Clinicians From Pediatrics, Family Medicine and Geriatrics Appointed to Lead the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 14, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) today announced the appointments of Virginia A. Moyer, M.D., M.P.H., as chair, and Albert L. Siu, M.D., M.S.P.H., and Michael L. LeFevre, M.D., M.S.P.H., as co-vice chairs of the Task Force.

The USPSTF is an independent, volunteer panel of 16 private-sector experts in prevention and primary care that makes recommendations to primary care clinicians about preventive services such as screenings, counseling or preventive medications that may benefit patients before they experience signs or symptoms of a condition. More information about the Task Force and its recommendations, including how to comment on drafts, is available at www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org.

"The new leadership of the USPSTF brings extensive experience in pediatric, geriatric and family medicine that will greatly enhance the breadth of knowledge of the Task Force," says outgoing Task Force Chair Ned Calonge, M.D. "Combined with the skills, knowledge and experience of the rest of the membership, as well as the explicit methods and the review and input from other medical experts, the USPSTF has the full spectrum of expertise and tools needed to make recommendations to primary care clinicians on effective preventive services."

Dr. Moyer is Professor of Pediatrics and head of Academic General Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and chief of the Academic Medicine Service at Texas Children's Hospital. She is a member of the Board of the American Board of Pediatrics, deputy editor for the journal Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and a past member of the AAP's Steering Committee on Quality Improvement and Management.

Dr. Siu is an internist, geriatrician, health services and policy researcher, and the Ellen and Howard Katz chairman and professor at the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He is also director of the Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center at the Bronx VA Medical Center, and has served as deputy commissioner of the New York State Department of Health. Dr. Siu serves as a senior associate editor of Health Services Research.

Dr. LeFevre is the Future of Family Medicine professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. Dr. LeFevre also serves as the Chief Medical Information Officer for University of Missouri Health Care, and a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Missouri Academy of Physicians, and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. He has served on the Commission on Clinical Policies and Research of the American Academy of Family Physicians.  

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality provides ongoing administrative and technical support to the Task Force.  

SOURCE Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality