Rheumatologists on the Move, November 2015

Nancy Baker, ScD, Completes Sabbatical Year at CDC

Nancy Baker, ScD, MPH, OTR/L, associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh, recently completed a yearlong sabbatical as a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), Division of Population Health.

Her mentor at the CDC, Kristina Theis, MPH, provided Dr. Baker with “multiple opportunities to achieve my goal to learn about large datasets and large dataset analyses.”

Dr. Baker is lead author on a paper written while she was at the CDC that looked at the prevalence of general Internet use and two online health behaviors (looking up health information; using chat groups to learn about health topics) among U.S. adults with arthritis compared with those without arthritis. The study used data from the National Health Interview Survey.

She says she also developed two additional papers over the past year. One considered the effect of arthritis on physical function decline after retirement. The second examined the association between arthritis and changes in cognitive function in older adults, using data from the Health and Retirement Study.

During her time at the CDC, Dr. Baker was accepted as a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Rehabilitation Research Using Large Datasets, the University Texas Medical Branch, where her mentor was Soham al Snih, MD, PhD.

Internet Use & Health Behavior

Dr. Baker’s study concluded that Internet use was no different for people with arthritis compared with those without arthritis after controlling for the sociodemographic variables age, sex, race/ethnicity and education. However, obtaining online health information was 10% more common and participating in online chat groups was 40% more common among people with arthritis.

Catherine H. Maclean, MD, PhD, Named Chief Value Medical Officer at New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery

Catherine H. Maclean, MD, PhD, has been appointed chief value medical officer at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City. Dr. Maclean will co-lead the Value Management Office, which focuses on improving external quality transparency. This is the first time the HSS has named a chief value medical officer.

Dr. Maclean says she is “thrilled to invest my 30 years of experience in improving healthcare value to advance the important mission of Hospital for Special Surgery. HSS is a pioneer in developing best practices for patients and redefining the way value is understood and delivered within healthcare.”

After earning her medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine and her PhD in health sciences from UCLA School of Public Health, Dr. Maclean worked for several years at WellPoint’s Center for Quality Measures and Improvement, most recently as the staff vice president.

Julie Unk, DNP, ANP, Transfers to Bone & Mineral Health

After 11 years with the Rheumatology Division at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Julie Unk, DNP, ANP, transferred to the Division of Bone and Mineral Health in August.