Review of VA Clinical Guidance for the Health Conditions Identified by the Camp Lejeune Legislation (2015)
Chapter: Appendix A: Committee Biographies
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biographies." Institute of Medicine. 2015. Review of VA Clinical Guidance for the Health Conditions Identified by the Camp Lejeune Legislation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18991.
David R. Nerenz, Ph.D. (Chair) is the director of the Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan, and is also the director of outcomes research at the Neuroscience Institute and vice chair for research in the Department of Neurosurgery at Henry Ford Hospital. He has served on the National Committee for Quality Assurance's Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services Workgroup and is currently a commissioner on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. Dr. Nerenz has served in various roles with the Institute of Medicine, including as chair of the Committee on Leading Health Indicators for Healthy People, 2020, and as a committee member on Gulf War Veterans: Treating Symptoms and Syndromes and on Gulf War Veterans: Measuring Health. He serves on the editorial boards of Population Health Management and Medical Care Research and Review. Dr. Nerenz received a Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Robert J. Alpern, M.D., is the Ensign Professor of Medicine and dean at Yale University Medical School. Previously, he served as the chief of the Division of Nephrology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where he also held the Ruth W. and Milton P. Levy, Sr., Chair in Molecular Nephrology and the Atticus James Gill, M.D., Chair in Medical Science. In July 1998, Dr. Alpern was appointed dean of Southwestern Medical School, a position that he held until 2004. Dr. Alpern's research has focused on the regulation of kidney transport proteins. In addition, Dr. Alpern has been highly committed to teaching and clinical medicine. He was elected president of the American Society of Nephrology in 2000, was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, and has served on the advisory council of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2007. Dr. Alpern received his M.D. degree from the University of Chicago.
Paolo Boffetta, M.D., M.P.H., is the director of the Institute for Translational Epidemiology and the associate director for population sciences of The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. He holds additional appointments in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology at the University of Turin (Italy), the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University, and numerous other international academic and health institutions. Dr. Boffetta's research interests focus on molecular and genetic epidemiology, cancer epidemiology, cardiovascular and diabetes epidemiology, cancer prevention, and epidemiologic methods. He is the author of more than 970 peer-reviewed publications,
and he has edited 12 books and authored more than 80 book chapters, mainly in the field of the epidemiology of chronic diseases. He is an associate editor of Annals of Oncology, European Journal of Clinical Investigation, and Frontiers in Cancer Epidemiology and is a member of more than 10 editorial boards of scientific journals. He is the founding member of several international cancer epidemiology consortia and networks. Dr. Boffetta completed his M.D. at the University of Turin.
Mary E. Davis, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology of the West Virginia University Health Sciences Center. Her research interests are in the toxicology of environmental and occupational pollutants, including water-disinfection byproducts, halogenated solvents, and arsenic. She is particularly interested in the mechanisms of toxicity in the liver, kidneys, and vascular system. Dr. Davis was treasurer of the Society of Toxicology and is a former president of the society's Allegheny–Erie Regional Chapter. She has served on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board and the editorial boards of Toxicology and Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. She was a member of the National Research Council Committee on Assessing Human Health Risks of Trichloroethylene and the Committee on Tetrachloroethylene. She received her Ph.D. in pharmacology from Michigan State University.
Michael E. Goldberg, M.D., is the David Mahoney Professor of Brain and Behavior in the Department of Neuroscience at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. His research is focused on the physiology of cognitive processes: visual attention, spatial perception, and decision making. He is a past president of the Society for Neuroscience and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2011. He is currently serving on the NAS Temporary Nominating Group for Class II: Biological Sciences. Dr. Goldberg received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He is an active clinical neurologist, serving on the Columbia University Medical Center Neurology Hospitalist team.
Paul Grundy, M.D., M.P.H., FACOEM, FACPM, is IBM's global director of health care transformation. In this role, Dr. Grundy develops and executes strategies that support IBM's health care industry transformation initiatives. Part of his work is directed toward shifting health care delivery around the world toward consumer-focused, primary-care based systems through the adoption of new philosophies, primary-care pilot programs, new incentives systems, and the information technology required to implement such changes. Dr. Grundy is also the founding president of the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative and is an adjunct professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. An active social entrepreneur and speaker on global health care transformation, Dr. Grundy is driving comprehensive, linked, and integrated health care and the concept of the patient-centered medical home. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and a recipient of the 2012 National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Quality Award. Dr. Grundy received his M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, and his M.P.H. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Nancy L. Keating, M.D., M.P.H., is professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School and an associate physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Keating's research focuses on the quality of care delivered to patients with cancer and the influence of physicians, hospitals, and health care systems on care delivery as well as communication between patients and physicians and among physicians. She recently served as co–principal investigator of a large evaluation of the quality of care delivered to patients diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care system. Dr. Keating has also served as a key investigator in the Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance (CanCORS) Consortium, a long-term prospective study examining patterns of care and outcomes for patients with lung and colorectal cancer. Her research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation, and the Komen for the Cure Foundation. She currently serves as a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Geriatric Oncology, and she is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Guidelines Panel and the National Comprehensive Cancer Center Senior Oncology Guideline Panel. She received her M.D. degree from the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine, and her M.P.H. degree from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Patricia Janulewicz Lloyd, D.Sc., is an assistant professor of environmental health at the Boston University School of Public Health. Dr. Janulewicz Lloyd has conducted several studies of the effects of perchloroethylene and other solvents on the developing nervous system. These include assessments of neuropsychological functioning, vision, mental illness, risky behavior, and learning disorders. She earned both her doctorate and master's degrees from the Boston University School of Public Health.
Gary O. Rankin, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Toxicology at Marshall University. He joined the then-newly formed Marshall University School of Medicine in 1978 and has been the chair of the department since 1986. He also served as associate dean for biomedical graduate education and research development (1989–1992). Dr. Rankin's research interests are in the area of renal toxicology and include the nephrotoxicity induced by succinimides and aminochlorophenols, urotoxicity induced by halogenated anilines, renal transport of drug metabolites, and the bioactivation of chemicals to nephrotoxicant species. Dr. Rankin is a member of several professional societies, including the Association of Medical School Pharmacology Chairs, the Society of Toxicology (SOT), the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET), and the West Virginia Academy of Sciences. He has chaired several committees for SOT and ASPET and has held several offices in the Ohio Valley SOT Chapter, including president. He was a regular member of NIH TOX1 and ALTOX4 Study Sections (1994–1999) and serves as a frequent reviewer for NIH special study sections (SBIR; F32s; IDeA CTRs) and the newly formed PBKD study section. Dr. Rankin served as an associate editor of Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology (1995–2001) and has been an editorial board member for Toxicology since 1994. He has authored or co-authored more than 120 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 8 review articles, 17 book chapters, and more than 240 research presentations at local, regional, national, and international meetings. He earned a doctoral degree from the University of Mississippi in medicinal chemistry.
Mark J. Utell, M.D., is a professor of medicine and environmental medicine, the director of occupational and environmental medicine, and the former director of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. His research interests have centered on the effects of environmental toxicants on the human respiratory tract. Dr. Utell has published extensively on the health effects of inhaled gases, particles, and fibers in the workplace and other indoor and outdoor environments. He was the co–principal investigator of an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) particulate matter center and is a former chair of the Health Effects Institute's research committee. He has served as chair of EPA's Environmental Health Committee and on the executive committee of the EPA Science Advisory Board. He is a former recipient of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Academic Award in Environmental and Occupational Medicine. Dr. Utell is currently a member of the National Research Council's (NRC's) Committee on Strengthening the U.S. EPA Laboratory Enterprise. He previously served a chair of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee to Review the Department of Labor's Site Exposure Matrix and was on the NRC Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology; served as chair of the NRC Committee to Review the NIOSH Respiratory Disease Research Program and the Committee to Review the Department of Defense Enhanced Particulate Matter Surveillance Program Report; and served as a member of the NRC Committee on Research Priorities for Airborne Particulate Matter and Research Strategy for Environmental, Health, and Safety Aspects of Engineered Nanomaterials and the IOM Committee on Gulf War and Health: Literature Review of Selected Environmental Agents, Pollutants, and Synthetic Chemical Compounds. He received his M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine.
Carol S. Wood, Ph.D., is a staff scientist in the Environmental Sciences Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She has more than 19 years of experience as a toxicologist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory with extensive work in risk assessment for inhalation/pulmonary and oral toxicity of heavy metals and pesticides. She has worked on acute exposure guideline levels and provisional advisory levels, in which health-based exposure levels are developed for priority toxic chemicals. These projects often use toxicokinetic data and PBPK models for extrapolation from animals to humans. She serves on the board of directors for the American Board of Toxicology. At the request of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, she wrote the guidance document "Standard Evaluation Procedure for Developmental Neurotoxicity Studies" and reviewed numerous submissions of testing and positive
control neurotoxicity data. Her research experience and interests include models of developmental, reproductive, and neurotoxic outcomes from environmental contaminants. Dr. Wood is currently certified in general toxicology by the American Board of Toxicology. She earned a Ph.D. in toxicology from Oregon State University in 1993 with emphasis in developmental and reproductive toxicology.
Albert W. Wu, M.D., M.P.H., is a professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with joint appointments in epidemiology, international health, medicine, and surgery and at the Carey Business School. His research and teaching focus on patient outcomes and quality of care. He is the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research, the Ph.D. program in health services research, and the certificate program in quality, patient safety, and outcomes research. He was a senior adviser to the World Health Organization Patient Safety Programme. He leads studies to assess patient-reported outcomes in electronic health records; to connect East Baltimore community-based organizations to one another and the health system; to prevent injurious falls in older adults; and to support "second victims"—health care workers traumatized by adverse patient events. He was a member of the Institute of Medicine committees on Preventing Medication Errors and on Readjustment Needs of Returning Service Members from the Iraq and Afghan Wars. He has more than 370 peer-reviewed publications and maintains a clinical practice in general internal medicine. Dr. Wu received his M.P.H. from the University of California, Berkeley, and his M.D. from the Cornell University School of Medicine.
Next: Appendix B: Guidance for VHA Staff Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012, Section 102, Covered Clinical Conditions »
Review of VA Clinical Guidance for the Health Conditions Identified by the Camp Lejeune Legislation Get This Book
U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, located in eastern North Carolina, is a large installation that covers 156,000 acres and is home at any given time to a population of about 170,000 active-duty personnel, family members, retirees, and civilian employees living on base or in the surrounding community. Between 1957 and 1987, the ground water at Camp Lejeune was inadvertently contaminated with chemicals, primarily industrial solvents that are now known to cause cancer and other health problems. In 1980, drinking water contaminants, primarily trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), as well as other solvents, were first detected at Camp Lejeune in treated drinking water. The contaminated wells were closed in 1987. In 1989, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency placed Camp Lejeune on the National Priorities List, also known as Superfund. It is estimated that between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people may have used the contaminated water and many of them continue to have concerns about the long-term effects that might result from that exposure.
In 2012 Congress passed the Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act. The law provides health benefits to veterans and family members who have any of 15 health outcomes associated with exposure to TCE, PCE, or solvent mixtures. At the request of the Veteran's Administration, Review of the VA Guidance for the Health Conditions Identified by the Camp Lejeune Legislation reviews the latest scientific literature to ensure that the clinical guidance provided for the 15 covered medical conditions is scientifically sound. This report also describes the medical conditions that result from renal toxicity due to solvent exposures and characterizes neurobehavioral effects as mandated for coverage in the law.
2 Characterization of Renal Toxicity 21–34
3 Characterization of Neurobehavioral Effects 35–50
4 Other Health Outcomes 51–66
5 Use of the Guidance 67–74
Appendix A: Committee Biographies 75–78
Appendix B: Guidance for VHA Staff Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012, Section 102, Covered Clinical Conditions 79–104
Appendix C: Excerpt from the Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-154) 105–108