Getting to Know NPC’s Chief Science Officer

This month’s Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research includes a special interview with NPC’s chief science officer, Dr. Robert Dubois. In the interview with JCER, Dr. Dubois talks about how he first became interested in health policy and research, his current research focus, and the key pharmaceutical industry issues he sees on the horizon.

On his background: “I began with clinical training in internal medicine; however, from the beginning I had a strong interest in macrolevel issues and I decided to also receive training in policy and research methods… My career has focused on defining what is appropriate care and then finding ways for that to be implemented. I have endeavored to keep one foot in the world of methods and another foot in the world of application, and I have pursued that goal within the private sector… [and] still pursued publication of [my work] in peer-reviewed journals.”

On current research: “We currently have three areas of interest. The first is finding the proper balance between population-level comparative effectiveness research assessments and the needs of individual patients….The second area is the evolving payment and delivery environment, moving from a fee-for-service world to one that instead provides economic bundles to providers, and also has performance assessments and bonuses based on quality.... The third area is looking at the use of real-world evidence to make assessments about what works in healthcare.”

On hot topics in CER over the next 5-10 years: “There is substantial discussion about ‘big data’ and mining databases to understand the real world, and using those analyses to make clinical and policy decisions. There is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm around this, but we have concerns that the methods for conducting these studies are not yet fully mature and that we need to be cautious before we use these analyses to drive change. In the excitement surrounding rapid learning systems we need to make sure that there is adequate independent review of what has been carried out and the validity of that since, in the rapid learning environment, there will not be a peer-review process like a manuscript would undergo. We are excited about the use of big data, but we want that usage to drive appropriate change, not just any change.”

Read the full interview with Dr. Dubois on the JCER website.