GAO announces new appointments to PCORI Board of Governors

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) today announced the appointment of seven stakeholders from across the healthcare community to fill open seats on the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors.

PCORI’s Board is made up of 19 representatives of the patient, general consumer, clinical, insurance, research, employer, industry, policy and other healthcare sectors, plus the directors of the National Institutes of Health and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Members are appointed for a six-year term and may be reappointed for one subsequent six-year term.

The newest Board members are:

• Kara Ayers, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati
• Jennifer DeVoe, MD, DPhil, Professor and Chair, Department of Family Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University
• Christopher Friese, PhD, RN, Elizabeth Tone Hosmer Professor of Nursing, University of Michigan
• Trent Haywood, MD, JD, Senior Vice President, Office of Clinical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
• Michael Herndon, DO, Chief Medical Officer, Oklahoma Health Care Authority
• Michelle McMurry-Heath, MD, PhD, Worldwide Vice President for Global Regulatory Affairs, International Clinical Evidence and Strategic Operations for Medical Device Companies, Johnson & Johnson
• Janet Woodcock, MD, Director, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration

“PCORI will benefit greatly from the insights and experience of these newest Board members,” said Board Chairperson Grayson Norquist, MD, MSPH. “Each brings us invaluable perspectives from the communities they represent and that PCORI serves. We greatly look forward to working with such distinguished and accomplished colleagues.”

In addition, GAO named Board member Christine Goertz, DC, PhD, to a three-year term as vice chair.

PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH, also thanked outgoing Board members for their service. All had been on the Board since PCORI’s inception. They are:

• Debra Barksdale, PhD, RN, Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Programs, Virginia Commonwealth University
• Kerry Barnett, JD, President and Chief Executive Officer, SAIF Corporation
• Allen Douma, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Empower, LLC
• Leah Hole-Marshall, JD, General Counsel and Chief Strategist for the Washington Health Benefit Exchange
• Harlan Krumholz, MD, SM, Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale University School of Medicine
• Richard Kuntz, MD, MSc, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical and Scientific Officer, Medtronic, Inc.

“We are incredibly grateful for the years of dedication and guidance provided by these pioneering Board members,” Selby said. “Together with their colleagues, they have made transformative and lasting contributions to the evolution of clinical research in the U.S. We wish each of them well in their future endeavors.

“We also take a moment to honor the memory and service of a seventh founding Board member, Robert Jesse, MD, PhD, whose untimely death last year not only left an opening on our Board but was a loss to the healthcare community as a whole,” Selby added.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which authorized PCORI’s establishment, assigns the Comptroller General of the United States responsibility for appointing the members of PCORI’s Board.

Brief biographies of the new board members are available here and on PCORI’s website.

The official announcement of the appointments will be published in the Federal Register. For more information contact Rashmi Agarwal of GAO’s Health Care team at 202-512-4077, or Chuck Young in GAO's Office of Public Affairs at (202) 512-4800, or visit the GAO Health Care Advisory Committees web page at www.gao.gov/about/hcac. The Act requires that in appointing the board, the Comptroller General “consider and disclose any conflicts of interest as defined by the Act” on GAO’s website. Please click here for more information.