Vascular Medicine Fellowship

Application for Vascular Medicine Fellowship

Applications for the WFSM Vascular Medicine Mentored Clinical Scientist Training Program can be obtained from:

Ms. Wendy Reedy, Program Coordinator
Mentored Clinical Scientist Program in Vascular Medicine
Division of Surgical Sciences Wake Forest School of Medicine
Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1095
p 336-716-9502 | f 336-716-9758
E-mail: wreedy@wakehealth.edu

Or, you may download the files below:

• Application Instructions
• Application
• Program Summary

Internal Advisory Committee

The Internal Advisory Committee (IAC) will advise the Program Director on issues pertaining to the development, implementation, and overall success of this career development program.  In combination with the Program Director, the IAC will develop selection criteria for highly qualified Candidates. Twice yearly, the IAC will review the core research and core clinical curricula to consider new initiatives or alterations. In combination with the Program Director and mentoring team, the IAC will monitor the evaluation of the Candidate’s progress in both the didactic research and clinical curricula.  The Internal Advisory Committee consists of the following members:

Gregory L. Burke, M.D., M.S., Professor and Chair of the Division of Public Health Sciences, will Chair the Internal Advisory Committee. His extensive research portfolio seeks better strategies for clinical and population-based disease prevention, with special focus on cardiac and vascular disease. Dr. Burke is currently co-PI of several NIH funded observational studies and clinical trials. These include the Soy Estrogen Alternative Study (SEA), the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), and the Ginkgo Enhancing Memory Study (GEMS). At the national level, he is Chair of the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention for the American Heart Association, and a member of the NHLBI Board of extramural advisors. Dr. Burke’s experience with development and oversight of research development is extensive. He led the research and development core for the WFU Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center. Dr. Burke is an esteemed faculty mentor.

David M. Herrington, M.D., M.H.S., Professor of Internal Medicine (Cardiology) is the Program Director for a T32 Cardiovascular Disease Research Training Program that serves as training for physician scientists to translate advances in molecular biology to clinical and population research concerning cardiac and vascular disease. Dr. Herrington has served as a participating faculty member on the Pathobiology of Vascular Disease Training Grant and is on the internal advisory committee of the laboratory animal and comparative medicine training grant, which is the longest continuously funded NIH training grant in the nation. His educational activities include co-director of the annual Internal Medicine Board Review Course and he serves as a regular lecturer in the WFSM Molecular Medicine and Molecular and Cellular Pathology graduate programs. Dr. Herrington is active at the national level within the AHA, and currently serves on its Leadership Committee, chairs the fall program committee for the AHA’s Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, and serves on the national Committees for Scientific Sessions and Continuing Education. Directly relevant to this proposal, Dr. Herrington has reviewed numerous NIH- sponsored training programs, including both K23 and K24 awards. Most recently, he served as a reviewer for NIH solicitation for K08 awards in genetic epidemiology. He has been actively involved in clinical trials in cardiac epidemiology with focus on heart disease in women, the cardiovascular effects of estrogen and the pharmacogenetics of estrogen action, and holds several R01 awards from the NIH to fund investigations in these areas.

Charles E. McCall, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Microbiology, and Immunology, Deputy Associate Dean for Research, and Director of the General Clinical Research Center. Dr. McCall’s career in translational patient oriented research has been consistently NIH funded for 35 years, with a focus of investigation in the molecular mechanisms of innate immunity as they apply to human sepsis. After five years of postgraduate training at Harvard Medical School and two years at the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. McCall joined the faculty at WFSM in 1968. In 1972, he received a Fellowship to the Royal Society of Medicine where he performed disease related translational research at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London. Dr. McCall was the first member of the faculty of WFSM elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the first to be elected to the Association of American Physicians. In 1997, Dr. McCall received the first Established Investigator Award in Clinical Research. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Alumnus Award and Distinguished Service Award of WFSM. He is the Founder and Co-Director of the Section of Molecular Medicine. He is Director of the Research Development Core of the NIH funded Pepper Center, and has mentored over 50 MD, postdoctoral PhD, PhD students, and Master’s degree students.

Each of these members of the Internal Advisory Committee has an extensive track record of NIH-funded research in cardiac and vascular disease and epidemiologic investigation. Each member demonstrates a substantial and ongoing commitment to teaching, mentoring, and administration.

Potential Mentors

Collectively, the potential mentors reflect a multi-disciplinary group of senior clinical scientists with successful track records in both research and mentoring.

Clinical Mentors

Anthony Atala, MD is the Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Professor, and Chair of the Department of Urology at the Wake Forest School of Medicine.  He is a surgeon, researcher and expert on regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.  His current work focuses on bioengineering of human tissues and organs, including vascular grafts.  Dr. Atala currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors and Vice-President of the Society of Regenerative Medicine, a member of the Board of Governors of the Tissue Engineering Society, a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Engineering Tissue Growth International Conference, and as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Bladder Foundation.  He has received numerous awards and honors, including the US Congress-funded Christopher Columbus Foundation Award, which is bestowed on a living American who is currently working on a discovery that will significantly affect society.  He was named by Scientific American as a Medical Treatments Leader of the Year for his contributions to the fields of cell, tissue and organ regeneration.  Dr. Atala has led or served several national professional and government committees, including the National Institutes of Health working group on Cells and Developmental Biology, and the National Institutes of Health Bioengineering Consortium.  He heads a team of 60 physicians and researchers.

Alan Fleischer, MD and his colleagues at WFSM have published extensively in Health Services Research in Dermatology. His research group has investigated quality of care, quantity of care, and demographic determinants of care using extant data sources. Additionally, he has developed tools including the Self-Administered Psoriasis Area Severity Index, which has been validated and translated into at least four languages. Members of his Department have also developed and validated measures of atopic dermatitis and dermatomyositis. His group has pioneered novel methods of assessing compliance among dermatology patients, and currently has a series of ongoing projects assessing determinants of compliance in atopic dermatitis. Dr. Fleischer is currently principal investigator in numerous funded clinical trials involving therapeutic agents. His research group currently includes five full-time research fellows that spend one or more years in the Department and numerous medical students that spend one or more months of dedicated investigation time in the Department of Dermatology.

Barry Freedman, MD. Dr. Freedman’s basic research program evaluates genetic susceptibility to type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, diabetic and non-diabetic nephropathy, and vascular disease.  Through his extensive collaborations with the Center for Human Genomics, the Department of Biochemistry and the Division of Public Health Sciences, Dr. Freedman has recruited and phenotyped the largest existing group of African American families with multiple members having type 2 diabetes mellitus and diabetic and non-diabetic end-stage renal disease (ESRD).  Dr. Freedman also leads recruitment for the Diabetes Heart Study which now contains more than 1,200 individuals in 500 families who are concordant for type 2 diabetes mellitus and who lack serious kidney failure.  Participating families are evaluated for the presence of cardiovascular disease phenotypes including carotid intima-medial thickness using B-mode ultrasound and coronary artery calcified plaque using helical computed tomography.  The overall objectives of his research program are to identify genomic regions that harbor susceptibility genes for type 2 diabetes mellitus and its vascular and kidney complications.  He is also evaluating the role of circulating endothelial progenitor cells in the pathogenesis of diabetic vascular disease through his interactions with the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine.  Dr. Freedman chairs the NIDDK-sponsored Family Investigation in Nephropathy and Diabetes (FIND) study and he oversees the Wake Forest University Health Sciences-owned and operated dialysis program.  This dialysis program contains more than 1,300 prevalent ESRD patients in 13 treatment facilities.  In his role as Chief of the Section on Nephrology and the John H. Felts III, M.D. Professor of Internal Medicine and Nephrology, Dr. Freedman has mentored six graduate students and numerous residents/fellows.

Randolph Geary, MD.  As a member of the Vascular Surgery Teaching Unit, Dr. Geary’s basic research examines events within the arterial wall after injury and arterial reconstruction. Through his collaboration with the Department of Comparative Medicine, Dr. Geary’s basic science projects characterize arterial remodeling in an atherosclerotic non-human primate model of angioplasty injury. His research characterizes gene expression responsible for smooth muscle cell proliferation and extracellular matrix production. Related studies examine vectors as means of introducing recombinant genetic material into the arterial wall. The overall objective of this basic investigation is to define the mechanisms of restenosis and gene therapy approaches for its prevention. In addition, through his appointment with the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine Dr. Geary’s research encompasses bioengineering of vascular grafts. A current study protocol examines the GRAFTcath Vascular Access System as an alternative to the traditional vascular access for hemodialysis. Dr. Geary was the institution’s principal investigator for the recently completed PREVENT III trial that examined an E2F decoy to prevent stenosis within infrainguinal vein grafts placed for critical limb ischemia. In basic and clinical research, Dr. Geary has mentored 7 post-doctoral fellows and 14 Vascular Surgery Fellows.

Andrew Koman, MD.  Dr. Koman's clinical and basic research examines the microvascular physiology associated with chronic occlusive and vasospastic disease.  Specific areas of interest include evaluation of vascular adrenergic supersensitivity following digital sympathectomy and peripheral microvascular control mechanisms. To extend this research to clinical applications, Dr. Koman has built a Clinical Microangiology Laboratory to quantitate the extremity microcirculation in patients. Laser Doppler fluximetry, laser Doppler perfusion imaging, and nailfold capillaroscopy are used to assess the impact of clinical interventions on the pathophysiology of extremity microvascular dysfunction. He has determined the physiologic outcomes of revascularization, nerve repair and palliative treatments on the microcirculation of the hands and feet. Ongoing basic research studies examine microvascular control mechanisms in the acral microcirculation of rabbits and the genetic expression of microvascular control agents in the adventitia from patients with vasospastic disease and secondary Raynaud's.  The overall objectives of basic and clinical investigations are to define the mechanisms associated with vasospastic responses in microcirculatory beds, including molecular events. Dr. Koman currently has an appointment with the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine in which he is evaluating bioengineering of vascular grafts.  Dr. Koman has received the Kappa Delta research award from the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation and the Huene Research Award from the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America.  In education, Dr. Koman established the 7-year Physician Scientist Orthopaedic Residency program in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at WFSM. This innovative program is the first of its kind in the United States and serves as a benchmark for post-graduate training for a career in Academic Orthopaedic Surgery. He also established the Hand Fellowship for post-residency training in Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery at WFSM. Dr. Koman has mentored 2 Doctoral degree students, 5 Physician Scientists, and 13 Hand and Microvascular fellows.

Pavel J. Levy, MD heads the Vascular Medicine component of the Vascular Teaching Unit at WFUHS, which was established in collaboration with the Section on Vascular and Endovascular Surgery. Over the past 10 years, Dr. Levy's clinical research effort has focused on premature lower extremity atherosclerosis (PLEA) in adults 55 years of age and younger.  Currently, in collaboration with basic researchers from the Hypertension Center, Dr. Levy is studying basic mechanisms of early atherogenesis in patients with PLEA as related to the generation and functioning of bone marrow progenitor cells, and the activation of renin-angiotensin system.  In collaboration with Department of Dermatology, he is studying skin manifestations of early aging in patients with PLEA.  Dr. Levy collaborates with the Department of Neurology in the NIH-sponsored study SPSS-3 (center Co-PI; Hypertension arm), which evaluates the effect of tight blood pressure control on prevention of recurrent strokes in patients after lacunar infarctions.  Recently, Dr. Levy completed a number of investigator-initiated studies on pleiotropic effects of angiotensin-receptor blockers on platelet aggregation in hypertensive patients with established vascular disease.  Dr. Levy serves on a steering committee of the international REACH Program in peripheral arterial disease.  Dr. Levy is continuously involved in mentoring of surgical residents in the Division of Surgical Sciences and Vascular Surgery Fellows.  Dr. Levy mentored two research fellows in Vascular Medicine and one graduate physician assistant student in the Masters Program.

John Owen, MD directs the Special Hematology Laboratory that focuses on problems as presented both by individual patients and by patient populations. The underlying force behind his approach is to study a few individuals in great detail to better understand a problem. This information is then applied to the broader issues of day-to-day management of patients with hematologic disease.  Recently, Dr. Owen has directed efforts to the development of a facile test for the circulating level of enzyme ADAMTS13.  An assay for ADAMTS13 will help to recognize patients at risk for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura in whom an early escalation in therapy would lead to a better outcome.  A second function of the laboratory is to act as a crucible for the development of critical thinking skills for fellows in training. By doing so, the laboratory experience develops the next generation of practitioners in the field.  The Special Hematology Laboratory is the focus of a wide range of studies by his mentees.  Recent work has included apolipoprotein-E genotypes in chemotherapy-induced cognitive failure, warfarin resistance and mutations in the VKORC1 gene, the genetic basis of alpha-2-plasmin inhibitor deficiency, mutation in the erythropoietin gene, and the development of a highly sensitive assay for ADAMTS13 activity in plasma noted above.  Dr. Owen will guide the Hematology Clinical Rotation.

Michael Rocco, MD.  Dr. Rocco’s clinical research has focused on end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and epidemiologic research in ESRD patients.  He is the principal investigator for the NIH sponsored Frequent Hemodialysis Network Nocturnal Hemodialysis study and is the clinical center principal investigator for the NIH sponsored Dialysis Access Consortium trial and the Acute Renal Failure Trial Network (ATN Study).  He had served as the clinical center principal investigator for the recently completed NIH sponsored HEMO Study and was the Nutrition chair for that study.  He has been a workgroup member of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Clinical Performance Measures Project, serving on the Executive Committee, and is Chair of the Peritoneal Subgroup.  He is also the vice-chair for the National Kidney Foundation Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (K/DOQI) and serves as the vice-chair for the NKF K/DOQI hypertension guidelines. Dr. Rocco is currently coordinating the updates for the Hemodialysis, Peritoneal Dialysis and Vascular Access K/DOQI guidelines.  He has published extensively in the fields of ESRD clinical trials and epidemiology.

Charles Tegeler, MD.  Dr. Charles Tegeler’s research deals with the use of ultrasound in the prevention and treatment of stroke, cerebrovascular disorders, and concussion, as well as the use of such methods for assessment of cerebrovascular physiology, performance, and function in a variety of other clinical settings.  Many of these projects utilize Dynamic Vascular Analysis (DVA), a new method for analyzing transcranial Doppler ultrasound data.  Specific activities with DVA include the use of this method in the settings of sports-related concussion, vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage, obstructive sleep apnea, carotid artery stenting, sickle cell disease, shunt-responsive hydrocephalus, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, treatment with a variety of compounds, and implementation of a DVA Core Reading Center.  His group also studies peripheral arterial disease in stroke patients, and the use of an electronic stethoscope and neural network to better identify patients with carotid stenosis.  He participates in a variety of clinical stroke prevention and treatment trials, and Phase II of the ongoing North Carolina Stroke Registry.  Dr. Tegeler holds the McKinney-Avant Chair in Neurosonology, serves as Medical Director for the Neuroultrasound Laboratory, and is Head of the Section on Stroke, Cerebrovascular Disease, and Neurosonology.  He also is Director of the Neurovascular Ultrasound Courses in the Center for Medical Ultrasound, the Fellowship in Stoke, Cerebrovascular Disease, and Neurosonology, and the Neurosonology Mini-Fellowship Program.  He has served as Fellowship Director/Mentor for 15 Fellows in Stroke, Cerebrovascular Disease, and Neurosonology.  Dr. Tegeler will provide oversight to the Neurology Clinical Rotation.

David C. Sane, MD oversees a laboratory devoted to studies of thrombosis and vascular biology.  He has studied the structure and function of extracellular matrix proteins, especially vitronectin.  Dr. Sane has described the effect of transglutaminases on vitronectin and other substrates, and the role that transglutaminases may have in plaque stability and progression.  He has recently reported that nicotine upregulates P2Y12 (ADP receptor) expression, providing a potential mechanism for smoking-induced hyperaggregability and thienopyridine resistance.  His laboratory was the first to demonstrate that anti-platelet factor 4/heparin antibodies carry prognostic significance in acute coronary syndromes, even in the absence of thrombocytopenia.  Dr. Sane also demonstrated that angiostatin is an inhibitor of C-met, blocking the angiogenic and mitogenic effects of hepatocyte growth factor.  He has further characterized the vascular properties of hepatocyte growth factor, hepatocyte growth factor activator and inhibitors of this system.  Dr. Sane has directly mentored three PhD students (2 in Physiology/Pharmacology, 1 in Cancer Biology) and has participated in the training of 18 additional graduate students, as well as directing research studies for more than 15 medical students, residents, and cardiology fellows.  Dr. Sane is an attending cardiologist at North Carolina Baptist Hospital, where he treats patients with acute coronary syndromes.  He will assist Dr. Wells in the Cardiology Clinical Rotation.

Gretchen Wells, MD, PhD.  Dr. Gretchen Wells' research relates cardiac parameters determined by echocardiography to adverse cardiac events and patient survival.  She is a co-investigator for the STICH Trial, which examines the effects of surgical intervention to improve congestive heart failure.  Her other active research interest is peripartum cardiomyopathy, a rare but potentially lethal complication of pregnancy.   Through her collaboration with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, she is coordinating a database of women with the disorder in North Carolina.  A recently submitted American Heart Association grant will apply her extensive experience in medical genetics to identify genetic variants in women with peripartum cardiomyopathy.   She is involved in several industry-sponsored heart failure drug trials.  In clinical research, she has mentored 3 cardiology fellows and 1 internal medicine resident.  Dr. Wells will coordinate the Cardiology Clinical Rotation.

Public Health Sciences

Ralph D’Agostino, Jr., PhD is currently a Professor in the Department of Biostatistical Sciences and the Director of the Biostatistics Core of the Comprehensive Cancer Center.  His research areas include developing methods for handling missing data in epidemiological studies, developing models for longitudinal data that incorporate measurement error, and developing techniques for reducing bias in observational studies using propensity score methods.  He has been the Principal Investigator of several RO1 grants and subcontracts, including projects to develop statistical methodology as well as coordinate large-scale epidemiologic studies.   In addition to statistical research, Dr. D’Agostino has also been actively involved in medical research in the areas of cancer, cardiac and vascular disease, and diabetes.   He currently has over 100 journal articles and book chapters in these areas.   In addition to his applied and methodological work, Dr. D’Agostino has served as an Associate Editor for the American Journal of Epidemiology, the Journal of Cardiac Failure, and Current Controlled Trials in Cardiovascular Medicine.  He has been the Program Chair for the Statistics in Epidemiology Section (1998) of the American Statistical Association (ASA), the Health Policy Statistics Section (2000) of the ASA, and the Secretary/Treasurer for the Biometrics Section of the ASA (2003-2005).  He has served as a member of the NIH Skeletal Biology Development and Disease Study Section (SBDD) from 2002-2005.  He has also served on the thesis committee for nine graduate students in the Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research program.

Ronny Bell, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Division of Public Health Sciences, Department on Epidemiology, WFSM, with training in nutrition and epidemiology. Dr. Bell’s primary interests are chronic disease prevalence and risk factors, with particular emphasis on ethnic minority populations.  Dr. Bell was Principal Investigator of the HEARTQUEST project, one of 6 Enhanced Dissemination and Utilization Centers (EDUCs) funded by the NHLBI.  The project targeted African Americans, Native Americans and whites in Robeson and Columbus Counties, North Carolina, to address the increased cardiac and vascular disease burden observed in these communities.   Dr. Bell also serves as the Coordinating Center director for the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study, a multi-center study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with support from the NIDDK.  The SEARCH study is designed to estimate the population prevalence and incidence of diabetes in youth by type, age, gender and ethnicity, and to develop practical approaches to diabetes classification.  Dr. Bell received a minority investigator R03 from the NIDDK to estimate the prevalence of self-reported chronic health behaviors and chronic conditions among Lumbee Indians, and a minority investigator supplement to the Strong Heart Study to examine dietary factors related to diabetes and insulin resistance in the Strong Heart cohort.  He was the recipient of the WFSM New Investigator in Clinical Sciences Award in 2002.  As the Co-Director of the Master’s of Science in Health Sciences Research Program at WFSM, Dr. Bell is integral to this proposal.

Alain Bertoni, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor in Public Health Sciences (Epidemiology and Prevention) with a joint appointment in Internal Medicine, is a general internist and epidemiologist with research interests in diabetes and its complications, cardiac and vascular disease, quality improvement in chronic disease, and ethnic disparities in health and healthcare.  He is currently a co-investigator in the MESA cohort study and its ancillary study MESA-Family, a study of the genetics of atherosclerosis in minority populations.  He is also a co-investigator in the multicenter clinical trial Action for Health in Diabetes (Look AHEAD), a study testing weight loss in adults with diabetes to prevent cardiovascular morbidity, as well as the ACCORD trial, the Personal Digital Assistants for Guideline Adherence (PDA GLAD), which is a novel practice-based trial to improve utilization of the ATP cholesterol guidelines, and the NC ACE, a quality improvement project for heart failure patients in NC managed care plans.  Additionally, Dr. Bertoni has received an intramural grant to continue investigations of morbidity, mortality, and the impact of primary care on outcomes among Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes. He precepts Internal Medicine residents in clinic, and teaches in the Population Epidemiology and Evidence Based Medicine course for medical students.

Robert Byington, PhD conducts research focused on cardiac and vascular diseases, with special emphasis on risk factors and prevention. Dr. Byington has taught Principles of Clinical Trials I/II at WFSM. Currently, Dr. Byington is Principal Investigator of the Coordinating Center for the NHLBI’s Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial. ACCORD is designed to test the effects of glycemia, blood pressure and lipid control on major cardiac and vascular disease events in patients with Type 2 Diabetes.

Mark A. Espeland, PhD is Chair of the Department of Biostatistical Sciences.  His primary research interest has been the analysis of data from clinical trials and epidemiologic cohort studies. This has led him to examine research questions in such diverse fields as women's health, aging, diabetes, cardiac and vascular disease, sickle cell disease, cognition, and obesity. His methodological interests are in developing models from incomplete data and error-prone data. As applications of this methodology, he has explored relationships involving ultrasonographic measurements, diet intake measures, and measures of maturation and growth.  Dr. Espeland has been involved in leadership roles of coordinating and administrative centers for many major multi-center studies, including the Action for Health in Diabetes (Look AHEAD), the Trial of Nonpharmacologic Interventions in the Elderly (TONE), the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS), the Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium, the Postmenopausal Estrogen/Progestins Intervention (PEPI), the Asymptomatic Carotid Artery Progression Study (ACAPS), and the Cooperative Study of Sickle Cell Disease (CSSCD).  Dr. Espeland is a frequent consultant to the National Institutes of Health and has served on over two dozen Data and Safety Monitoring Boards / Advisory Panels for major studies.  He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Society for Clinical Trials Research.

David C. Goff, Jr., MD, PhD, Professor of Public Health Sciences (Epidemiology) and Internal Medicine and Co-Director of the Center for Healthcare Research and Quality at WFSM. He is Chair of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Working Group for the National Action Plan to Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke, a member of the North Carolina Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Task Force and Past Chair of the Tri-State Stroke Network (Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina). He directs the Ten-Day Seminar on the Epidemiology and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease sponsored by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Heart Association. He is active in the American Heart Association as Vice Chair of the Steering Committee for the Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Interdisciplinary Working Group, a member of the Leadership Committee for the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, the Get With the Guidelines Science Advisory Subcommittee and the Committee on Statistics.  His research interests include the epidemiology and prevention of heart disease and stroke, with a focus on issues related to diabetes and dyslipidemia.

Beth A. Reboussin, PhD, Associate Professor of Public Health Sciences (Biostatistical Sciences) received her degree in Biostatistics from Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.  Her research interests are focused on the analysis of data from psychiatric epidemiologic studies.  Dr. Reboussin has been actively involved in longitudinal research in the areas of adolescent suicide, dementia, depression, substance abuse, and youth violence prevention.  Dr. Reboussin is an NIMH trained Psychiatric Epidemiology fellow. She holds a Mentored Research Award (KO7 DA016279) funded by the NIDA entitled "Drug Involvement in Context:  Quantitative Perspectives".  The project is designed to provide training in the field of drug use and enable her to develop innovative biostatistical methods for understanding the processes underlying the transitions across stages of drug involvement.  At the national level, Dr. Reboussin serves as a statistical editor for Bipolar Disorders and is a member of the Behavioral Genetics and Epidemiology Study Section for the National Institutes of Health.

David M. Reboussin, PhD, Associate Professor in the Division of Public Health Sciences (Biostatistical Sciences).  He is the current Co-PI and Chair of the Coordinating Center Biostatistics and Computing Committee for Look AHEAD (NIDDK), and Co-Leader for the Data and Systems Group of the Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium (NIDDK).  Dr. Reboussin was a co-Investigator for ACCORD during protocol development and initiation of the Vanguard phase.  He was Co-Investigator and Director of the Data Core for ERA (NHLBI) from 1995 to 2003.  He was Co-PI and Senior Statistician for CONTROL, an industry-sponsored multi-center study.  He was Principal Investigator for the Iron Overload and Hereditary Hemochromatosis Study (HEIRS) Coordinating Center from 2000-2005.  Dr. Reboussin is currently a member of five DSMBs, including four NHLBI-sponsored trials, two of which are cooperative agreements.  He serves as a permanent member of the NHLBI Clinical Trials Review Committee and serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of ECT.  He is a member of the WFUHS IRB.

Beverly Mellen Snively, PhD.  Dr. Snively’s research activity is focused on analysis of data from genetic and epidemiologic studies.  Her methodologic interests are in the development of statistical models for inference using profile likelihood functions with data from multiple sources.  Dr. Snively was Co-Principal Investigator of the HEIRS Coordinating Center.  She is Co-Investigator on several other projects, including the Search for Diabetes in Youth Study (SEARCH; Ronny Bell, Director, Coordinating Center), Type I Diabetes Genetics Consortium (T1DGC; Stephen Rich, PI, Coordinating Center), ¡La Familia! Reducing Farmworker Pesticide Exposure Study (Thomas Arcury, PI), and Rural Elders' Diabetes Self-Management Study (Sara Quandt, PI).

Lynne E. Wagenknecht, DrPH is a chronic disease epidemiologist with an extensive research portfolio in cardiovascular disease and diabetes.  Dr. Wagenknecht has been the PI of the ARIC Forsyth County field center for five years, working in collaboration with Dr. Gerardo Heiss at UNC-CH.  She also directs the local field center for FHS-SCAN, a family study of coronary and aortic calcification. She is the PI of two NHLBI-funded observational study coordinating centers: the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS), an epidemiologic study of diabetes, insulin resistance and carotid wall thickness; and the IRAS Family Study, a study of the genetics of insulin resistance and visceral adiposity. Dr. Wagenknecht is also Deputy Director of the Look AHEAD Coordinating Center funded by the NIDDK.  She is a co-investigator on the Diabetes Heart Study being conducted at WFU, which is examining the genetics of coronary calcification in siblings with type 2 DM.  Dr. Wagenknecht has published extensively in the area of the epidemiology of type 2 DM and atherosclerosis, including work from her RO1 exploring novel mechanisms explaining the increased risk of cardiac and vascular disease in type 2 DM including glycated and oxidized ipoproteins. Dr. Wagenknecht has just completed a two-year term on the Scientific Sessions Committee of the American Diabetes Association and is now serving as Chair of the Council on Epidemiology and Biostatistics.