined the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice as a senior program assistant in 2020. She supports the Roundtable on Population Health Improvement and the consensus study addressing evidence gaps in clinical prevention recommendations. Prior to joining the National Academies, Coletrane taught English as a Fulbright Scholar in Spain. She also conducted research for a study examining the social determinants of health among the Washington, DC, Medicaid population at The George Washington (GW) University Milken Institute School of Public Health, and later coordinated a medical student clerkship under the GW Medical Faculty Associates’ Department of Emergency Medicine. Coletrane has a B.S. in health: science, society & policy, and a B.A. in biology from Brandeis University, and is currently pursuing an M.H.A. at The GW Milken Institute School of Public Health.
Rose Marie Martinez, Sc.D., is the senior director of the National Academies’ Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice. The board has a vibrant portfolio of studies that address high profile and pressing issues that affect population health. It 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 educating and supplying the health professionals necessary for carrying them out. The board has examined such topics as the safety of childhood vaccines and other drugs; systems for evaluating and ensuring drug safety after marketing; pandemic influenza planning; the health effects of cannabis and cannabinoids; the health effects of environmental exposures; the integration of medical care and public health; women’s health services; health disparities; health literacy; tobacco control strategies; and chronic disease prevention. Before joining the National Academies, Dr. Martinez was a senior health researcher at Mathematica Policy Research, where she conducted research on the impact of health system change on the public
health infrastructure, access to care for low-income 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 Accounting Office, where she directed evaluations and policy analysis in the area of national and public health issues. Her experience also includes 6 years directing research studies for the Regional Health Ministry of Madrid, Spain. Dr. Martinez is a member of the Council on Education for Public Health, the accreditation body for schools of public health and public health programs. Dr. Martinez received her Sc.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.
