Precision Health Economics Continues Expansion Of Leadership Team With Focused Expertise

LOS ANGELES, May 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Health economics and policy authority Precision Health Economics (PHE) announced today it has added two leaders to supplement the organization's unique business perspective: Anne Peters, MD, a nationally acclaimed expert in diabetes treatment in at-risk communities, will focus PHE's research in this leading healthcare expenditure; Kari Edwards, PhD, will provide clients strategic counsel on the use and dissemination of their research and will help PHE internally to select and shape new markets that will best serve customer needs. The two join a growing consultancy of elite thought leaders advancing the discussion of the most critical problems impeding the overall improvement in health, including questions of value and improvement of care delivery.

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Anne Peters, MD

"We all know diabetes is one of the biggest health economic challenges in the world," said Glenn Bilawsky, CEO of PHE.  "One of the most difficult and complex barriers to lasting improvement in patient outcomes is the broad heterogeneity of the diabetic and obese populations.  Dr. Peters brings innovative thinking and practical understanding to the discussion of treatment; nobody better understands how to reach the under-privileged and under-served than she."

Dr. Peters has joined PHE as a senior clinical consultant.  She is a professor at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and director of the USC Health Care System's Clinical Diabetes Programs. Dr. Peters received the American Diabetes Association's Outstanding Physician Clinician Award in 2008. She has been a principal investigator on many diabetes and diabetes prevention trials, established the Community Diabetes Initiatives Research Center in collaboration with Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and has authored three books and more than 100 articles for leading peer-reviewed medical journals.

Through the Los Angeles Department of Health Services, Dr. Peters founded a safety-net diabetes program at the Roybal Comprehensive Health Center, which served as a model for five programs throughout the county and has helped thousands of low-income patients with diabetes who had already failed primary care intervention.  She is a principal investigator on the UCLA-USC Center for Population Health and Health Disparities' "Family and Neighborhood Interventions to Reduce Heart Disease Risk in East L.A." project. Her unwavering commitment and benchmark work resulted in her selection for the National Minority Quality Forum's 2010 Bernardo Houssay Award.

Kari Edwards, PhD

Dr. Kari Edwards has joined PHE as vice president of research and business strategy after nine years at Amgen including, most recently, serving as national strategic lead for the Oncology Medical Science Liaison team.  There she was lauded for her strategic acumen and innovative approaches to communicating scientific information and product value.  Previously, Dr. Edwards was a management consultant specializing in healthcare market analysis and communications.  In her first career within academia, she attained national recognition for her research on attitude formation and change and for pioneering several new methodological techniques for behavioral science research.  While a faculty member at Brown University, Dr. Edwards received research funding from the National Science Foundation, published in top-tier peer-reviewed journals and presented at conferences nationwide.

"As a result of the thought leaders we employ and the exclusive academic network we have built, our work has become recognized as the most innovative and impactful in the Health Economics and Policy sectors.  Our customers are seeking both guidance and strategy development in the design of dissemination programs, to assure this new information and knowledge achieves its maximum impact and potential, both within their companies and to external audiences.  In addition to assisting customers, Dr. Edwards' strategic insights and analytical skills will be invaluable as we evaluate new markets and services to build or acquire to continue our expansion. Dr. Edwards' highly recognized skills as an educator, consultant, scientist, and strategist are ideal for this critical role," Bilawsky said.

Dr. Edwards graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of California, Berkeley, received a Masters degree from Yale, capturing the Sterling Prize, and obtained her PhD from the University of Michigan, where she was awarded the Brickman Memorial Prize for outstanding research and the Society for Experimental Social Psychology's national award for Best Dissertation.

About Precision Health Economics   
Founded by three renowned health economists from elite universities: Tomas Philipson; Dana Goldman; and Darius Lakdawalla, Precision Health Economics integrates deep technical expertise with practical insights to bring intellectual integrity, academic rigor, and a creative approach to the most challenging problems in healthcare.  PHE has offices across the United States and draws on the research expertise of a network of affiliated academic economists and clinicians from the world's leading universities. PHE's work straddles the policy arena and the clinical field, reaching top decision makers to influence outcomes. For more information, go to www.precisionhealtheconomics.com.

EDITORS NOTE: Photo available on request.

SOURCE Precision Health Economics