Art Kellermann Named New Director of RAND Health

Dr. Arthur L. Kellermann, one of the nation's leading public health and emergency medicine researchers, has been named as the new head of the health research division at the RAND Corporation, RAND President and CEO James A. Thomson announced today.

Kellermann will become director and vice president of RAND Health on Jan. 1, succeeding Dr. Robert Brook, who is stepping down after 19 years to return to full-time research. RAND is a nonprofit research organization.

"RAND Health has established a reputation for working at the cutting edge of important policy health and health care questions facing the United States and communities around the world, and Art Kellermann is the leader who can and will ensure RAND Health continues to take on the most challenging issues with objectivity and rigor," Thomson said. "We look forward to the many contributions that RAND Health will make to the well-being of our communities under his direction."

Kellermann joined RAND a year ago after being appointed to the Paul O'Neill Alcoa Professorship in Policy Analysis. Previously he served as a professor of emergency medicine at Emory University and as the medical school's first associate dean for health policy.

"I am truly honored to succeed Robert Brook, who is a legendary figure in the study of medical quality. Bob has helped train thousands of researchers, including me," Kellermann said. "I look forward to building on the accomplishments of RAND Health and leading a team of highly talented and dedicated researchers."

RAND Health was founded more than 40 years ago and accounts for about one-quarter of the organization's research funding. Kellermann said he expects RAND Health to expand its already broad policy agenda, with an increased emphasis on projects directed at identifying ways to promote quality while controlling the rise of health care costs.

"The rising cost of health care threatens to crush our nation's economy and leave us unable to compete economically on the world stage," Kellermann said. "RAND Health can become a major contributor in understanding how to control costs, while making sure that Americans get the health care they need."

Kellermann was founding chairman of the department of emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and founding director of the Center for Injury Control at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health, a collaborating center for injury and violence prevention of the World Health Organization.

He has published research articles on many aspects of emergency cardiac care, emergency health services, injury prevention, and health care for the uninsured. Kellermann also has conducted important research on the epidemiology and prevention of injuries due to violence. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine.

In his new role, Kellermann will be based at RAND's Santa Monica office. Brook will serve as a senior advisor at RAND and will continue to hold the RAND Distinguished Chair in Health Care Services. Brook also is a professor of medicine and health services at the UCLA Center for the Health Sciences, and serves as co-director of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at UCLA.

RAND Health, a division of the RAND Corporation, is the nation's largest independent health policy research program, with a broad research portfolio that focuses on quality, costs, and health services delivery, among other topics.