The first four scholars in residence at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy include representatives from business and academia, center officials announced Tuesday.Scholars in residence participate in working groups and activities that support research on health care delivery and payment reform, biomedical innovation for pharmaceuticals and devices, and health policy education and workforce development.They will work with Duke-Margolis faculty and researchers in the center’s Durham and Washington, D.C., offices.The scholars in residence are:-- Dr. Mohit Kaushal, special advisor at General Atlantic; -- Aaron McKethan, executive vice president, strategy and business development at RxAnte, LLC; -- Dr. Edmund Pezalla, vice president and national medical director for pharmaceutical policy and strategy at Aetna;-- and Dr. Michael Pignone, chair of internal medicine at the University of Texas Dell Medical School. “Our inaugural scholars in residence are remarkable individuals whose leadership experience will enhance our ability to understand stakeholder perspectives and think deeply about ways to improve health and the value of health care by developing and implementing evidence-based policy solutions,” said Dr. Mark McClellan, the Duke-Margolis director.Kaushal’s extensive career in investing, clinical medicine, academia, and public policy includes his work as a lead investor, board member or advisor to transformational health care companies. He was a member of the White House Health IT task force, which implemented the technology aspects of health reform. He also built and led the first dedicated health care team at the Federal Communications Commission. Kaushal is an adjunct professor at the Stanford University Medical School.
In addition to McKethan’s experience with RxAnte, LLC, a provider of science-based information technology solutions for improving quality and lowering the cost of health care, he was previously a senior official at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, research director in health policy at the Brookings Institution’s Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform and a management consultant at the Lewin Group. He is assistant adjunct professor of health policy and management at the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health.
Pezalla is Aetna’s lead executive for public policy related to pharmaceuticals and is also responsible for public policy coordination and quality of care in the company’s Office of the Chief Medical Officer. He has consulted on projects related to technology development and coverage decisions for the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review and the Brookings Institution. In addition to being the inaugural chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, Pignone is a professor of medicine at the Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin. His research is focused on chronic disease screening, prevention and treatment, and on improving medical decision making. He has developed and tested interventions to mitigate literacy-related health disparities and to improve the use of appropriate preventive services. He serves on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The scholars in residence do not receive financial support from the university.