Health care reform, climate change, and war are among the key issues members of Congress are expected to tackle when they return from summer break on Sept. 8. Several Duke University experts are available to provide comment and background information in these areas.
Health Care Reform
Dr. Kevin A. Schulman, professor of medicine, director of the Center for Clinical and Genetic Economics, and director of the Health Sector Management program at the Fuqua School of Business. Specialties include access to health care, the impact of reimbursement and regulatory policies on clinical practice, medical decision making. Contact Schulman at (919) 668-8101; kevin.schulman@duke.edu.
Frank A. Sloan, J. Alex McMahon Professor in Health Policy. Research interests include health policy, physician behavior, and hospital behavior. Contact Sloan at (919) 613-9358; fsloan@duke.edu.
Dr. Donald H. Taylor, assistant professor of public policy studies. Conducts research on aging and comparative health systems, including Medicare, long-term care and health policy. Contact Taylor at (919) 613-9357; don.taylor@duke.edu.
Climate Change
Bill Chameides, dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment, is an expert on global climate change and policy options to address it. An atmospheric chemist by training, he blogs (www.thegreengrok.com) regularly on environmental issues, including an ongoing series of posts, "Senators on the Climate Bill Fence." Contact Chameides at (919) 613-8004; bill.chameides@duke.edu.
James Clark, H.L. Blomquist Professor of Environmental Science and Biology, studies the effects of atmospheric chemistry and climate change on forests. He has launched a research program that uses wireless sensor networks and remote sensing to understand the effects of global change on forest ecosystems. Contact Clark at (919) 613-8036; jimclark@duke.edu.
Robert B. Jackson, Nicholas Professor of Global Environmental Change, studies feedbacks between people and the biosphere, including studies of the global carbon and water cycles, biosphere/atmosphere interactions, and global change. His recent studies have included lifecycle analysis of corn ethanol and other biofuels to assess their full environmental and economic impacts. Contact Jackson at (919) 660-7408; jackson@duke.edu.
Susan Lozier, professor of physical oceanography, studies the ocean's response to climate change and elevated carbon dioxide levels. In a study published in Nature in May 2009, she and coauthor Amy Bower of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution reported finding a surprising new pathway for the North Atlantic Ocean circulation, which may impact the work of global warming forecasters. Contact Lozier at (919) 681-8199; s.lozier@duke.edu.
Brian Murray, director for economic analysis at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, is an expert on the economics of climate-change mitigation in agriculture, forests and land-use patterns. He has co-written a series of policy briefs that explain the pros and cons of using agricultural, forest and land-use offsets to incorporate outside-the-cap greenhouse gas mitigation in a climate policy, viewable at http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/institute/offsetseries.html. Contact Murray at (919) 613-8725; bcmurray@duke.edu.
Tim Profeta, director of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, specializes in environmental law, policy and politics, and has been closely following the progress of climate legislation in Congress. Prior to his arrival at Duke in 2005, Profeta served as counsel for the environment to Sen. Joseph Lieberman, and was a principal architect of the Lieberman-McCain Climate Stewardship Act of 2003. Contact Profeta at (919) 613-8709; tim.profeta@duke.edu.
War in Afghanistan
Chris Gelpi, professor of political science, researches public opinion on war, sources of international militarized conflict, strategies for international conflict resolution and other national security issues. He is currently researching statistical models for forecasting military conflict. Contact Gelpi at (919) 260-4219; gelpi@duke.edu.
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Note to broadcast editors: Duke provides an on-campus satellite uplink facility for live or pre-recorded television interviews. We are also equipped with ISDN connectivity for radio interviews. Broadcast reporters should contact Scott Wells at (919) 660-1741 or James Todd at (919) 681-8061 to arrange an interview.
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