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Suzanne L. West
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Suzanne L. West

Fellow, Epidemiology

Suzanne L. West, PhD, MPH, is an internationally recognized pharmacoepidemiologist with more than 30 years of research experience in the conduct of systematic reviews, managing complex data analyses, developing and using quality-of-care measures, and enhancing systematic review methods. She is best known for her work assessing the validity of electronic data such as claims and electronic health records (EHRs) for their use in drug safety research and has experience using administrative databases, EHRs, paper medical records, and questionnaires. Dr. West joined RTI in 1996 and was director of pharmacoepidemiology, playing a key role in the creation of RTI Health Solutions. She has served as project director and task leader for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) DEcIDE and other large-scale projects funded by AHRQ, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and commercial clients. Dr. West is the former associate and interim director of the University of North Carolina's Center of Excellence in Pharmacoepidemiology and Public Health from inception in 2003 until 2008, when she returned to RTI. She is currently an adjunct associate professor in the UNC-CH Department of Epidemiology, a member of RTI's Institutional Review Board, and a Fellow of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology, for which she was on the board of directors from 2001 to 2004.

Education

PhD, Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; MPH, Epidemiology, University of Minnesota; BS, Microbiology, Cornell University.

Latest Publications

Communicating quantitative risks and benefits in promotional prescription drug labeling or print advertising — Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety
West, S.L., Squiers, L.B., McCormack, L., Southwell, B.G., Brouwer, E.S., Ashok, M., Lux, L., et al. (May 2013)
Comparative effectiveness research using electronic health records: impacts of oral antidiabetic drugs on the development of chronic kidney disease — Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety
Masica, A.L., Ewen, E., Daoud, Y.A., Cheng, D.L., Franceschini, N., Kudyakov, R.E., Bowen, J.R., Brouwer, E.S., Wallace, D., Fleming, N.S., & West, S.L. (Apr 2013)
The incident user design in comparative effectiveness research — Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety
Johnson, E.S., Bartman, B.A., Briesacher, B.A., Fleming, N.S., Gerhard, T., Kornegay, C.J., Nourjah, P., Sauer, B., Schumock, G.T., Sedrakyan, A., Sturmer, T., West, S.L., et al. (Jan 2013)
Initial and subsequent therapy for newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients treated in primary care using data from a vendor-based electronic health record — Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety
Brouwer, E.S., West, S.L., Kluckman, M., Wallace, D., Masica, A.L., Ewen, E., et al. (Sep 2012)
Validity of pharmacoepidemiologic drug and diagnosis data
Strom, B.L., Kimmel, S.E. & Hennessy, S. (Eds.) (Mar 2012)
View all publications by Suzanne L. West

Expertise