August 5, 2004

Brian Strom, MD, MPH, Named President-Elect of the
Association of Clinical Research Training Program Directors

(Philadelphia, PA) – Brian Strom, MD, MPH, the George S. Pepper Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Chair and Professor of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pharmacology, and Director of the Center for Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, was elected President-elect of the Association of Clinical Research Training Program Directors (ACRTP). His term will extend until April 2005, when he will assume the role of President of the Association.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to lead this important organization, which represents the leaders of clinical research training programs throughout the United States,” states Strom. “The ACRTP seeks to foster the nation’s training in clinical research, so that the many advances made daily in modern medical science are brought more quickly from the bench to the bedside, and then to the population at large.”

Among the many goals of the ACRTP is the promotion of technological advances for training individuals in effective research techniques in an effort to improve patient care. The Association also aims to foster the development of the nation’s clinical investigators, to solidify the infrastructure for educating individuals in the art and science of clinical investigation and to promote the development of clinical research training of individuals to investigate human diseases. As president, Strom will seek to improve clinical research training programs throughout the country, and seek additional support for such programs from the federal government.

In addition to his responsibilities as Professor & Director in Penn’s School of Medicine, Dr. Strom was recently appointed Associate Vice Dean for the School of Medicine and Associate Vice President for Strategic Integration for Penn’s Health System. In this capacity, he is responsible for the integration of the research, clinical and educational activities of the medical school and health system. As Founder and Director of Penn’s Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Strom has led his faculty in training over 300 clinicians in clinical research through the years. He is a widely recognized leader in the rigorous formal training of clinical researchers.

Although Strom’s general interests span many areas of clinical epidemiology, his major research interest is in the field of pharmacoepidemiology – the application of epidemiological methods to the study of drug use and effects. He is the author and editor of the most well respected text in the field, Pharmacoepidemiology, now in its fourth edition. Strom has served as principal investigator for more than 175 grants and he has given over 275 talks, including keynote speeches for many international meetings. He has served as consultant to varied institutions including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), foreign governments, and major pharmaceutical manufacturers. In 2002, he was appointed Committee Chair of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Smallpox Vaccine Program Implementation, a position he still holds.

Strom earned his BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University and his MD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In 1980, he earned his Masters in Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology, while simultaneously completing a NIH fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology at the University of California, Berkeley.

A member of the American Epidemiology Society, Strom is also one of a handful of clinical epidemiologists ever elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the American Society of Physicians. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He was the 2003 recipient of the Rawls-Palmer Progress in Medicine Award from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

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PENN Medicine is a $2.5 billion enterprise dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and high-quality patient care. PENN Medicine consists of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System (created in 1993 as the nation’s first integrated academic health system).

Penn’s School of Medicine is ranked #3 in the nation for receipt of NIH research funds; and ranked #4 in the nation in U.S. News & World Report’s most recent ranking of top research-oriented medical schools. Supporting 1,400 fulltime faculty and 700 students, the School of Medicine is recognized worldwide for its superior education and training of the next generation of physician-scientists and leaders of academic medicine.

Penn Health System is comprised of: its flagship hospital, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, consistently rated one of the nation’s “Honor Roll” hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital; Presbyterian Medical Center; a faculty practice plan; a primary-care provider network; two multispecialty satellite facilities; and home health care and hospice.

This release is available online at http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug04/ACRTP.htm