CO-EDITORS

Marc L. Berger MD Marc L. Berger MD, Vice President, Global Health Outcomes, Eli Lilly and Company

Dr Berger obtained his MD degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed an internal medicine residency at NYU-Bellevue Hospital in New York and a Liver Research Fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas-Southwestern Medical School. Prior to joining Merck, he was on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine. While at Merck, Dr Berger has held various positions of responsibility for Phase II to Phase IV clinical trials, outcomes research studies, and disease management programs. He is currently vice president of outcomes research and management (ORM) in the US Human Health Division. ORM is an interdisciplinary department of physicians, economists, epidemiologists, pharmacists, psychologists, and other professionals that: 1) conducts health services/outcomes research studies examining the gap between current patterns of health care delivery and what would be considered optimal according to evidence-based medicine; 2) is responsible for the research and development of disease management tools and programs offered as a value-added services to large health care providers; and 3) conducts research and analyses that demonstrate the value of Merck products and of pharmaceutical innovation to payers, providers, and patients.

Dr Berger has coauthored numerous articles in outcomes research and health economics. His current research interests include health-related productivity, cost-effectiveness analysis, disease management, and the value of pharmaceutical innovation. He serves as a member of the editorial advisory boards of Value in Health and Managed Healthcare and as a member of the advisory board of the Program on the Economic Evaluation of Medical Technology (PEEMT) at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. Dr Berger is a trustee of the Occupational and Environmental Health Foundation and serves as chair of the Quality Initiatives Group of the National Pharmaceutical Council. He holds appointments as an adjunct senior fellow at the Leonard David Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, and adjunct professor in the Department of Health Policy and Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health.

, Vice President, Global Health Outcomes, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA

Email: bergerma@lilly.com

Kerstin Bingefors PhD, MSc Kerstin (Chris) Bingefors, PhD, Associate Professor, Uppsala University

Chris Bingefors is currently Associate Professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the Department of Pharmacy, Uppsala University, Sweden. She is also research director for the pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacoeconomics group at the same department. She received her MSc (Pharm) from the Faulty of Pharmacy in Uppsala and her PhD in Psychiatric Health Services Research from the Faculty of Medicine at Uppsala University. She is a research associate at the Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry at the same university. She has also spent a year as associate professor at the University of Troms?in northern Norway.

Dr Bingefors has authored and coauthored about 40 scientific articles and book chapters on epidemiology, health economics, quality of life, and compliance. After taking graduate courses in the United States, she was responsible for introducing and implementing public health, pharmacoepidemiology and health economics in the Swedish pharmacy curriculum in the early eighties. Dr Bingefors received the Pharmaceutical Society award for excellence in teaching for her work. Dr Bingefors is very active in continuing professional education of physicians, dentists, nurses, and other health care staff. She has been active in many professional societies; among them are the Swedish Pharmaceutical Society, the Swedish Pharmaceutical Association (she is currently on the board), and the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology, where she served on the board of directors from 1997 to 2000. Her ISPOR activities also include work on the Awards Committee at several meetings, the core group for the ISPOR Research Excellence Award Task Force, and the core group for the Avedis Donabedian Lifetime Achievement Award and the European Meeting Abstract Review Committee.

Dr Bingefors?current interests include psychiatry, neurology, and dermatology, where she does research in epidemiology, HRQL, clinical and economic outcomes, compliance, and the population health impact of drug treatment. She is also developing gender-focused research within these areas.

, Associate Professor, Biomedical Centre, Uppsala University, Dept of Pharmacy; Pharmacoepidemiology & PE, Uppsala, Sweden

Email: Chris.Bingefors@farmaci.uu.se

Edwin Hedblom PharmD Edwin Hedblom, PharmD, Director of Health Economics, AstraZeneca

Edwin Hedblom is the Global Manager of Health Economics at 3M Medical in St. Paul, Minnesota and is responsible for health economic and reimbursement strategies for 3M Medical products worldwide.

Dr Hedblom interests have been largely in the development, communication, and use of health economics and outcomes information by consumers, purchasers, and managers or health care. He brings a unique perspective to the use of health economic information in the management and delivery of health care and the reimbursement decision-making process, as he has held positions in the managed care, consumer health, and pharmaceutical industries. In addition to his experience at 3M, Dr Hedblom has served as chief pharmacy officer for AARP Pharmacy Services and the chief pharmacy officer for Aetna US Healthcare. He has also served AstraZeneca as its global director for health economics and has held positions in the AstraZeneca integration, as well as having had roles in disease and patient management.

Dr Hedblom received his doctor of pharmacy and bachelor of pharmacy degrees from the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy.

, Manager, Clinical Research & Discovery Center, 3M Medical, St. Paul, MN, USA

Email: echedblom@mmm.com

Chris L. Pashos PhD Chris L. Pashos, PhD, Vice President and Executive Director of HERQuLES, Abt Associates

Dr Pashos leads the HERQuLES Team at Abt Associates Inc. Abt Associates is a worldwide research and technical assistance organization with over 1000 staff, known for its portfolio of work as diverse as post-conflict Iraq health care infrastructure reconstruction, the US national immunization survey, and clinical trial operations for an artificial implantable heart. The HERQuLES team provides a variety of research and strategic services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. Retrospective services include development of interactive economic models and analyses of US and European claims and other databases. Prospective studies include trials, observational studies, and patient and physician surveys to obtain data on the use of health care services and on the clinical, economic, and patient reported outcomes of that care. He has directed patient registries involving hundreds of thousands of patients across a variety of clinical indications and chaired a Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) panel on preapproval and postmarketing patient registries.

Dr Pashos joined Abt Associates in 1995, coming from the faculty of the Harvard Medical School Department of Health Care Policy. There, he directed the Harvard heart attack Patient Outcomes Research Team (PORT), one of the first four PORTs funded by the United States government to study the quality of health care. He also created and directed the Harvard Medical School Bridges Program, which brought together national policy-makers, academic experts, and private decision-makers to discuss critical health care issues. He has also consulted to governments in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa and to international organizations, including the United Nations.

Having published in leading medical journals and lectured on the cost and value of health care, Dr Pashos has chaired the ISPOR Communications Committee, served as the associate editor for health policy of the Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management, and served on the editorial advisory board of Value in Health. He served as editor of the ISPOR Lexicon and is a recipient of the ISPOR Distinguished Service Award.

Dr Pashos earned his BS degree with distinction from the US Naval Academy and his MPP and PhD degrees in public policy from Harvard University.

, Vice Pres & Executive Director of HERQuLES, Abt Associates ?HERQuLES, Lexington, KY, USA

Email: chris_pashos@abtassoc.com

George Torrance PhD George W. Torrance, PhD, Professor Emeritus, McMaster University

Dr Torrance received BASc and MBA degrees from the University of Toronto and a PhD in engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is professor emeritus of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics and of management science at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada. He is affiliated with the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis at McMaster University and the Centre for Evaluation of Medicines at St. Joseph抯 Hospital. In addition he is vice president of i3 Innovus Research Inc., a contract research organization with offices in Toronto, Boston, and London. I3 Innovus undertakes outcomes research, economic evaluations, and clinical trials for the health care industry worldwide.

Dr Torrance抯 many publications include contributions to both the methods and applications of health economics. Methodological contributions include the use of utility theory and multi-attribute utility theory to measure preferences for health outcomes. Applications include neonatal intensive care, end-stage kidney disease, childhood cancer, post杕yocardial infarction rehabilitation, prenatal diagnosis, arthritis, total knee replacement, workers?compensation board awards, the measurement of population health, and new drugs and devices for a wide variety of diseases. In addition, Dr Torrance and his colleagues developed the widely applied Health Utilities Index and operate Health Utilities Inc., a service center for users.

Dr Torrance has served as a local district health council member, a hospital board member, and a consultant to numerous national and international health care organizations and the pharmaceutical industry. In recent years, Dr Torrance has led or been a major contributor to expert panels that have developed guidelines for the use of economic evaluation in health and medicine for Canada, the United States, and Great Britain. Dr. Torrance received the 2001 Award for Career Achievement from the Society for Medical Decision Making and the 2002 President抯 Award from the International Society for Quality of Life Research, as well as the 2006 recipient of ISPOR抯 Avedis Donabedian Lifetime Achievement Award in Outcomes Research.

, Professor Emeritus, McMaster University, Principal Consultant, i3 Innovus, Toronto, ON, Canada

Email: torrance@mcmaster.ca

MANAGING EDITOR

Marilyn Dix Smith RPh, PhD Marilyn Dix Smith, RPh, PhD, ISPOR Founding Executive Director

Dr Marilyn Dix Smith is founding trustee and executive director of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). She serves as chief executive officer of the organization and is responsible for implementing the initiatives of the society. She has extensive experience in the management and financing of scientific organizations.

Dr Smith has designed a computer-assisted decision support system, which compares the costs and clinical outcomes of various disease treatment strategies. Dr Smith has a breadth of experience in disease management, continuous quality improvement techniques, pharmacoeconomic applications, and health care provider and patient education.

Dr Smith was director of professional relations/managed are pharmacy at Lederle Laboratories. Earlier in her career at Lederle, Dr Smith was director, of quality control, during which time she managed a staff of more than 150 professionals and associates with responsibilities for assuring product quality. Her responsibilities included product quality testing, operations system design, validation, and compliance. Dr Smith was also production superintendent, supervising over 300 operation associates, where she was responsible for the production of all solid dosage pharmaceutical products.

Dr Smith received her BS in pharmacy and her PhD in pharmaceutical science from Ohio State University, and she has published many scientific articles, most recently in patient outcomes assessment and pharmacoeconomic analysis. She has authored many professional articles and has given numerous presentations in quality assessment techniques, health care legislation, and disease treatment optimization. Dr. Smith was a technical review consultant for the National Cancer Institute and held three 5-year terms on the Committee of Revision, United States Pharmacopoeia. She also was a founder of the American Association for Pharmaceutical Scientists, a nonprofit scientific organization, and she is a member of the American Society of Association Executives as well as of many pharmacy organizations.

, Founding Executive Director, International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), Lawrenceville, NJ, USA

Email: mdsmith@ispor.org