Steven Asch, MD, MPH
Steven Asch, MD, MPH, has earned the 2018 Under Secretary’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research – the highest honor for a VA health services researcher. Dr. Asch has met the major criteria for this award by:
A practicing internist with expertise in palliative medicine, Dr. Asch currently leads HSR&D’s Center for Innovation to Implementation (Ci2i), which fosters high-value healthcare for Veterans, specifically targeting mental healthcare, medical and surgical specialty care, and care outside VA. In addition, Dr. Asch is a Professor of Medicine and Vice Chief of the Division of Primary Care and Population Health at Stanford University.
Dr. Asch received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2004, and has been the Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on 40 funded grants totaling nearly $50 million in direct funds. As part of this work, Dr. Asch applies access/quality measurement techniques and implementation science methods to reduce disparities among vulnerable populations, including those involved in the justice system, or Veterans who have conditions such as HIV, HCV, and/or substance use disorder. For example, his research findings impacted the way VA deploys HIV testing efforts, including:
Dr. Asch has testified on his work before Congressional staff, federal commissions, VA’s Under Secretary for Health, and other governmental bodies, and has received national and international media attention (i.e., CNN, NY Times, Washington Post, ABC, NPR, among others). He also is a prolific author, with more than 380 peer-reviewed publications, including in The New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, and JAMA. His work has been cited more than 23,000 times. Dr. Asch also co-edits the Journal of General Internal Medicine, helping to guide the health services research published therein to a more applied bent.
In recognition of providing remarkable mentoring across his career, Dr. Asch was HSR&D's 2016 recipient of the Daniel Deykin Award for Outstanding Mentor. As stated by one of his mentees, Dr. Karl Lorenz, a former HSR&D Career Development Awardee, Dr. Asch's "appetite for learning, sharp intellect, ability to communicate clearly, and focus on benefiting his mentees continues to make him a highly sought-after mentor. His skills are reflected in the many trainees who seek him out, and in the academic and other signs of productivity that his mentees have achieved."
For an exceptional career and continued dedication to improving the health and care of Veterans, particularly our most vulnerable, HSR&D is proud to present the Under Secretary’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research to Dr. Steven Asch.