Jan N. Basile, MD, FACP, FASH, FAHA
Professor of Medicine
Division of Cardiology
Medical University of South Carolina
Ralph H Johnson VA Medical Center
Previous Vice-Chair of Clinical Programs AHA Council of Hypertension
US National Leader SURPASS-CVOT
Charleston, SC

Dr. Jan N. Basile earned his medical degree in 1978 from the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. He then completed his internship and residency at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, where he was also Chief Resident. He is board certified in internal medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP), the American Society of Hypertension (FASH), and the American Heart Association (FAHA). For many years he served on the American Society of Hypertension (ASH) Board of Directors and has served within the AHA as Vice-Chair of Clinical Programs on the Council of Hypertension.

His honors and awards include the MUSC School of Medicine Excellence in Teaching award, the Golden Apple award, and, in 2014, he was the first recipient of the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control Hypertension Physician of the Year award. In 2019, he received the Marvin Moser Clinical Hypertension Award from the American Heart Association Council on Hypertension. He was President of the Southern Medical Association from 2008-2009.

Currently, he is Professor of Medicine at MUSC in the Division of Cardiology. He spent 31 years at the Ralph H Johnson VA Medical Center while faculty at MUSC, having retired from federal service as Chief of Primary Care in 2009. He remains a volunteer at the VA, his 45th year at that hospital. At MUSC, he continues to teach all 3rd year medical students clinical hypertension during their 3rd year core medicine rotation and currently sees clinical patients enrolled in research trials on the role of renal denervation in controlling hypertension.

Dr. Basile’s career research interests include outcome-based clinical trials involving hypertension, lipid disorders, and diabetes. He has been involved in many large hypertension trials that have defined how we treat hypertension including the NHLBI sponsored ALLHAT, ACCORD, SPRINT and SPRINT-MIND trials. In addition, he has been a principal investigator for the ACCOMPLISH, VALUE, ONTARGET, and TRANSCEND trials. Most recently, he has been involved in diabetes outcome trials with GLP1RA's including REWIND and is the US National Leader for the SURPASS-CV Outcome Trial comparing Dulaglutide with the dual-agonist Tirzepatide.

Dr Basile was a contributing reviewer of the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC 7) and the 2017 ACC-AHA Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults. He has published more than 400 original papers, abstracts, and book chapters, as well as a textbook, Hot Topics: Hypertension. He continues to be a contributing author for the hypertension section of “Up To Date”.

Steven L. Cohn, MD, MACP, SFHM
Professor Emeritus
Department of Medicine
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Miami, FL

Dr. Steven L. Cohn is currently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He is the former Director of the Medical Consultation Service at Jackson Memorial Hospital and Medical Director of the UHealth Preoperative Assessment Center (UPAC) and Medical Consultation Service at the University of Miami Hospital, having relocated to Miami after 30 years at the State University of New York - Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn where he is also Clinical Professor of Medicine Emeritus. He was the former Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine and Associate Medical Director for Performance Improvement at Downstate and the Director of the Preoperative Medical Consultation Clinic and Medical Consultation Service at Kings County Hospital Center, responsible for education and supervision of senior medical residents in both in-patient and ambulatory care settings and has evaluated over 30,000 patients preoperatively. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Monterrey, Dr. Cohn completed his residency in internal medicine at SUNY-Downstate Medical Center. He is a Master of the American College of Physicians (ACP), a senior fellow of the Society for Hospital Medicine (SHM), and a board member of the Society for Perioperative Assessment and Quality Improvement (SPAQI).

Dr. Cohn is a nationally recognized expert in perioperative medicine and a frequently requested speaker. He has given over 400 CME lectures ranging from grand rounds to presentations of research findings and coordination of educational workshops at numerous national meetings (ACP, SHM, SGIM, IARS). In 2017, he received the SHM Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Dr. Cohn is the author/editor of several books – Decision-making in Perioperative Medicine: Clinical Pearls (McGraw Hill and ACP, 2021), Perioperative Medicine (Springer, 2011), and Perioperative Medicine - Just the Facts (McGraw Hill, 2006), and section editor for medical consultation in Comprehensive Hospital Medicine (Elsevier, 2007). He wrote the chapter on Preoperative Evaluation for the past three editions of Goldman/Cecil's Textbook of Medicine, the section on Perioperative Medicine in MKSAP XV, and co-authored multiple topics in UpToDate. He has also written numerous book chapters and articles that have appeared in peer-reviewed journals including the Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of Hospital Medicine, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Heart, and Anesthesiology. Dr. Cohn has been named in Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors in the New York Metro area annually from 1997-2011 and was also listed in New York Magazine's Best Doctors 2010 and 2011.

Heather M. Johnson, MD, MS, MMM, FAHA, FACC, FASPC
Preventive Cardiologist
Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute
Boca Raton Regional Hospital
Boca Raton, FL

Dr. Heather M. Johnson is a Cardiologist and Preventive Cardiologist at the Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute of Boca Raton Regional Hospital/Baptist Health South Florida, and a Clinical Affiliate Associate Professor of Florida Atlantic University. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology, Master of Population Health, and Doctor of Medicine degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She graduated with Honors from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business with a Master of Medical Management. Prior to moving to Boca Raton, Florida, she practiced as a Noninvasive Cardiologist and Preventive Cardiologist for 10 years at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and served as an Associate Professor with Tenure at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health. Dr. Johnson is a leader in population health, heart disease prevention, and women’s health. She has led multiple research studies funded through the National Institute of Health with over 50 research publications. She is active with multiple medical organizations including the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, American Society of Preventive Cardiology, and WomenHeart. Dr. Johnson is a guest medical expert on television newscasts, radio shows, and podcasts. She has received numerous awards. Notably, in 2018, Dr. Johnson was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and in 2019, she was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Honor Society.

Kevin M. Pantalone, DO, ECNU, FACE
Staff Endocrinologist
Director of Diabetes Initiatives
Department of Endocrinology
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland, OH

Dr. Kevin M. Pantalone is a board-certified staff endocrinologist at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Pantalone also completed his internal medicine residency and endocrinology fellowship at Cleveland Clinic. He served as the Director of Clinical Research for the Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Institute from 2014-2019. He currently serves as the Director of Diabetes Initiatives. His clinical focus is on the glycemic management of type 2 diabetes, as well as the diagnosis and management of thyroid disorders, pituitary tumors, and male hypogonadism. Dr. Pantalone’s research interests include the study of novel approaches to manage patients with type 2 diabetes, and examining the effects of diabetes therapies in real-world practice using the enterprise-wide electronic health record at Cleveland Clinic.

Camiron Pfennig, MD, MHPE
Department of Emergency Medicine, Prisma Health – Upstate
Emergency Medicine Residency Director
Professor of Emergency Medicine
University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville
Clemson University School of Health Research
Clemson, SC

Dr. Camiron Pfennig is Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville and currently serves as the Emergency Medicine Residency Director of the Prisma Health Greenville Emergency Medicine Residency and the Fellowship Director for the Medical Education and Technology Fellowship. She is a graduate of Marquette University and the Indiana University School of Medicine. Following her Chief Residency at Indiana University, Dr. Pfennig completed the ACEP Teaching Fellowship and then obtained her Masters of Health Professions Education from Vanderbilt University. Prior to the transition to Greenville from Nashville, Tennessee, Dr. Pfennig was the Director of Undergraduate Medical Education and EM physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Vanderbilt University.

John H. Post III, MD
Orthopedic Surgeon
Martha Jefferson Hospital
Charlottesville, VA

Dr. John H. Post is an Orthopedic Surgeon from Charlottesville, Virginia with expertise in Sports Medicine, arthroscopy of the knee and shoulder, and knee replacement surgery. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, served as a U.S. Marine helicopter pilot and subsequent helicopter instructor for the U.S. Navy. He received his MD from the University of Miami School of Medicine. He is a Fellow in the Arthroscopy Association of North America and the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. He enjoys outdoor exercise and has competed in the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim and the English Channel Swim and enjoys hiking with his family. His wife is the Director of Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia Northridge Clinic. His daughter Sarah is a first-year student at the University of Virginia School of Nursing. They have two other children, a 2-year-old granddaughter, and two labs.

Kay Roussos-Ross, MD
Professor
Chief, Division Academic Specialist in General Obstetrics and Gynecology
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
University of Florida College of Medicine
Gainesville, FL

Dr. Dikea (Kay) Roussos-Ross is a Professor in the departments of OBGYN and Psychiatry. She joined the faculty of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Florida College of Medicine in January 2012. Dr. Roussos-Ross is board-certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. Her areas of focus include high-risk obstetric patients with co-morbid psychiatric and substance use disorders. Dr. Roussos-Ross’s clinical practice also includes general obstetrics, gynecology and surgical gynecology. Dr. Roussos-Ross is the Chief of the Division of Academic Specialists in General Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is also the Director of Women’s Health at the UF Health Shands Medical Plaza.

Donna H. Ryan, MD, FACP
Professor Emerita
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Baton Rouge, LA

Dr. Donna H. Ryan is Professor Emerita at Pennington Biomedical in Baton Rouge, LA. Dr Ryan’s research focuses on nutrition, obesity and obesity comorbidities. She has been an investigator for various US National Institutes of Health-sponsored studies, including Pounds Lost, DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), DPP (Diabetes Prevention Program) and the Look AHEAD study. Dr. Ryan’s continuing interests focus on translation of effective weight management into primary care practices. Dr Ryan served as Co-Chair on the expert panel for the 2013 ACC/AHA/TOS evidence-based Guidelines on the Evaluation and Management of Overweight and Obesity in Adults and was a panel member of the 2015 Endocrine Society Systematic Evidence Review and Guidelines for Medications that Affect Body Weight. She has authored more than 300 publications on obesity. She is an active lecturer and consultant in obesity and its treatment. She is Co-Chair of the Steering Committee SELECT, a cardiovascular outcome trial of semaglutide.

Andrew W. Urban, MD
Infectious Disease and HIV Specialist
Madison, WI

Dr. Andrew W. Urban is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease. He graduated from the University of Illinois College of Medicine and completed his Internal Medicine residency and fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the University of Wisconsin. His past positions include Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease at the University of Wisconsin and Chief of Infectious Diseases at the Wm. S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison, WI. He has received numerous teaching awards and has been extensively involved in undergraduate, graduate and continuing medical education. His clinical interests include primary care of individuals with HIV and consultative general infectious diseases.

C. Wayne Weart, PharmD, FASHP, FAPhA
Professor Emeritus Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Outcome Sciences
Medical University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy
Professor of Family Medicine
MUSC Department of Family Medicine
Charleston, SC

Dr. Wayne Weart received his Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy in 1971 from the University of Georgia. He served his residency in Hospital Pharmacy at the Medical University Hospital in Charleston, SC in 1972. He received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science in 1974. Dr. Weart is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Outcome Sciences in the College of Pharmacy, Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), as well as Professor of Family Medicine in the College of Medicine, MUSC. Prior to his teaching at the Medical University, Dr. Weart instructed at West Virginia University in pharmacy and family medicine.

Dr. Weart has more than 100 publications and he has given scores of lectures to numerous professional groups and societies. He has received outstanding teacher awards at both West Virginia University and MUSC and has been named Hospital Pharmacist of the Year in both South Carolina and West Virginia.

In 1991, Dr. Weart was among the first pharmacists to become a Board-Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist. In 1992, he was honored for his excellence in pharmacy practice and designated a Fellow of the American Society of Health Systems Pharmacists. Dr. Weart was named a Primary Care Policy Fellow for 1999 by the U.S. Public Health Service and he was honored by the Alumni Association of the MUSC College of Pharmacy as a Distinguished Alumnus in 2002. He also received the Bowl of Hygeia Award from the SC Pharmacy Association in 2003 for outstanding service to the community and the profession of pharmacy and the George D. Schwerin Mentor Award, from the South Carolina Society of Health System Pharmacists in 2004. In 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009, he was recognized by the MUSC College of Pharmacy student body for his excellence in education by the Golden Mortar and Pestle Award. In 2008, the MUSC Board of Trustees named Dr. Weart as a Master Teacher. In 2012 he received the Proctor and Gamble National Leadership Award from the Phi Lambda Sigma Pharmacy Leadership Society. In 2014, he was awarded the Ralph M. Wilkie Distinguished Lifetime Service Award by the SC Pharmacy Association Board of Directors. In 2015, he received the Kenneth Flinchum Distinguished Service Award from the SC Society of Health System Pharmacists. In 2021, he was awarded the James A. McFarland, MD, FACP Award by the SC Chapter of the American College of Physicians for his scholarship and teaching. Dr Weart served on the Board of Directors of the SC Pharmacists Association and as President and Chairman of the Board for 2010-2011. He served on the Board of Directors for the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy from 2009-2013 and President of the Waring Library Society for 2014-2015. He is one of many Hot Dog Ministry volunteers involved with serving the homeless of Charleston.

Jan N. Basile, MD, FACP, FASH, FAHA
Professor of Medicine
Division of Cardiology
Medical University of South Carolina
Ralph H Johnson VA Medical Center
Previous Vice-Chair of Clinical Programs AHA Council of Hypertension
US National Leader SURPASS-CVOT
Charleston, SC

Dr. Jan N. Basile earned his medical degree in 1978 from the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. He then completed his internship and residency at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, where he was also Chief Resident. He is board certified in internal medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP), the American Society of Hypertension (FASH), and the American Heart Association (FAHA). For many years he served on the American Society of Hypertension (ASH) Board of Directors and has served within the AHA as Vice-Chair of Clinical Programs on the Council of Hypertension.

His honors and awards include the MUSC School of Medicine Excellence in Teaching award, the Golden Apple award, and, in 2014, he was the first recipient of the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control Hypertension Physician of the Year award. In 2019, he received the Marvin Moser Clinical Hypertension Award from the American Heart Association Council on Hypertension. He was President of the Southern Medical Association from 2008-2009.

Currently, he is Professor of Medicine at MUSC in the Division of Cardiology. He spent 31 years at the Ralph H Johnson VA Medical Center while faculty at MUSC, having retired from federal service as Chief of Primary Care in 2009. He remains a volunteer at the VA, his 45th year at that hospital. At MUSC, he continues to teach all 3rd year medical students clinical hypertension during their 3rd year core medicine rotation and currently sees clinical patients enrolled in research trials on the role of renal denervation in controlling hypertension.

Dr. Basile’s career research interests include outcome-based clinical trials involving hypertension, lipid disorders, and diabetes. He has been involved in many large hypertension trials that have defined how we treat hypertension including the NHLBI sponsored ALLHAT, ACCORD, SPRINT and SPRINT-MIND trials. In addition, he has been a principal investigator for the ACCOMPLISH, VALUE, ONTARGET, and TRANSCEND trials. Most recently, he has been involved in diabetes outcome trials with GLP1RA's including REWIND and is the US National Leader for the SURPASS-CV Outcome Trial comparing Dulaglutide with the dual-agonist Tirzepatide.

Dr Basile was a contributing reviewer of the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC 7) and the 2017 ACC-AHA Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults. He has published more than 400 original papers, abstracts, and book chapters, as well as a textbook, Hot Topics: Hypertension. He continues to be a contributing author for the hypertension section of “Up To Date”.

Danielle D. Campagne, MD, FACEP
Interim Chief of Emergency Medicine, UCSF-Fresno
Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine, UCSF
University of California San Francisco
Fresno, CA

Dr. Danielle D. Campagne is Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at UCSF School of Medicine. She serves as Interim Chief of Emergency Medicine at UCSF-Fresno. Her academic interests include research in wilderness medicine, orthopedics, EMS and critical care. She has lectured nationally and internationally on a myriad of orthopedic and sports medicine topics. She serves as Co-Editor of Oxford Press's Emergency Medicine Board Review Textbook. She is also an Associate Editor of the Orthopedics Section and Urology/Renal Section of CorePendium, EM:RAP's online textbook.

Steven L. Cohn, MD, MACP, SFHM
Professor Emeritus
Department of Medicine
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Miami, FL

Dr. Steven L. Cohn is currently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He is the former Director of the Medical Consultation Service at Jackson Memorial Hospital and Medical Director of the UHealth Preoperative Assessment Center (UPAC) and Medical Consultation Service at the University of Miami Hospital, having relocated to Miami after 30 years at the State University of New York - Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn where he is also Clinical Professor of Medicine Emeritus. He was the former Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine and Associate Medical Director for Performance Improvement at Downstate and the Director of the Preoperative Medical Consultation Clinic and Medical Consultation Service at Kings County Hospital Center, responsible for education and supervision of senior medical residents in both in-patient and ambulatory care settings and has evaluated over 30,000 patients preoperatively. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Monterrey, Dr. Cohn completed his residency in internal medicine at SUNY-Downstate Medical Center. He is a Master of the American College of Physicians (ACP), a senior fellow of the Society for Hospital Medicine (SHM), and a board member of the Society for Perioperative Assessment and Quality Improvement (SPAQI).

Dr. Cohn is a nationally recognized expert in perioperative medicine and a frequently requested speaker. He has given over 400 CME lectures ranging from grand rounds to presentations of research findings and coordination of educational workshops at numerous national meetings (ACP, SHM, SGIM, IARS). In 2017, he received the SHM Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Dr. Cohn is the author/editor of several books – Decision-making in Perioperative Medicine: Clinical Pearls (McGraw Hill and ACP, 2021), Perioperative Medicine (Springer, 2011), and Perioperative Medicine - Just the Facts (McGraw Hill, 2006), and section editor for medical consultation in Comprehensive Hospital Medicine (Elsevier, 2007). He wrote the chapter on Preoperative Evaluation for the past three editions of Goldman/Cecil's Textbook of Medicine, the section on Perioperative Medicine in MKSAP XV, and co-authored multiple topics in UpToDate. He has also written numerous book chapters and articles that have appeared in peer-reviewed journals including the Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of Hospital Medicine, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Heart, and Anesthesiology. Dr. Cohn has been named in Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors in the New York Metro area annually from 1997-2011 and was also listed in New York Magazine's Best Doctors 2010 and 2011.

Heidi L. Combs, MD, MS
Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Vice Chair of Education
University of Washington School of Medicine
Seattle, WA

Dr. Heidi L. Combs is Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle where she completed medical school and residency. She joined the faculty upon graduation. For 10 years she was the Psychiatry Clerkship Director for the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) and the Inpatient Psychiatry Medical Director at Harborview Medical Center for 8 years. She became the first Stern Endowed Chair for Faculty Development for the UWSOM in 2019. She is currently the Vice Chair of Education for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. Areas of expertise include acute psychiatric care, catatonia, psychiatric illness in primary care, and medical education. She has received numerous teaching awards. In 2013 she received the UWSOM Teachers Superior in Perpetuity award becoming the third woman and only psychiatrist to receive this honor.

Jeffrey R. Curtis, MD, MS MPH
Marguerite Jones Harbert – Gene V Ball, MD Professor of Medicine
Co-Director, UAB PharmacoEpidEmiology, and phaRmcoeconomics (PEER) Unit
Director, UAB Musculoskeletal Digital Health and Technology Laboratory
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology
Birmingham, AL

Dr. Jeffrey R. Curtis is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Curtis received a Medical Degree (MD) and a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Oregon Health & Sciences University in Portland, OR. He subsequently completed a residency in internal medicine at Oregon Health & Science University and a fellowship in rheumatology at UAB. He completed a graduate program in Clinical Informatics at Stanford University and received his Master of Science (MS) degree in epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. He is board certified in both rheumatology and clinical informatics.

Dr. Curtis holds the Harbert-Ball Endowed Professorship in Rheumatology and Immunology at UAB. His major research emphasis is on evaluating the safety and comparative effectiveness of medications for rheumatic diseases. He also conducts both investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored clinical trials in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis (SpA), including large pragmatic trials. He is the PI of the UAB P30 Informatics Core funded by NIH (NIAMS), focused on digital health and ‘big data’ in musculoskeletal diseases. He is the lead of the UAB Data and Analytic Center (DAC), one of two Coordinating Centers for the ACR’s Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness (RISE), the largest EHR-based rheumatology registry in the world. RISE aggregates and normalizes EHR data from more than 3 million rheumatology patients, with data contributed by more than 1,000 rheumatology providers. He is Co-Director of the UAB Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics Research (PEER) Unit. PEER uses multiple large and linked data sources to study comparative effectiveness questions across multiple chronic diseases. He is the Co-PI of the mobile health-based, PCORI-funded Patient Powered Research Network “ArthritisPower” research registry, focused on RA, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and Spondyloarthritis that has enrolled more than 30,000 patients.

The data sources he routinely uses include national electronic health record, health plan claims (e.g. Medicare, commercial insurance), traditional registry, patient reported outcomes, mobile device, and wearable technologies; he has done numerous projects that link these disparate data sources together. In 2012, he was awarded the Henry Kunkel Young Investigator Award by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and was accepted into the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) in 2016. In 2015, Dr. Curtis was appointed as a member to the FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee, and also the CDC’s ACIP Herpes Zoster Working Group. In 2020, he was appointed lead of the ACR’s COVID Vaccine Clinical Guidance Task Force, and he also serves as a member of the ACR’s 2022 Vaccine Guideline Committee. In addition to vaccine research, Dr. Curtis studies the efficacy, comparative effectiveness, and safety of the medications, devices, and devices used in the care of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and axial spondyloarthritis patients. In the past, he served on the Core Expert Panel for the ACR’s 2008, 2012, and 2015 Recommendations for the Use of Nonbiologic and Biologic Disease Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs in RA.

Dr. Curtis also studies risk factors for and outcomes of osteoporosis. He was a member of the ACR’s task force to update recommendations for the management of glucocorticoid induced osteoporosis (GIOP). He served on the ASBMR Task Force on Atypical Subtrochanteric and Diaphyseal Fractures.

Dr. Curtis is a member of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE), the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR). He has been on the editorial board for Arthritis & Rheumatology, Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety (PDS) and Arthritis Care and Research (AC&R). According to Google Scholar, he has an H-index of 93, and an i-10 index of 417, based on his authorship of more than 600 peer-reviewed manuscripts, review articles and book chapters.

Robert Dachs, MD
Director of Graduate Medical Education
Department of Emergency Medicine
Ellis Hospital, Associate Clinical Professor
Family Residency Program
Albany Medical College
Schenectady, NY

Dr. Robert Dachs is the Director of Graduate Medical Education for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, NY. Previously Dr. Dachs served as Vice Chairman for the Department of Emergency Medicine for the past 16 years. Additionally, he is Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the Ellis Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program, and is the previous Research Director for this residency program. Dr. Dachs graduated New York Medical College in 1985. He spent 2 years in General Surgery Residency at Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, MA before moving on to and completing a Family Medicine Residency in Middletown, CT in 1991. Since then, Dr. Dachs has practiced Emergency Medicine full-time in the Albany-Schenectady region of New York State. During his career, Dr. Dachs has published extensively on a variety of acute and primary care topics. He has lectured nationally for many years on a broad range of topics and is a faculty member for the AAFP Board Review courses. He also developed the first Continuing Education program on Emergency and Urgent Care for Family Physicians for AAFP in 2001, and was Chairman for this course for 10 years. He has received “Teacher of the year” awards 3 times from his residents and continues to have a passion for teaching. This past year, he was Chair of a 7-hour enduring CME project on COVID-19 for the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Heather M. Johnson, MD, MS, MMM, FAHA, FACC, FASPC
Preventive Cardiologist
Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute
Boca Raton Regional Hospital
Boca Raton, FL

Dr. Heather M. Johnson is a Cardiologist and Preventive Cardiologist at the Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute of Boca Raton Regional Hospital/Baptist Health South Florida, and a Clinical Affiliate Associate Professor of Florida Atlantic University. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology, Master of Population Health, and Doctor of Medicine degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She graduated with Honors from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business with a Master of Medical Management. Prior to moving to Boca Raton, Florida, she practiced as a Noninvasive Cardiologist and Preventive Cardiologist for 10 years at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and served as an Associate Professor with Tenure at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health. Dr. Johnson is a leader in population health, heart disease prevention, and women’s health. She has led multiple research studies funded through the National Institute of Health with over 50 research publications. She is active with multiple medical organizations including the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, American Society of Preventive Cardiology, and WomenHeart. Dr. Johnson is a guest medical expert on television newscasts, radio shows, and podcasts. She has received numerous awards. Notably, in 2018, Dr. Johnson was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and in 2019, she was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Honor Society.

David A. Khan, MD
Program Director, Allergy & Immunology Fellowship Program
Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas, TX

Dr. David A. Khan is Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He has been the Program Director for the Allergy & Immunology Fellowship Program at Southwestern for over 25 years. He is the Immediate Past-President of the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology (AAAAI). He is a past recipient of the AAAAI Distinguished Clinician Award and the ACAAI Distinguished Fellow Award. He served for over 15 years on the Joint Task Force for Practice Parameters, developing guidelines for the specialty of Allergy & Immunology. He is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology In Practice.

His research interests include drug allergy, therapies for refractory chronic urticaria, and the interaction of depression and asthma. He has authored over 180 peer-reviewed publications.

Donna H. Ryan, MD, FACP
Professor Emerita
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Baton Rouge, LA

Dr. Donna H. Ryan is Professor Emerita at Pennington Biomedical in Baton Rouge, LA. Dr Ryan’s research focuses on nutrition, obesity and obesity comorbidities. She has been an investigator for various US National Institutes of Health-sponsored studies, including Pounds Lost, DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), DPP (Diabetes Prevention Program) and the Look AHEAD study. Dr. Ryan’s continuing interests focus on translation of effective weight management into primary care practices. Dr Ryan served as Co-Chair on the expert panel for the 2013 ACC/AHA/TOS evidence-based Guidelines on the Evaluation and Management of Overweight and Obesity in Adults and was a panel member of the 2015 Endocrine Society Systematic Evidence Review and Guidelines for Medications that Affect Body Weight. She has authored more than 300 publications on obesity. She is an active lecturer and consultant in obesity and its treatment. She is Co-Chair of the Steering Committee SELECT, a cardiovascular outcome trial of semaglutide.

Matthew R. Weir, MD
Professor of Medicine
Chief of Nephrology Division
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Baltimore, MD

Dr. Matthew R. Weir is attending physician and Director of the Division of Nephrology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Maryland Hospital, Baltimore. He is also Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Dr. Weir’s primary research interests include the use of antihypertensive therapy for the treatment of diabetic nephropathy, hypertensive renal injury in African Americans, cardiovascular disease in patients with chronic kidney disease, and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonism to treat atherosclerosis. He has written more than 700 manuscripts and book chapters about these topics. He has edited 8 books on topics in nephrology, transplantation, and hypertension. He has presented at numerous international scientific association meetings, hospitals, and medical schools.

Dr. Weir currently reviews manuscripts for more than 30 major medical journals, including the American Society of Nephrology, and Archives of Internal Medicine. He is on the editorial board of 18 journals and is Section Editor of Current Hypertension Reports and Current Opinion in Hypertension and Nephrology, and Associate Editor of Clinical Nephrology and the American Journal of Nephrology. He has 5 active NIH supported grants from NIDDK. In addition, he is a member of numerous associations, including the American Society of Nephrology, the National Kidney Foundation, the American Heart Association, and the American Society of Transplantation.

Dr. Weir received his medical degree from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. He completed his internship and residency programs in medicine at the Waterbury and Yale-New Haven Hospitals in Connecticut and completed his nephrology training at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, in Boston, Massachusetts. He then moved to then to the University of Maryland where he has been a full time faculty member since 1983.