August 14, 2014

Penson to chair NIH health services research study section

Vanderbilt’s David Penson, M.D., MPH, director of the Center for Surgical Quality and Outcomes Research, has been named to serve as chair of the Health Services Organization and Delivery Study Section in the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) of the National Institutes of Health. He will serve a two-year term.

Vanderbilt’s David Penson, M.D., MPH, director of the Center for Surgical Quality and Outcomes Research, has been named to serve as chair of the Health Services Organization and Delivery Study Section in the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) of the National Institutes of Health. He will serve a two-year term.

David Penson, M.D., MPH

Penson, the Paul V. Hamilton, M.D. and Virginia E. Howd Professor of Urologic Oncology and professor of Urologic Surgery, will lead a 22-member panel in reviewing health services research.

This research covers topics including the delivery and outcomes of health services, the access and quality of care, costs and cost-effectiveness and the financing of health care.

Penson was chosen based on his “demonstrated competence and achievement” in the field of urology, as evidenced by the “quality of research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals, and other significant scientific activities, achievements and honors,” according to Richard Nakamura, Ph.D., director of the CSR.

At Vanderbilt, Penson’s research focuses on health outcomes and policy in the field of Urologic Surgery. He is currently serving as the principal investigator for a $3.3 million, five-year, institutional K12 training grant awarded to VUMC by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality focusing on patient-centered outcomes research.