AHRQ names head of Center for Evidence and Practice Improvement

Arlene S. Bierman, MD, MS, has been named director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) Center for Evidence and Practice Improvement.

Bierman is a general internist, geriatrician and health services researcher whose work has focused on improving access, quality and outcomes of healthcare for older adults with chronic illness in disadvantaged populations. She has developed strategies for using performance measurement as a tool for knowledge translation and conducted research to increase policymakers’ uptake of evidence.

A tenured professor with academic appointments at the University of Toronto, she was the inaugural holder of the Ontario Women's Health Council Chair in Women's Health and a senior scientist in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital. She was also principal investigator for the Project for an Ontario Women’s Health Evidence-Based Report Card (POWER) study, which provided actionable data to help policymakers and healthcare providers improve health and reduce health inequities in Ontario.

In her new role, Bierman will lead a center that consists of five divisions: the Evidence-Based Practice Center Program; the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Program; the Division of Decision Science and Patient Engagement; the Division of Health Information Technology and the Division of Practice Improvement. The Center also includes the National Center for Excellence in Primary Care Research.