Penn Medicine's Brian L. Strom named 2013 Career Distinguished Investigator

Apr 30 2013

Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH, the executive vice dean for Institutional Affairs in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, was recently presented with a National Award for Career Achievement and Contribution to Clinical and Translational Science at the Translational Science 2013 meeting in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Strom was named a 2013 Career Distinguished Investigator for his "outstanding contributions to translational science from clinical use into public benefit and policy." A nationally-recognized leader in clinical research training and clinical epidemiology, Dr. Strom focuses heavily on the field of pharmacoepidemiology, which is the application of epidemiologic methods to study drug use and effects in populations. He is known as a founder of the field of pharmacoepidemiology, and a pioneer in using large automated databases for research.

As one of many specific contributions, his work was also pivotal in getting the American Heart Association and American Dental Association to reverse 50 years of guidelines, and recommend against use of antibiotics to prevent infective endocarditis, instead of recommending for this widespread practice. Since 10 percent of patients have these conditions and the typical patient undergoes dental care twice yearly, this resulted in a large proportion of the population no longer needing frequent antibiotics.

The awards committee for the Translational Science 2013 annual meeting is made up representatives from Association for Clinical and Translational Science and the American Federation for Medical Research (ACTS/AFMR). This is the fourth year ACTS/AFMR has acknowledged distinguished investigators and educators who have had national impact by virtue of contributions to clinical and translational science. Three awards were presented this year, including translation from bench research to patient application and translation from early clinical use to applicability for widespread clinical practice.

SOURCE Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania