U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt this month appointed Carlos Roberto Jaén, M.D., Ph.D., of the Health Science Center to the national advisory council of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). His term of service extends through November 2008.
The council advises Sec. Leavitt and the AHRQ director, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, on matters related to actions of the AHRQ to (1) reduce the costs of health care services and (2) improve access to health care services through scientific research and promotion of improvements in clinical practice and the organization, financing and delivery of health services.
The council consists of 21 representatives who are leaders in the fields of health care research, health care quality, primary care medicine, health care economics and other areas.
“We are redesigning the ways services are delivered in practices throughout our country,” Dr. Jaén said. “I am excited to be a part of that effort through this national advisory committee.”
Dr. Jaén is interested in smoking cessation, clinical preventative service delivery in primary care offices, and access to care by urban poor and Hispanic populations. He joined the Health Science Center faculty in 2001 as the Dr. John M. Smith Jr. Professor and Chair of the department of family and community medicine. He earned M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the State University of New York-Buffalo, and completed his residency and primary care research fellowship at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Dr. Jaén also has been selected as the San Antonio physician spokesman for the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout to take place Nov. 17.