Distinguished Visiting Scholar Series

The Distinguished Visiting Scholar Series is one of a number of new initiatives by the Office of Clinical Research to promote the transformation of clinical and translational research in the Academic Health Center. Each month, the DVSS brings an acknowledged leader in some aspect of clinical research to the University for a day.  The visiting scholar presents a formal lecture on a topic that draws broadly on the speaker's wisdom and experience and also conducts a series of informal discussions with faculty.  The 2006-2007 lecture schedule:

Previous visiting scholars include: 

David L. DeMets, Ph.D., Chair, Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Professor of Statistics and Biostatistics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, presented the first DVSS lecture, "Challenges and Opportunities in Future Clinical Research"; on Monday, January 9, 2006.  Dr. DeMets, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1970, is one of the world’s leading authorities in the analysis of clinical trials.  He is best known for his role in developing the Lan-DeMets alpha spending function now used in many large clinical trials to allow for interim review of data.  His contributions to general clinical research include the use of surrogate outcomes, the design of Phase II trials, data monitoring and ethics.  He is co-author of a leading text on clinical trials and one on monitoring in clinical trials. 

Jerome P. Kassirer, M.D., Distinguished Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor of Medicine and Bioethics, Case Western Reserve University, and Former Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine visited the University of Minnesota in February 2006 and spoke on, "Strategies for Publishing in the Best Journals: Personal Reflections."  In editorials in the New England Journal of Medicine, and in multiple publications since, he has promoted professionalism, ethical scientific conduct, patient involvement in decision making, appropriate use of firearms, and reliable approaches to the assessment of the quality of health care.  He has been highly critical of for-profit medicine, the abuses of managed care, political intrusions into medical decisions, and financial conflicts of interest.

David J. Kupfer, M.D., a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, is the Thomas Detre Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry. As the director of research at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC), he oversees the coordination and expansion of investigations among the department's 200-member faculty.  Under Dr. Kupfer's direction, WPIC has become one of the nation's preeminent university-based psychiatric centers, illustrated by the quality and number of publications and the amount of peer-reviewed federal funding for mental health research.  He has been a key figure in the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences’ meteoric rise in NIH grants.  Dr. Kupfer was AHC OCR Distinguished Visiting Scholar Series lecturer for March, 2006.  His presentation, "The Road to Successful Clinical Research:  A Case Study in Pittsburgh," was held on March 29^th. 

Robert H. Brook, M.D., Sc.D., is Professor of Medicine and Health Services, UCLA Center for Health Sciences; Program Director of the Robert Wood Johnson/UCLA Clinical Scholar Training Program; and Vice President and Director, RAND Health.  He led the Health Quality Group on the $80M Health Insurance Experiment and was co-principal investigator on the Health Services Utilization Study.  He was the co-principal investigator on the only national study that has investigated, at a clinical level, the impact of DRGs on quality and outcome of acute hospital care.  He was also the co-principal investigator on a joint activity of 12 academic medical centers, the AMA, and RAND, the purpose of which was to develop appropriateness criteria and  parameters for the use of procedures.  Most of the quality of care and health status measures being used today throughout the developed world (MOS, SF-20, SF-36) were developed by Dr. Brook or by research teams that he led.  Dr. Brook’s lecture, "Academic Success vs. Making a Difference, Academic Success AND Making a Difference," was on Tuesday, April 18^th. 

Marvin Moser, M.D., Clinical Professor of Medicine at Yale University, was the May 2006 AHC OCR Distinguished Visiting Scholar.  Dr. Moser has been a leader in efforts to control hypertension for more than 50 years, and participated in research on almost every antihypertensive agent that became available during that time. He was the Senior Medical Consultant to the NHLBI National High Blood Pressure Education Program since its inception and chaired the NHLBI's First Joint National Committee on hypertension (JNC I) in 1976. For many years, his cogent analyses of new studies in light of the proven benefits of diuretics stood as a bulwark against unwarranted claims of superiority for newer antihypertensive agents, until his position was ultimately vindicated by the ALLHAT findings.  On May 23, he presented a lecture, "Confusing Messages from the Hypertension Treatment Trials," to over 95 University of Minnesota faculty, staff, students and community representatives. 

Previous Lecture Presentations with Audio: