News Release

PCORI welcomes Christine Goertz as next Chairperson and Sharon Levine as next Vice Chairperson of Board of Governors

Statement from PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH
Published: Sept. 17, 2019

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) today announced the appointment of Christine Goertz, DC, PhD, as the next Chairperson of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors, and the appointment of Sharon Levine, MD, as the next Vice Chairperson.

Goertz, who has been a member of PCORI’s Board since 2010 and its Vice Chairperson since September 2018, succeeds Grayson Norquist, MD, MSPH, as Chairperson upon his completion of a full term in this position. Norquist will continue to serve out the remainder of his current term as a Board member.

Levine, who has been a PCORI Board member since September 2010, takes over the Vice Chairperson role being vacated by Goertz. Both her and Goertz’s appointments are three-year terms ending September 2022.

“We are delighted with the GAO’s appointments and I look forward to continuing to work closely with Dr. Goertz and Dr. Levine in their new leadership roles,” said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH. “Their complementary expertise and long histories with PCORI will serve us and our Board very well in continuing to pursue our mission of helping people make better-informed healthcare decisions through patient-centered research.”

Selby also thanked Norquist “for his tireless, thoughtful, and wise leadership of the Board over the past six years during a time of significant expansion of PCORI’s research funding and efforts to promote the implementation of the growing body of useful evidence it is producing. We are grateful and pleased that he will continue to share his valuable insights and expertise with PCORI through his ongoing service on the Board.”

Goertz is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Spine Institute for Quality. As of October, she will begin new positions as Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Duke University Medical Center and Director of System Development and Coordination for Spine Health at Duke Health.

Levine, a board-certified pediatrician, is a physician with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group. She practiced and held leadership positions within The Permanente Medical Group, a large multi-specialty group practice in California, from 1977 to 2017.  

Norquist is Vice-Chair of the Emory University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Chief of Psychiatry Service at Grady Health System.

The diverse membership of PCORI’s Board is appointed by the Comptroller General of the United States and represents a broad range of perspectives and collective expertise in clinical health sciences research.