Jeffrey R. Curtis, MD, MS, MPH
Associate Professor of Medicine, Director, Arthritis Clinical Intervention Program, Codirector, Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics of Musculoskeletal Disorders (CERTS), Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)
Background: Dr. Curtis spent most of his undergraduate years focused on computer science before marrying his technical background with his interest in population-based health. He earned his medical degree and a master’s degree in public health from Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) in Portland. After completing his residency at OHSU and a rheumatology fellowship at UAB, he received a Master of Science degree in epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. His research team, which focuses on patient safety and comparative effectiveness of medications for rheumatic diseases, includes rheumatologists, epidemiologists, health economists, statisticians, and analysts. “We work collaboratively together on a number of different projects,” he says. “We have both content and analytic expertise.”
Q: What is the long-term goal of your research?
A: The long-term goal is to achieve personalized medicine. That means different things to different people. Personalized medicine could be in the form of using a blood test to figure out which drug is best for somebody. It may also mean better understanding risks and benefits at the level of an individual patient, not just for groups of patients. Another facet might be to figure out quickly after patients start a new medication whether they’re likely to do well or not on it using clinical or biomarker data. The possibilities are myriad, but all reflect a need to better align patients with their own optimal treatment regimens that take into account safety, effectiveness, and patients’ personal preferences and goals.
