Duke-Margolis Welcomes Scholars in Residence

News Update

Duke-Margolis Welcomes Scholars in Residence

Date

July 26, 2016

The Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy welcomes its first four Scholars in Residence: 

Mohit Kaushal, MD, MBA, Special Advisor at General Atlantic

Aaron McKethan, PhD, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development at RxAnte, LLC

Edmund Pezalla, MD, MPH, Vice President and National Medical Director for Phamaceutical Policy and Strategy at Aetna

Michael Pignone, MD, MPH, Chair of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Dell Medical School

Scholars in Residence participate in working groups and activities that support research on a number of initiatives in health care delivery and payment reform, biomedical innovation for pharmaceuticals and devices, and health policy education and workforce development.

“Our inaugural scholars in residence are remarkable individuals whose leadership experience in health information technology, clinical medicine, care models for chronic disease, and the health insurance industry will enhance our ability to understand stakeholder perspectives and think deeply about ways to improve health and the value of health care by developing and implementing evidence-based policy solutions,” said Dr. Mark McClellan, Duke-Margolis’ director.

Dr. Kaushal’s extensive career in investing, clinical medicine, academia, and public policy includes his work as a lead investor, board member, or advisor to transformational healthcare companies.  He was a member of the White House Health IT task force, a cross-agency team implementing the technology aspects of Health Reform. He also built and led the first dedicated healthcare team at the Federal Communications Commission. Dr. Kaushal is also an adjunct professor at Stanford University Medical School with a joint appointment in the Biomedical Data Science Department and the Clinical Excellence Research Center. He was previously a Visiting Scholar at the Brookings Institution and serves on the FDASIA Workgroup of the Health IT Policy Committee and to the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, advising HHS on Data Access and Use. An Emergency Medicine Physician, Dr. Kaushal earned his MD with distinction from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London and his MBA at Stanford University.

 

In addition to Dr. McKethan’s experience with RxAnte, LLC, a provider of science-based information technology solutions for improving quality and lowering the cost of health care, he was previously a senior official at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, research director in health policy at Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution, and a management consultant at the Lewin Group.  He is Assistant Adjunct Professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. His work has appeared in such publications as the Journal of the American Medical Association, the New England Journal of Medicine, and Health Affairs.  Dr. McKethan earned his B.A. and Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He also serves on the board of directors for the North Carolina State Employees’ and Retirees’ Health Plan and the Choral Society of Durham.

Dr. Pezalla is a recognized leader in the development of advanced coverage and payment systems for pharmaceuticals. Dr. Pezalla is Aetna’s lead executive for public policy related to pharmaceuticals and is also responsible for public policy coordination and quality of care in the Office of the Chief Medical Officer, Aetna. Dr. Pezalla has consulted on projects related to technology development and coverage decisions for the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review and the Brookings Institution. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Pharmacy Quality Alliance and the Connecticut Biosciences Innovation Fund. Dr. Pezalla received his bachelor’s degree in Biophysics and his degree in Medicine from Georgetown University, and Masters in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley. He was as health services research fellow and PhD student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he completed all but the dissertation in the program in Health Services Organization and Policy.

Dr. Pignone is the inaugural chair of the department of internal medicine and a professor of medicine at the Dell Medical School. He was previously Professor of Medicine, chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine, and director of the Institute for Healthcare Quality Improvement at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research is focused on chronic disease screening, prevention, and treatment, and on improving medical decision making, particularly in heart disease prevention, colorectal cancer screening, and management of common chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart failure. He has developed and tested interventions to mitigate literacy-related health disparities and to improve the use of appropriate preventive services. He serves on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and has served on a number of national guideline and quality improvement panels. He has served as an Associate Editor for Medical Decision Making, a Medical Editor for the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation, and as an Editorial Board member for JAMA Internal Medicine. He earned his MD and completed residency training in primary care internal medicine at the University of California-San Francisco. He then completed fellowship training through the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, earning a master’s degree in epidemiology from the UNC School of Public Health.
 
The appointment of Scholar in Residence is reserved for individuals who, through their collaboration with the Duke-Margolis Center, are deserving of an affiliation but do not have any formal academic responsibilities nor do they receive financial support from the university.