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Biographies of Annals Staff

Editor in Chief

Christine Laine, MD, MPH

Christine Laine, MD, MPH Christine Laine, MD, MPH, is Editor in Chief of Annals of Internal Medicine. She is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Internal Medicine at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where she is active in patient care and teaching. Dr. Laine first joined Annals in June 1995 as the journal's first general internal medicine Associate Editor and the first woman to fill an Associate Editor position at the journal. She became a Deputy Editor in 1998 and Senior Deputy Editor in April 2008. In July 2009, Dr. Laine became the youngest and first solo female Editor in Chief of Annals of Internal Medicine and a Senior Vice President at the American College of Physicians.

Dr. Laine graduated summa cum laude, with a double major in biology and writing, from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. She received her medical degree from State University of New York at Stony Brook and completed residency training in internal medicine at The New York Hospital (Cornell University) and a fellowship in general internal medicine and clinical epidemiology at Beth Israel Hospital (Harvard University). Dr. Laine earned her master of public health degree, with a concentration in quantitative methods and clinical epidemiology, at Harvard University.

Dr. Laine is active in the world of medical journalism and has held leadership positions in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, the Council of Science Editors, and the World Association of Medical Editors. She has been instrumental in the development of editorial policy about such issues as authorship, conflicts of interest in medical research, and data sharing.

Senior Deputy Editor

Christina C. Wee, MD, MPH

Christina C. Wee, MD, MPH

Christina C. Wee, MD, MPH is Senior Deputy Editor of Annals of Internal Medicine. She also serves as Secretary for the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Prior to joining Annals in 2019 as a Deputy Editor, Dr. Wee was an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (where she continues to maintain a faculty appointment) and a clinician-investigator and practicing primary care physician in the Division of General Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Her prior leadership roles included being the Division’s Associate Chief for Research and Director of Obesity Research; the Program-Director for the Harvard-wide General Medicine Faculty Development Fellowship Program (2006–2018) and the Associate Program Director for Research for BIDMC’s Internal Medicine Residency Program (2016-2020). In addition, Dr. Wee served on the Board of Directors of Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at BIDMC (2017-2020).

Dr. Wee graduated magna cum laude with a BS in chemistry from Ursinus College and received her MD from Jefferson Medical College, where she was a member of the AOA Honor Society. She completed her residency at the University of Texas Southwestern in 1997, her general medicine research fellowship at the Harvard Combined Fellowship Program in 1999 and her MPH degree at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Wee's prior research focused on obesity, health disparities, and patient preferences and medical decision-making around obesity treatment. Her work has been funded by numerous foundation and NIH grants and includes a multicenter longitudinal cohort study to understand patient preferences, decision-making and outcomes associated with bariatric surgery. Her research leveraged a combination of research methods including survey research, development of epidemiologic cohorts, clinical intervention trials, and analyses of large complex national data sets. An outstanding investigator and mentor, Dr. Wee was inducted into the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2012 and is the recipient of several regional and national awards, including the 2011 Midcareer Research and Mentorship Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine. Dr. Wee has served on many national scientific committees and her previous editorial roles include serving as Deputy Editor and member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of General Internal Medicine and as Associate Editor for JAMA Internal Medicine.

Deputy Editors

Stephanie Chang, MD, MPH

Stephanie Chang, MD, MPH Stephanie Chang has been the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) Program. In this position, she oversaw the critical appraisal of evidence through systematic reviews and technology assessments. Under her direction, the EPC program advanced methods for comparative effectiveness reviews, diagnostic tests, complex interventions, and updating reviews. She is a strong proponent of improving the readability, usability, and interoperability of research findings. She has served on the Guidelines International Network Board of Trustees and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Methodology Committee.

Stephanie received her BS and MD from the University of Michigan and received postdoctoral training and an MPH from Johns Hopkins University. She trained in internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Minnesota and is board-certified in internal medicine.

Vineet Chopra, MBBS, MD, MSc

Vineet Chopra Dr. Vineet Chopra is the Department of Medicine’s Robert W. Schrier Chair of Medicine in the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Prior to being recruited to CU Anschutz in October 2021, Dr. Chopra served as the inaugural Chief of Hospital Medicine at the University of Michigan Health System, leading and building the first new division created in the department in more than 50 years. He is an accomplished physician-scientist and health services researcher focused on patient safety, hospital-acquired complications and the art and science of mentorship.

Dr. Chopra joined the University of Michigan School of Medicine in 2008. Prior to that, he completed residency training at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center in 2005. He earned his MBBS in 2001 from the Grant Medical College in Mumbai, India. Dr. Chopra’s father was a diplomat and an ambassador from India to many countries. As a child, Chopra attended elementary school in Paris, middle school in Cairo, and high school in Japan. He speaks seven languages and continues to partner with many universities in countries where he previously lived.

Dr. Chopra’s research is dedicated to improving the safety of hospitalized patients through prevention of hospital-acquired complications. His work focuses on identifying and preventing complications associated with vascular access devices, with a particular emphasis on peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs). Chopra’s research has informed national and international policies and guidelines related to vascular access in hospitalized patients.

He is the recipient of numerous teaching and research awards including the Kaiser Permanente Award for Clinical Teaching, the Jerome W. Conn Award for Outstanding Research in the Department of Medicine at Michigan, the Society of Hospital Medicine Excellence in Research Award, and the McDevitt Award for Research Excellence.

In recognition of his efforts to mentor and train the next generation of physician scientists, Dr. Chopra received the Distinguished Clinical and Translational Research Mentor Award by the Michigan Institute for Clinical Health Research in 2019. Chopra has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers, edited and authored 5 textbooks and serves as Deputy Editor for the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Deborah Cotton, MD, MPH, MA

Deborah Cotton, MD, MPH

Dr. Deborah Cotton is Professor of Medicine Emerita at Boston University School of Medicine, where she received her medical degree. She later received a master of public health degree in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. Dr. Cotton served her internship and residency at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and completed fellowship training in infectious diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. She is board certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases.

Throughout her career, Dr. Cotton's research has focused on HIV/AIDS. She has served on numerous national committees, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Antiviral Advisory Committee (Member and Chair), the Board on Health Sciences Policy of the Institute of Medicine, and the National Institutes of Health AIDS Clinical Epidemiology Study Section. She is a past member and chair of the National and Global Public Health Committee of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and has served on the Infectious Diseases Society of America Board of Directors.

In 1998, Dr. Cotton was recruited from the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard School of Public Health to serve as the inaugural Assistant Provost for Clinical Research for the Boston University Medical Campus, as well as Professor of Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine and Professor of Epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health.

During her time at Boston University, she has served in many roles, including as Chief, Medical Service, VA Boston Healthcare System, and Chief Medical Officer of the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative.

Dr. Cotton has been a Deputy Editor at the Annals of Internal Medicine since 2009. A strong believer in lifelong learning, in 2022 she received a master of arts degree in the history of medicine from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Eliseo Guallar, MD, MPH, DrPH

Eliseo Guallar, MD, MPH, DrPH

Dr. Guallar is Professor and Chair of Epidemiology at New York University’s School of Global Public Health. Prior to his position at New York University, Dr. Guallar was Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg of Public Health. Dr. Guallar obtained his MD at the University of Zaragoza (Spain), and trained in epidemiology at the University of Minnesota and the Harvard School of Public Health, where he obtained a Doctor of Public Health degree.

Dr. Guallar's main fields of interest are cardiovascular disease epidemiology and the development and application of statistical methods to epidemiological and clinical research. He is conducting several population studies on the association of environmental and dietary exposures with cardiovascular risk. Dr. Guallar is also involved in studying the determinants of sudden cardiac death in low-risk and high-risk populations and in evaluating the trajectories of cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors in a large cohort of Korean men and women attending annual health exams. Dr. Guallar has also substantial experience in the conduct of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Dr. Guallar has published more than 550 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Guallar has served in numerous review panels for the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. He has been Deputy Editor for Statistics at Annals since January 2020.

Sankey V. Williams, MD

Sankey V. Williams, MD

Dr. Williams is Emeritus Professor of Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine and Emeritus Professor of Health Care Management in the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He was Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine from 1992 to 2008 and Director of Penn’s Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program from 1988 to 1996.

Dr. Williams has published more than 60 original articles that describe his work as a health services researcher. This work concentrated on physicians' decisions to use clinical resources, often regarding the use of diagnostic tests. It also focused on patient classification systems used by researchers and policy makers to adjust outcomes for severity of illness.

Dr. Williams was President of the Society of General Internal Medicine from 2000-2001, recipient of the Society's 2008 Robert J. Glaser Award for exceptional contributions in education and research, and Editor of the Society’s Journal of General Internal Medicine from 1995–1999. In addition, he is a former President of the Society for Medical Decision Making, Moreover, he was Chair of one of four study Sections at the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, and he was appointed Commissioner on the U.S. Congress's Prospective Payment Assessment Commission, which advised Congress about changes in Medicare payment to hospitals.

Yu-Xiao Yang, MD, MSCE

Yu-Xiao Yang, MD Yu-Xiao Yang, MD, MSCE, is Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology in the Department of Medicine, and a Senior Scholar in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a staff gastroenterologist at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center and a core investigator of the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, a VA HSR&D Center of Innovation. He is board-certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology. Dr. Yang first joined Annals of Internal Medicine as Associate Editor in 2006 and became a Deputy Editor in 2019.

Dr. Yang graduated summa cum laude from the City College of New York in 1992 with a major in electrical engineering. He subsequently received his MD from the New York University School of Medicine in 1996. He was then recruited to the internal medicine residency program at the University of Pennsylvania. He subsequently underwent gastroenterology fellowship training at Penn from 1999 to 2002. During his fellowship, he acquired an MSCE degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Yang has developed an active and independent research program in GI cancer epidemiology and GI pharmacoepidemiology. His research program has been continuously supported by highly competitive venues, including the NIH, AHRQ, VA, and GI foundations and has yielded numerous peer-reviewed original research publications. In addition, as a member of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Clinical Practice and Quality Management committee, he served on a number of AGA evidence-based guideline panels. Dr. Yang also previously served as Associate Editor for Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, the official journal of the International Society of Pharmacoepidemiology.

Associate Editors

Bryan C. Batch, MD, MHS, is a Professor in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition at Duke University. She serves as Vice Chief for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for the Duke Endocrinology Division and is Faculty Director for the Duke NCCU Bridge Office. She is also the Endocrine Section Chief for the Durham VA Health Care System.

Dr. Batch graduated from the UNC School of Medicine, completed her General Internal Medicine Residency training at Boston Medical Center where she was also a Chief Resident. She completed her Endocrine Fellowship at Duke University. She is board certified in Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition.

Dr. Batch is a clinician scientist and practicing adult endocrinologist who has clinical expertise in diabetes, obesity, thyroid, and lipid disorders. Her research is focused on the design, adaptation and implementation of interventions targeted to reduce disparities in obesity and diabetes and enhance delivery of care for patients with diabetes. She is an accomplished clinician scientist with over 80 publications and is a Co-Investigator on multiple NIH Funded clinical trials.

Michael Bretthauer, MD, PhD, is professor of medicine at the Universities of Oslo and Tromsø, and a gastroenterologist at Oslo University Hospital, Norway. Dr. Bretthauer received his MD in 1996 from the University of Gottingen, Germany, and his PhD from the University of Oslo, Norway, in 2004. Dr. Bretthauer is teaching evidence-based medicine and quality improvement science at the medical schools of the Universities of Oslo and Tromsø, Norway. Dr. Bretthauer's research interests include clinical trials and clinical epidemiology in gastroenterology and endoscopy, and evidence-based medicine. He is a senior member of the clinical effectiveness research group at the University of Oslo, which conducts large-scale international clinical trials in gastroenterology, cancer screening and artificial intelligence. Dr. Bretthauer won the Most Successful Researcher Award at Oslo University Hospital in 2020. Dr. Bretthauer is a member of the governing board of the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. He has previously served as an editor at the Norwegian Medical Journal, the journal Endoscopy, and as an editorial fellow and CME editor at the New England Journal of Medicine.

John E. Cornell, PhD

Efrat Dotan, MD, is the Executive Medical Director of the Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute (ABBCI). She specializes in the management of patients with gastrointestinal malignancies with a focus on the care of older patients with GI cancers. Her research focuses on clinical trials investigating new treatment approaches for GI malignancies specifically pancreatic cancer, the development of tools to improve the assessment and care of older adults with cancer, as well as investigating novel treatment approaches for this patient population.     

Dr. Dotan serves as the Co-Chair of the NCI Pancreatic Task Force representing the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG). Within ECOG she is a member of the Gastrointestinal Malignancies Committee serving as the PI for a national elderly specific pancreatic cancer study (EA2186). She is also the chair and founder of the ECOG Geriatric Oncology Working Group. In addition, Dr. Dotan chairs of the NCCN Older Adult Oncology Panel.  

Dr. Dotan was heavily involved in education leadership of the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center for many years. She has authored many manuscripts, review articles and book chapters and served on the editorial board of the Journal of Geriatric Oncology and as an ad-hoc reviewer for many peer reviewed journals. 

Steven N. Goodman, MD, PhD, MHS, has been a statistical and Associate Editor at Annals of Internal Medicine since 1987, serving under 5 editors. He is Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research and Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health and of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. He directs the Stanford CTSA training programs in clinical research and co-directs METRICS (Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford), a center focused on studying and improving the validity of published medical research. He also directs the Stanford Program on Research Rigor and Responsibility (SPORR) and was chief of the Epidemiology division from 2014-2019. Before moving to Stanford in 2011, he was on the Johns Hopkins faculty for over 2 decades, in the oncology center's division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics and in their Department of Epidemiology.

Dr. Goodman was editor-in-chief of the journal Clinical Trials from 2004 to 2013. He serves as scientific advisor to the Blue Cross-Blue Shield Technology Assessment program and is Chair of the PCORI Methodology Committee. He was awarded the 2016 Spinoza Chair in Medicine from the University of Amsterdam for his work in inference, the 2019 Lilienfeld award from the American College of Epidemiology for his lifetime contributions to the field of epidemiology and is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. He received an AB from Harvard, majoring in Applied Mathematics and Biochemistry, an MD from NYU, trained in Pediatrics at Washington University in St. Louis, in which he was board-certified, and received an MHS in Biostatistics and PhD in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Miguel Hernán, MD, DrPH uses health data and causal inference methods to learn what works. As Director of the CAUSALab at Harvard, he and his collaborators repurpose real world data into scientific evidence for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and mental illness. As Kolokotrones Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, he teaches at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. His free online course “Causal Diagrams” and book “Causal Inference: What If” (with James Robins) are widely used. Miguel has received many awards for his work, including the Rousseeuw Prize for Statistics, the Rothman Epidemiology Prize, and a MERIT award from the National Institutes of Health. He is Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Statistical Association, Editor Emeritus of Epidemiology, and past Associate Editor of Biometrics, American Journal of Epidemiology, and Journal of the American Statistical Association.

William G. Kussmaul III, MD, received an undergraduate degree in physics from Yale College and his MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1976. After service in the U.S. Navy, he completed advanced cardiology training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 1985 and practiced invasive and interventional cardiology at the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, and Hahnemann University Hospital in the Philadelphia area. He has been an Associate Editor at Annals of Internal Medicine since 1995.

Michael A. Lacombe, MD, has been the Associate Editor for the "On Being a Doctor," "On Being a Patient," and "Ad Libitum" sections of Annals of Internal Medicine since 1991.  He has published more than 100 stories and essays in peer-reviewed medical journals, as well as 13 books. A collection of his stories, Bedside: The Art of Medicine, was published by the University of Maine Press in 2010. The American College of Physicians presented the Nicholas E. Davies Memorial Scholar Award for Scholarly Activities in the Humanities and History of Medicine to Dr. Lacombe in April 2011. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Southern Maine in May 2012. He has served as Regent of the ACP, on the Board of the ABIM, President of the Harvard Medical Alumni Council, and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians/London in 2018.  Dr. Lacombe has retired from the practice of internal medicine and cardiology in Maine and lives in suburban Portland, Maine with his wife Margaret Mary.

Tianjing Li, MD, PhD, MHS is a Professor of Ophthalmology and Epidemiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Dr. Li received her PhD in Epidemiology and MHS in Biostatistics, both from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Li was an Associate Professor at the Center for Clinical Trials and Evidence Synthesis in the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health until 2019.

Dr. Li has worked with Cochrane for 17 years, including taking on many leadership positions. She is an Associate Scientific Editor for the 2nd edition of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions and was the 2019 recipient of Cochrane’s Anne Anderson Award. Outside of Cochrane, Dr. Li serves as an Editor-in-Chief for the journal Trials, the Review Editor for JAMA Ophthalmology, a Section Editor for book Principles and Practice of Clinical Trials, an Author and Editor for Textbook of Epidemiology (2nd edition), among others. She is an elected member to the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology where she serves as the President and received its inaugural Early Career Award in 2016.

The primary focus of Dr. Li’s research is to develop, evaluate, and disseminate efficient methods for comparing healthcare interventions and to provide trustworthy evidence for decision-making. She has garnered an international reputation as a leader in comparative effectiveness research (clinical trials, systematic review, network meta-analysis) and patient-centered outcomes research. Dr. Li’s research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the US Food and Drug Administration, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, among others.

A. Russell Localio, JD, MPH, MS, PhD, received undergraduate and then graduate degrees in economics from Columbia University and Michigan State University, an MS in biostatistics and an MPH (public health) from Harvard, and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. After serving as a research associate at Harvard and on the faculty of biostatistics at Penn State University, Hershey, he joined the faculty in the Division of Biostatistics in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics at University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. In addition to an extensive portfolio of collaborative research in both clinical trials and observational studies in internal medicine, infectious diseases, cardiology, psychiatry, emergency medicine, and pediatrics, he developed and taught formal courses in statistics for graduate students and clinicians. He continues research collaborations in his emeritus faculty status.

Lisa A. Mandl, MD, MPH, received an undergraduate degree from Williams College and a medical degree from the University of British Columbia, where she also completed her residency in Internal Medicine. She completed a fellowship in Rheumatology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, as well as a Master’s degree in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.  She is actively involved in research, with a focus on arthritis and joint replacements, and is committed to mentoring the next generation of clinical investigators.  Dr. Mandl is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Professor of Population Health Sciences at Weill Cornell Medical College and works as a clinical investigator and attending rheumatologist at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

Anita Palepu, MD, MPH, completed her medical degree at McMaster University, her internal medicine residency at Queen's University, and her general internal medicine fellowship and master's in public health degree from Boston University. She is a Professor and Eric W Hamber Chair, Head of the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and at Providence Health Care. Her research area is in urban health, particularly housing, homelessness, and health. Along with her work as Associate Editor with Annals of Internal Medicine, she also works as attending staff on the Clinical Teaching Unit at St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Rita Popat, MD, MS, MSPT, is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health and Director of the Master’s program in Clinical Research and Epidemiology at Stanford University. She has a PhD in epidemiology and also holds master’s degrees in biostatistics and physical therapy. She teaches several courses on research methodology related to the design and conduct of epidemiologic, clinical, and translational studies in the graduate program in epidemiology. Her research focuses on the epidemiology of Parkinson disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, specifically evaluating the genetic and environmental contributions to these neurodegenerative disorders.

Mindy G. Schuster, MD, MSCE, received a BA in English and the biologic basis of behavior, and a master's in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics from the University of Pennsylvania. She got her MD from Yale University and did a residency in internal medicine at New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center and then a fellowship in infectious disease at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Professor of Medicine/Infectious Disease at the University of Pennsylvania, where her clinical and research focus is in infections in patients with hematologic malignancy, stem cell transplantation, and invasive fungal infections.

Jodi B. Segal, MD, MPH, is a Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she practices general internal medicine. She also has appointments in the Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Departments of Health Policy and Management and in Epidemiology. She is a fellow of ACP and the International Society of Pharmacoepidemiology. She has been a leader in comparative effectiveness research nationally. She is an associate director of the Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research and is the co-director of the Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness and Johns Hopkins. She previously served on the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee (MEDCAC) and was a member of the FDA's Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee. Her medical degree is from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and her MPH is from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Ashwini Sehgal, MD, is the Duncan Neuhauser Professor of Community Health Improvement at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He is also Professor of Medicine, Biomedical Ethics, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Case Western. In addition, he is a nephrologist and member of the Population Health and Equity Research Institute at The MetroHealth System in Cleveland. Dr. Sehgal received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Rochester and his MD from Harvard Medical School. He then completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and a nephrology fellowship while participating in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at the University of California, San Francisco. His active research interests include climate change, health disparities, access to kidney transplantation, quality of care, and renal nutrition.

Alisa Stephens-Shields, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. She earned PhD and AM degrees in biostatistics from Harvard University and a BS in mathematics with minor in Spanish from the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Stephens-Shields is a recipient of the inaugural Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies Leadership Academy award and has held elected positions in the American Statistical Association Section on Statistics in Epidemiology and the Eastern North American Region of the International Biometrics Society. She currently serves as an Associate Editor of Biostatistics and was previously an Associate Editor of Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety. Dr. Stephens-Shields’ research focuses on extensions and innovative applications of causal inference to enhance the design and analysis of clinical trials. She also works in the development of patient-reported outcomes to inform population-appropriate trial end points and collaborates in clinical trials and observational studies in pediatrics, chronic pain, pharmacoepidemiology, and behavioral economics. Dr. Stephens-Shields has delivered lectures and facilitated workshops for the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; the American Association for Cancer Research; and numerous top universities.

Michael Unger, MD, is an expert in the field of lung cancer and was an early pioneer in the field of interventional bronchoscopy. His experience includes serving at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia as a professor and director of the pulmonary cancer detection and prevention program and as the director of the pulmonary endoscopy and high-risk lung cancer program. Dr. Unger has also served on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania and Jefferson University and is a fellow of many national and international professional organizations. He is an author of numerous original medical articles and textbook publications and a sought-after participant in domestic and international educational conferences and seminars. He received his MD magna cum laude from the University of Bordeaux (France). His postgraduate education in the U.S. included his internship and residency in internal medicine at Wayne State University in Detroit and Mount Sinai Hospital-Elmhurst in New York City. He completed his pulmonary and critical care fellowship at New York Hospital-Cornell. He is board-certified in internal medicine, pulmonary diseases, and critical care. Dr. Unger is a member of guidelines committees on lung cancer (ACCP) and screening for lung cancer (NCCN). His additional interests are in applications of new technologies in medicine, medical education, and bioethics. He has previously served on several editorial boards, including Chest, Journal of Bronchology, Lasers in Medicine and Surgery, and the Polish Journal of Pulmonary Diseases. Since 2009, he has served as an Associate Editor for Annals of Internal Medicine.

John B. Wong, MD, is a primary care internist and Interim Chief Scientific Officer at Tufts Medical Center; Vice Chair for Academic Affairs and Chief of the Division of Clinical Decision Making in the Department of Medicine at Tufts Medical Center; Director of Comparative Effectiveness Research at the Tufts Clinical Translational Science Institute; and Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. After receiving his BS with Honors in Biology from Haverford College and his MD from the University of Chicago, he completed an Internal Medicine residency and Clinical Decision Making fellowship at Tufts Medical Center. A Master of the American College of Physicians, a past president of the Society for Medical Decision Making, and a member of the USPSTF, he has been a Statistical Consultant/Associate Statistical Editor at the Annals of Internal Medicine since 2005. Dr. Wong's research focuses on the application of decision analysis to help patients, clinicians, and policymakers choose among alternative tests, treatments, and policies, thereby promoting rational evidence-based efficient and effective patient-centered care. Besides participating in numerous consensus conferences, guidelines, and appropriateness use criteria assessments, he has published over 250 articles, co-authored Learning Clinical Reasoning, and Decision Making in Health and Medicine, been a member of the National Academy of Engineering, Science and Medicine Committee on Diagnostic Error in Health Care, and has developed award-winning decision aids for shared decision making with the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation.

Methods Consultants

Yong Chen, PhD

Michael E. Griswold, PhD

David D. Kim, PhD

Anne R. Meibohm, PhD

Editorial Fellows

(From 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025)

José D. Cruz-Cuevas, MD

Danai Dima, MD

Angela Schneider, MScA, MD

Jeffrey Wagner, MD, MCR

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