AHCPR Announces New U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

Press Release Date: September 17, 1998

Agency for Health Care Policy and Research Administrator John M. Eisenberg, M.D., today announced the appointment of Alfred O. Berg, M.D., M.P.H., as the chair of the reconvened U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Fourteen other Task Force members also were appointed, representing the fields of behavioral medicine, family medicine, geriatrics, internal medicine, nursing, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and preventive medicine. The USPSTF, an independent panel of preventive health experts, was first convened in 1984 by the U.S. Public Health Service. Its charge is to evaluate the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of a range of clinical preventive services (screening, immunizations and counseling for health behavior change) and to produce age-specific and risk factor-specific recommendations for these services.

Recommendations of the Task Force were first issued in 1989 in the Guide to Clinical Preventive Services. Revised recommendations developed by a reconvened panel were published in 1996 in a second edition of the Guide. According to Dr. Eisenberg, the Task Force has increased awareness among health care providers and patients that prevention is an integral part of primary health care.

"Dr. Berg and the other Task Force members bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force," Dr. Eisenberg said. "The reconvened Task Force will play a critical role in ensuring that clinicians have up-to-date information—based on new research and technological advances—on preventive services proven to work in primary care settings."

To speed implementation of new and updated USPSTF recommendations, individual reports and recommendations will be released as they are completed. The third full edition of the Guide to Clinical Preventive Services is anticipated for release in late 2002.

Dr. Berg is Professor and Acting Chair, Department of Family Medicine, at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is an experienced family physician and methodologist and a national leader within the American Academy of Family Physicians and Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. Among his many professional achievements, Dr. Berg is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, served on the USPSTF from 1990 to 1995, was co-chair of the AHCPR-sponsored Otitis Media Guideline Panel from 1991-1995, and was chair and moderator for the 1993 Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guideline Panel, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The panel members, listed by specialty, are:

Family Medicine

• Paul Frame, M.D., Tri-County Family Medicine, Cohocton, NY and Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY.
• Steven H. Woolf, M.D., M.P.H., Professor of Family Medicine, Department of Family Practice, Medical College of Virginia-Virginia Commonwealth University, Fairfax, VA.

Internal Medicine

• Cynthia D. Mulrow, M.D., M.Sc., Professor of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center and Audie Murphy VA Hospital, San Antonio, TX.
• Harold C. Sox, Jr., M.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, NH.

Nursing

• Janet D. Allan, Ph.D., R.N., C.S., F.A.A.N., Dean, School of Nursing, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX.
• Nola J. Pender, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Research, School of Nursing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.

Obstetrics and Gynecology

• Jeffrey F. Peipert, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Community Health, and Director of Clinical Research, Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, RI.
• Carolyn Westhoff, M.D., M.Sc., Associate Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY.

Pediatrics

• Charles J. Homer, M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
• Tracy A. Lieu, M.D., M.P.H., Physician Investigator, Division of Research, The Permanente Medical Group, Oakland, CA.
• Modena E. Wilson , M.D., M.P.H., Professor of Pediatrics and Director, Division of General Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.

Geriatrics

• Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., Sylvan Eisman Professor of Medicine and Health Care Systems, and Director, Institute on Aging, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Preventive Medicine

• Steven M. Teutsch, M.D., M.P.H., Senior Research Scientist, Merck & Co., Inc., West Point, PA.

Behavioral Medicine

• Carole Tracy Orleans, Ph.D., Research and Evaluation Division, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, NJ.

For more information on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, contact Barbara Gordon, assistant to David Atkins, M.D., M.P.H., Coordinator for Clinical Preventive Services, Center for Practice and Technology Assessment, AHCPR, at (301) 427-1636. Select to access the full report of the Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, Second Edition. To purchase a copy of the Guide ($20), call the AHCPR Publications Clearinghouse at 1-800-358-9295.

For additional information, please contact AHCPR Public Affairs: Salina V. Prasad, (301) 427-1864 (SPrasad@ahrq.gov).

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Internet Citation:

AHCPR Announces New U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Press release, September 17, 1998. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/uspstfpr.htm

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