Dr. Leah Backhus Named to PCORI Advisory Panel

(8/19/2016)

Leah Backhus, MD, MPH, was selected to serve on the Improving Healthcare Systems advisory panel for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Just over 5 percent of who those expressed interest in this prestigious, three-year position were selected.

PCORI is an independent, non-profit organization authorized by Congress to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers, and clinicians with the evidence-based information needed to make informed healthcare decisions.

Dr. Backhus, a thoracic surgeon who practices at Stanford Hospital and the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, will help ensure that the research PCORI supports centers on outcomes that matter to patients. Dr. Backhus is also a member of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons. In her own research, she has explored racial segregation as a determinant of lung cancer outcomes and in organ donation and transplantation. She has engaged patients as key informants in her work to understand barriers to care and adherence to national quality standards in lung cancer care.

Leah Backhus, MD, MPH, FACS