David Baker, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine,
Division Chief, General Internal Medicine. 
Dr. Baker studies health literacy and health disparities in primary care delivery. 
He is PI of a National Institute on Aging-funded study examining whether low literacy is associated with adverse health outcomes.  Dr. Baker has experience with multiple research methodologies including survey research and clinical trials designed to change physician behavior. Dr. Baker has mentored multiple trainees who have secured funding from the CDC, AHRQ, or NIH.

Charles Bennett, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine,
Director, HSR&D, Lakeside VAMC, Associate Director,
Midwest Center for Health Services and Policy Research, VA Chicago Healthcare System.    Dr. Bennett’s research program includes the study of the epidemiology and outcomes of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) using a case-control study design.  Dr. Bennett is also studying adverse drug-events, the epidemiology of chronic pelvic pain, and quality of life among prostate cancer patients. 

Richard Burt, MD, Associate Professor of Hematology, Director, Stem Cell Transplant Program.   Dr. Burt is PI on a clinical trial studying the efficacy of stem cell transplant for treatment of Systemic Lupus Erythematosis.  Along with Dr. Pearce, Dr. Burt is collecting pilot data for a study on stem cells for treatment of critical limb ischemia in PAD.   

David Cella, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Director, Center on Outcomes, Research and Education, Evanston Northwestern Healthcare.  Dr. Cella is Director of the Center on Outcomes, Research, and Education (CORE), Evanston Northwestern Healthcare.  CORE’s annual federal funding averages  $3.8 million in direct costs.  Dr. Cella is an expert in health-related quality of life in patients with chronic disease. 

Rex Chisholm, PhD, Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology and Surgery and Adam and Richard T. Lind Professor of Medical Genetics.  Dr. Chisholm’s work includes the molecular biology and genetics of cardiovascular disease. He has collaborated with Dr. Pearce on an NHLBI-funded study of the molecular genetics of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm.  As Director of Genetic Medicine at NUFSM, Dr. Chisholm will be an outstanding secondary mentor for trainees interested in studying the genetics of vascular disease.

Martha Daviglus, MD, PHD, MPH, Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine.  Dr. Daviglus is a cardiovascular epidemiologist studying associations between cardiovascular disease risk factors, particularly favorable levels (low risk), with health care costs, quality of life, and cardiovascular events. Dr. Daviglus has considerable expertise linking and analyzing Health Care Financing Administration (Medicare) data in longitudinal studies.  In addition to serving as a methodologic mentor within cardiovascular epidemiology, Dr. Daviglus can facilitate access to large cohorts for the study of vascular disease, including the MESA cohort, for which she is a co-investigator.  

Alan Dyer, PhD, Professor of Preventive Medicine.  
Dr. Dyer is a biostatistician and epidemiologist whose research focuses on cardiovascular and nutritional epidemiology, particularly the role of nutritional factors in the development of hypertension, prevention and control of overweight, and the implementation and use of statistical methods to correct for “regression dilution bias” when exposures are measured with error. 

Susan Gapstur, MPH, PHD, Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine. 
Dr. Gapstur’s research integrates hormonal and molecular techniques with traditional epidemiologic and behavioral methods to study ethnic variability in the epidemiology and prevention of hormone-related cancers.  Dr. Gapstur is PI on two NIH-funded epidemiologic studies, including a behavioral intervention study.  As a potential methodologic mentor, Dr. Gapstur can assist mentees with epidemiologic studies of associations between hormones and novel biomarkers with important outcomes in vascular disease. 

David Green, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine. 
Dr. Green studies relationships between hemostatic blood factors with important outcomes in epidemiologic studies.  Dr. Green is co-investigator on Dr. McDermott’s studies relating D-dimer and inflammatory blood factors to important outcomes in patients with PAD.  Dr. Green is also collaborating with Dr. Liu in the CARDIA and MESA studies, assessing associations between hemostatic blood factors and cardiovascular outcomes.

Dixon Kaufman, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Surgery. 
Dr. Kaufman is a transplant surgeon investigating the outcome of islet transplantation in patients with diabetes.  He is PI on a program project grant from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. His research involves developing novel bioactive platforms for cell transplantation.  He is PI on an NIH R01 award investigating bio-imaging probes
applicable to native islets.  These are being examined in pre-clinical models that will soon be translated in human trials.  He will be an excellent methodologic mentor for trainees engaged in translational research.

William Lowe, MD, Professor of Medicine,
Associate Director of Research, Department of Medicine. 
Dr. Lowe is an endocrinologist who studies associations between genetic biomarkers and clinical outcomes in patients with diabetes mellitus.  Dr. Lowe’s research includes the genetics of obesity in blacks, genetics of gestational diabetes, and regulation of pancreatic beta cell growth.  For his Genetics of Obesity Study, over 1,000 African-Americans in families of four or more have been recruited and phenotyped.  Dr. Lowe
will be an ideal secondary mentor for trainees with an interest in genetic determinants of
vascular-related outcomes. 

William Schnaper, MD Professor of Pediatrics,
Vice Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics.
Dr. Schnaper‘s major research is investigating the molecular signals mediating fibrogenesis,
using his models glomerular mesangial cells and epithelial cells propagaged from human kidneys.  His work on fibrosis bears direct relationship to mechanisms of vascular dysfunction and atherogenesis, and Dr. Schnaper can thus assist trainees with translational research related to vascular biology.  He is an experienced mentor who directs or co-directs several mentoring and career development programs for the Department of Pediatrics and the Feinberg School of Medicine.

John Varga, MD, Gallagher Professor of Medicine,
Division of Rheumatology.  Dr. Varga is internationally renowned for his research in
Scleroderma. He conducts translational research studying the pathophysiology of scleroderma.  Dr. Varga has an ongoing R01 award that combines in vivo and in vitro study of the role of cell signaling in Scleroderma patients.  Dr. Varga will be an excellent secondary mentor for trainees whose research focus is in translational research. 

Kevin Weiss, MD, Professor of Medicine, Director of the NU Institute for Health Services Research, Director of the VA Health Services Research Center of Excellence in Chicago. Dr. Weiss conducts health services research.  Dr. Weiss is PI for Northwestern's AHRQ-funded T32 Post-doctoral program in Health Services Research, which attracts both MD's and PhDs.  Dr. Weiss is PI of an NHLBI funded study that is identifying health system characteristics affecting access and quality of care for asthma treatment in vulnerable populations.

Phyllis Zee, Professor of Neurology, Neurobiology, and Physiology, Director of the Sleep Disorder Center, Northwestern Memorial Hospital.  Dr. Zee studies sleep disorders in elderly patients.  She is PI of an NIH T32 Training Grant in Sleep Disorders.   She has served on several national committees and has chaired several NIH study sections.  She will be an excellent secondary mentor for trainees interested in studying the prevalence of sleep disorders in patients with stroke or peripheral arterial disease.

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