Paul G. Shekelle, MD, PhD, MPH is the recipient of the 2011 Under Secretary's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research.
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Paul G. Shekelle, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., received the Under Secretary's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research–the highest honor for a VA health services researcher at the 2011 HSR&D National Meeting. Dr. Shekelle has been an important part of the VA Greater Los Angeles (GLA) Healthcare System for more than 20 years, and has met the major criteria for this award by: improving our understanding of factors that affect the health of Veterans and improving the quality of their care, contributing to the future of VA health services research by inspiring and training the next generation of investigators, and enhancing the visibility of VA research through national recognition within the research community.
Receiving his M.D. from Duke University, Dr. Shekelle earned his M.P.H. and Ph.D. in Public Health from UCLA. Currently, he is a Professor of Medicine in Residence at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In addition, he is Chief of General Internal Medicine at VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, leads the HSR&D Evidence Synthesis Program based at GLA, is Director of the Southern California Evidence-based Practice Center, and is Director of the Quality Assessment and Improvement Program at RAND. He is also the Chair of the American College of Physicians Clinical Guidelines Committee and co-Chair of the National Guideline Clearinghouse Editorial Board.
Dr. Shekelle has made significant contributions toward developing methods to assess quality of care, particularly for older adults, and five quality indicators he developed are part of VA's benchmarking sets. In addition, he led an international group providing the Institute of Medicine with a paper on "developing trustworthy guidelines," which will be used to help set the criteria for guideline development in the United States. Through his work at the HSR&D Evidence Synthesis Program, Dr. Shekelle also has added to the overall knowledge regarding how to synthesize evidence in order to reach clinically relevant conclusions by conducting several evidence syntheses targeted toward VA clinical managers. These include several first-ever syntheses on: knowledge pertaining to women Veterans' health services research that stimulated increased research funding in this area; genomics and health services research, which identified the need for provider and patient education on the promises and limitations of genomic medicine; screening for and treatment of osteoporosis in men; and comparative effectiveness of different methods to increase cancer screening.
Sharing his expertise and experience by mentoring VA researchers and clinicians, Dr. Shekelle also has served for many years on HSR&D's review board for Career Development Awards, and was recently named Chair. Dr. Shekelle is a prolific author, generating more than 200 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Shekelle continues to make vital contributions to VA health services research through his research, mentorship, and leadership. It was with great pride that Dr. Joel Kupersmith, M.D., VA's Chief Research and Development Officer, presented Dr. Paul G. Shekelle with the prestigious Under Secretary's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research.