News Release

GAO Announces New PCORI Methodology Committee Members

Three Members Fill Vacancies on Committee
Published: Sept. 18, 2014

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) today announced the appointment of three new members to fill open seats on the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Methodology Committee.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that authorized PCORI’s creation directs the U.S. Comptroller General, who heads the GAO, to name up to 15 members to the 17-member Methodology Committee, which is responsible for developing and improving the science and methods of comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER). The panel developed The PCORI Methodology Report and 47 associated standards that serve as minimal requirements for conducting of scientifically sound CER.

The new members are:

  • Cynthia Girman, DrPh, Distinguished Scientist, Comparative and Outcomes Evidence, Center for Observational and Real World Evidence, Merck Research Laboratories, Merck & Co., Inc.
  • Sally Morton, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Biostatistics, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh. Morton has served as a statistical methodology expert to the committee since January 2012.
  • Neil R. Powe, MD, MPH, MBA, Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, and Chief of Medicine, San Francisco General Hospital.

“The Methodology Committee is honored to welcome Drs. Morton, Powe and Girman as members. We couldn’t be more pleased to have them join the committee,” said Committee Chair Robin Newhouse, PhD, RN. “Their world-class expertise will be a tremendous asset as we continue to fulfill our mandate to develop and improve the science and methods of comparative clinical effectiveness research and work closely to make research more rigorous and patient-centered.”

“We had the opportunity to consider many distinguished applicants for positions on the committee and it is a pleasure to announce these exceptionally well-qualified new additions,” said Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro.

In addition to the members that Comptroller General names, the directors of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and National Institutes of Health, or their designees, also serve on the committee.

Biographies of the new committee members are available on GAO’s website. The official announcement of the appointments has been published in the Federal Register. A complete list of committee members and additional information about the committee’s work are available on PCORI’s website.