Michael H. Criqui, M.D., M.P.H., is Distinguished Professor and Chief, Division of Preventive Medicine, in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine. He also holds a joint appointment as Distinguished Professor, Division of Cardiology, in the Department of Medicine at UCSD, and he is Director of the Preventive Cardiology Academic Award Program at UCSD.  Dr Criqui received his medical degree and did his residency training at the University of California, San Francisco and received his Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley. He is Board Certified in General Preventive Medicine by the American College of Preventive Medicine.

Dr. Criqui is an active and productive investigator in cardiovascular epidemiology and preventive cardiology, and has made seminal contributions in the fields of subclinical atherosclerosis, peripheral arterial disease, and peripheral venous disease.  He has published over 425 manuscripts and book chapters, and has been an invited lecturer at numerous national and international medical meetings.  He is the recipient of several research grants and contracts, and is currently the Director of the NHLBI funded training program at UCSD in cardiovascular epidemiology and prevention.  He has mentored numerous students, residents and fellows.

Dr. Criqui is a Fellow of the following societies: the American College of Preventive Medicine, the American College of Epidemiology, the Society for Vascular Medicine, the Council on Peripheral Vascular Disease of the American Heart Association, and the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention of the American Heart Association, for which he served as Chair.  He is past Chair of the Interdisciplinary Committee on Prevention for the American Heart Association. .  He currently chairs the International Peripheral Arterial Disease Working Group, for the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study.  He has served on committees for the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and the Institute of Medicine.   

He is the recipient of several honors including election to the American Epidemiological Society (1984), the Joseph E. Stokes III Preventive Cardiology Award from the American Society for Preventive Cardiology (2001), the Frederick H. Epstein Memorial Lecture Award from the European Society of Cardiology Working Group on Epidemiology and Prevention (2002), the Special Recognition Award from AHA Council on Epidemiology and Prevention (2004), the Distinguished Achievement Award from the AHA Council on Epidemiology and Prevention (2008), the President’s Award for Vision  from the Vascular Disease Foundation (2010), and the Marcus Award for Distinguished Contribution as a Gifted Teacher from the International Academy of Cardiology (2011).  In 2010, he was named a Distinguished Scientist of the American Heart Association, the organization’s highest scientific award.  

Matthew Allison, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor in the Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). Dr. Allison received his medical degree from the Uniformed Services University and subsequently served as a diving and undersea medical officer in the US Navy for 7 years. He received his Master’s degree in public health epidemiology from San Diego State University and then completed residency training in general preventive medicine and public health at UCSD. After this, Dr. Allison was funded by the American Heart Association to complete a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship on the epidemiology and prevention of cardiovascular diseases.  He joined the faculty at UCSD in July 2005.

Dr. Allison currently serves on the Health Disparities and Equity Promotion (HDEP) NIH study section, is a consulting editor for Circulation and is an editorial board member for Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. In 2004, Dr Allison received the ‘Resident of the Year’ Award from the American College of Preventive and was selected a finalist for the 2005 Elizabeth Barrett-Connor Award for Young Investigators in Training in Cardiovascular Epidemiology and the 2006 Sandra Daugherty Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular epidemiology and Hypertension. In 2007, he was awarded the ‘Best Research Award’ by the Peripheral Arterial Disease Coalition, as well as the American Heart Association’s Trudy Bush Fellowship for Cardiovascular Research in Women’s Health. His research focuses on measures of subclinical atherosclerosis, body composition, and ethnic disparities, as well as the association between cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease.

He is the principal investigator for an NIH/NHLBI R01 studying the association between abdominal body composition, inflammation and cardiovascular disease and an NIH/NIDDK R01 examining the association between renal artery atherosclerosis and kidney function.  He is also the PI of the subcontract for the Hispanic Centers of Excellence in Cardiovascular Disease, a co-investigator for the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), the Hispanic Communities Health Study – Study of Latinos, the Alzheimer Caregivers Study, and the Venous Incidence Study. Previously, he was the PI of a Sandra Daugherty grant in Cardiovascular Epidemiology and an American Heart Association Fellow to Faculty Award.
Dr Allison is a Diplomat of the American Board of Preventive Medicine and a member of the American Heart Association’s Council on Epidemiology and Prevention.  He currently is the Chair of the Minorities Committee for this council.

Warner Bundens and received his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania school of medicine in 1971. Following 10 years of family practice and service in the U.S. Navy as a flight surgeon he earned a Masters degree in bioengineering at UCSD. Since then he has been on the faculty at UCSD where he specializes in noninvasive vascular diagnosis and vascular medicine. His current clinical interests include medical treatment of peripheral arterial and venous disease. His current research interests include the incidence of venous disease in the San Diego population and the development of a sensor to prevent and treat pressure/decubitus ulcerations.

Dr. Fontanesi is the Director of the Center for Management Science in Health and a professor with appointment in the Departments of Pediatrics, Family and Preventive Medicine. His research is devoted to the translation of Operational Research concepts and procedures to health care.

Beatrice Alexandra Golomb, MD, PhD is Associate Professor of Medicine, and of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego; Staff Physician at the VA San Diego Healthcare Center; and Research Associate Professor of Psychology at USC. She is the primary care physician for a panel of ~280 patients; and has served as a Health Consultant at RAND. Her background includes a BS in physics, summa cum laude; an MD and PhD at UC San Diego (during which she gave vaulting lessons to Francis Crick); a postdoctoral fellowship in the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory at the Salk Institute, and a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholarship at RAND/UCLA.

Research interests include: the balance of treatment risks and benefits; research methods and inference from evidence; and the relation of oxidative stress and mitochondrial function to health and aging. As a Robert Wood Johnson Generalist Physician Faculty Scholar, she undertook a patient-targeted postmarketing adverse event study of statin adverse effects, with several thousand participants to date. She was Principal Investigator on an NIH funded clinical trial examining noncardiac effects of statins; has authored several RAND reports evaluating the link between exposures and illness in Gulf War veterans, and is currently Principal Investigator on a DoD grant assessing a possible treatment for ill Gulf War veterans. She and her work were once the lead Headline News story on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (“Pills Bury Doughboys”) -- the pinnacle and/or nadir of her career.

Robert A. Gunn, MD, MPH, obtained his medical degree (MD) from Yale University (1966), a Masters in Public Health (MPH) in epidemiology from UCLA (1975), and a Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (DTM&H) from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (1974). He is Board Certified in Preventive Medicine (1979). Dr. Gunn has worked in local, state and federal governments in public health focusing mainly on infectious disease prevention and control. He served as a Commissioned Officer in the US Public Health Service (USPHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and was assigned to the San Diego County Public Health Department in 1991.

Dr. Gunn joined the UCSD Department of Family and Preventive Medicine in 1993 and is currently an Adjunct Professor, Division of Preventive Medicine. He has published numerous articles about sexually transmitted infections (STDs, HIV, and viral hepatitis). His current interests involve integration of prevention services into routine medical care.

Dr. Hill is the Director of the UCSD/SDSU General Preventive Medicine Residency, a jointly sponsored residency program. San Diego Family Care is the site of her clinical activities, and she has provided community and preventive medicine to the Linda Vista and Mid-City communities since 1980. Her research interests include prevention research, in the areas of trauma prevention, prevention service delivery, and compliance. In addition to her teaching activities with the preventive medicine residents, she mentors and precepts medical students, masters students, pre-doctoral students and undergraduates.

She guest lectures at SDSU, USD, and Brown University. She is a volunteer consultant for the San Diego Burn Institute, the Association of Prevention, Teaching and Research, and the County Immunization Division. Her hobbies include classical piano and surfing.

Joachim H. Ix, MD, MAS is a nephrologist interested in the prevention of cardiovascular disease among persons with kidney disease .

His research utilizes epidemiology and biostatistics to understanding mechanisms by which alterations in glucose and mineral metabolism contribute to cardiovascular disease risk among persons with kidney disease. His recent work has focused on the consequences of altered fetuin-A concentrations, a hepatic secretory protein that simultaneously inhibits vascular calcification and promotes insulin resistance. In addition, he works with cystatin-C, a novel endogenous measure of kidney function, determining whether this measure might provide novel insights towards cardiovascular disease mechanisms among persons with early kidney function decline.

Dr. Alice Mills is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). She completed her undergraduate degree in Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley and her medical degree at the University of California, Irvine. She went on to receive her Family Medicine training through the Mercy Healthcare Sacramento Family Practice Residency in Sacramento, CA. Following several years in clinical practice, she returned to the University of California, Berkeley for her Masters in Public Health (Interdisciplinary Program). Most recently, she completed additional training in Preventive Medicine at UCSD through funding from the American Cancer Society.

Dr. Mills is board-certified in both Family Medicine and General Preventive Medicine. She has worked in a variety of clinical settings including HMO’s, student health centers, community clinics and health assessment programs. Her research interests include primary care medicine, general preventive medicine, cancer prevention and control, and behavioral health. Dr. Mills enjoys teaching both residents and medical students at UCSD. She is a core faculty member of the UCSD-SDSU General Preventive Medicine Residency Program and involved in teaching pre-clinical courses for medical students.

Dr. Pakiz received her doctoral degree at Harvard University and has subsequently acquired substantial experience in organizing and directing large community-based multiethnic research units in several areas of public health and disease prevention. Her research focuses on investigating effects of overweight and obesity on overall health and well-being. Dr. Pakiz has extensive experience in leading weight loss intervention groups as part of randomized clinical trials. The cognitive-behavioral therapy based intervention programs she leads focus on increasing physical activity and changing diet patterns to facilitate a modest reduction in energy intake in order to promote healthy weight management. Her research interest include examining the effects of weight loss on inflammatory cytokines which may explain the adverse effect of excess body fat on prognosis following the diagnosis of breast cancer. She is also interested in investigating the associations between weight loss and changes in psychosocial factors, including quality of life, fatigue and depression.

Based on her extensive experience in operationalizing community-based research projects, Dr. Pakiz has assisted investigators at the Cancer Prevention and Control Program with the overall conduct of a number of randomized clinical trials. Among the studies she has directed are: the SHAPE study (Survivors' Health and Physical Exercise) which tested the effects of a multifaceted weight loss program in approximately 250 overweight or obese breast cancer survivors; the Orexigen Weight Loss Study, a phase III, double-blind, placebo-controlled study which tested how much more effective an investigational new combination drug therapy can be when combined with a comprehensive lifestyle modification program in helping people lose weight and keep it off. Approximately 900 obese men and women across nine sites in the US participated in this study, including 110 subjects at UCSD; and the FAB Study (Food, Attitudes and Behavior) that tested whether participation in a commercial weight loss program is associated with a greater degree of weight loss compared to usual care or control conditions. Approximately 440 overweight or obese women across four sites in the US participated in this study, including 117 women at UCSD.

Diseases/Research Topics

Breast Cancer, Breast Cancer Survivors, Cancer, Physical Activity, Weight Loss and Maintenance, Depression and Quality of Life

Kevin Patrick, M.D., M.S. is Professor and Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. He leads an interdisciplinary group researching the use of mobile and web technologies to measure and improve physical activity and diet behaviors in the context of conditions such as obesity, depression, successful aging and diabetes prevention and management. He is a Senior Advisor to the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Foundation's Active Living Research program and is a member of the National Advisory Boards for RWJ's Health e-Technology and Games for Health initiatives.

Andrew Ries, M.D., M.P.H. is currently Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Medicine and Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Dr. Ries has maintained a career-long dedication to prevention and improving the health, well-being, and medical care of patients with chronic lung diseases. He directs the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program at UCSD, one of the leading programs in the world, and has championed the cause of pulmonary rehabilitation as a standard of care for patients with disabling lung disease. He has had extensive experience in medical research directed toward improving the treatment, diagnosis, and evaluation of health outcomes in patients with chronic lung diseases.

He chaired committees that published leading evidence-based guidelines reviewing and summarizing the scientific evidence establishing the basis of medical practice in pulmonary rehabilitation. He has been actively involved with state and national organizations including the American Lung Association, American Thoracic Society, American College of Chest Physicians, and American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation.

Dr. Rifkin is a nephrologist and epidemiologist. She received her M.D. degree from Yale University and her master's in epidemiology from Tufts University. Her research interests include investigations of aging and kidney disease and issues of medication use patterns and safety in kidney disease.

Cheryl Rock, PhD, RD, is a professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, and the Cancer Prevention and Control Program, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine.  She completed undergraduate training in nutrition and dietetics at Michigan State University, achieved a Master of Medical Science degree in clinical nutrition at Emory University, and was awarded a doctoral degree in nutritional sciences from the University of California, Los Angeles.  

Dr. Rock’s research efforts are focused on the role of nutritional and dietary factors in the development and progression of cancer, particularly breast cancer, and healthy weight management in adults.  Her research efforts address diet composition and weight management, and how diet, adiposity and physical activity affect biomarkers and risk and progression of cancer and other chronic diseases.  Dr. Rock is presently responsible for randomized trials funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that are testing whether healthy weight control and modifications in diet and physical activity can alter biological processes, hormonal factors, and biomarkers of disease progression.  In addition to also serving as principal investigator for an industry-sponsored randomized clinical trial of a multifaceted weight loss program, she is a co-investigator on several NIH-funded studies that are focused on obesity, various weight loss interventions, and behavioral and metabolic factors associated with disease risk.  Dr. Rock also leads the Nutrition Shared Resource of the Moores UCSD Comprehensive Cancer Center, a laboratory and dietary assessment recharge service unit that is focused on identifying and measuring dietary biomarkers and improving dietary assessment methods.

Dr. Rock has served on numerous NIH and USDA review panels and committees, and she currently serves on editorial boards for several peer-reviewed journals.  To date, Dr Rock is the author of more than 230 scientific papers and book chapters.

Murray B Stein MD, MPH, FRCPC is Professor of Psychiatry and Family & Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where he directs the Anxiety & Traumatic Stress Disorders Program. He is also Director of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Programs and Scientific Director of the Center for Stress and Mental Health (CESAMH) at the VA San Diego Healthcare System. Dr. Stein graduated from the University of Manitoba and completed his residency and post-residency fellowship at the University of Toronto and at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. He later completed a Master of Public Health degree at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. His research interests include the epidemiology, neurobiology, and treatment of anxiety disorders especially social phobia, panic disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Dr. Stein has written or co-written over 300 peer-reviewed scientific articles on these topics, including publications in journals such as The Lancet, Journal of the American Medical Association, American Journal of Psychiatry, and Archives of General Psychiatry. His federally funded research includes studies of interventions for anxiety disorders in primary care, pharmacological approaches to treatment-resistant anxiety disorders, and functional neuroimaging research in anxiety and trauma-related disorders. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board and the Board of Directors of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA), a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and Deputy Editor for Anxiety of Depression & Anxiety, as well as an editorial board member and/or regular reviewer for numerous other journals. Dr. Stein is Chair of the American Psychiatric Association Workgroup to Revise the Panic Disorder Treatment Guidelines (2006-2008), and Chair of the NIH Interventions in Mood and Anxiety (ITMA) Review Group (2006-2009).