Distinguished Speaker Series
The UH Health Services Research Center is proud to launch our Distinguished Speaker Series, a free event open to the public on the first Tuesday of each month from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. U.S. EST. The series consists of nationally and internationally renowned experts and leaders invited to present on various key topics of interest in health services research.
2024 – 2025 Speakers
Sara Bleich, PhD
Sara Bleich, PhD is the inaugural Vice Provost for Special Projects at Harvard University, director of the social sciences program and Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Professor of Public Health Policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and a faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. With more than 180 peer-reviewed publications, she is a policy expert and researcher who specializes in diet-related diseases, food insecurity, and racial inequality. Prior to this, Dr. Bleich served in the Biden Administration as the Director of Nutrition Security and Health Equity at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service and as the Senior Advisor for COVID-19 in the Office of the Secretary at USDA. As a White House Fellow during the Obama Administration, she worked at USDA as a Senior Policy Adviser for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services and on First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative. Dr. Bleich was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2023 and holds a B.A. in psychology from Columbia University and a PhD in health policy from Harvard University.
Dorry Segev, MD, PhD
Dorry Segev, MD, PhD, is Professor of Surgery and Population Health and Vice Chair of Surgery at NYU, and the founding director of the NYU Center for Surgical and Transplant Applied Research. With an undergraduate degree in computer science and a graduate degree in biostatistics, Dr. Segev focuses on novel statistical and mathematical methods for simulation of medical data, analysis of large healthcare datasets, and large multi-center innovative clinical trials and cohort studies. Dr. Segev has published over 900 peer-reviewed research articles, and is ranked #1 worldwide in organ transplantation expertise and influence by ExpertScape. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, a recipient of the prestigious Global Thinker Award by Foreign Policy Magazine, and was named an Innovator of the Year by TIME Magazine. He has written two successful Congressional bills and received Letters of Commendation from President Barack Obama and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Victor M. Montori, MD
Victor M. Montori, MD is the Robert H. and Susan M. Rewoldt Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic. An endocrinologist, health services researcher, and care activist, Dr. Montori is the author of more than 750 peer-reviewed publications and is among the most cited researchers in clinical medicine and in social science. He is a recognized expert in evidence-based medicine, shared decision making, and minimally disruptive medicine. He works in Rochester, Minnesota, at Mayo Clinic's KER Unit, to advance person-centered care for patients with diabetes and other chronic conditions. He is the author of the book Why We Revolt, and is leading a movement, a Patient Revolution, for Careful and Kind Care for all.
Devi Sridhar, PhD
University of Edinburgh
Georges Benjamin, MD
Georges C. Benjamin is known as one of the nation’s most influential physician leaders because he speaks passionately and eloquently about the health issues having the most impact on our nation today. From his firsthand experience as a physician, he knows what happens when preventive care is not available and when the healthy choice is not the easy choice. As executive director of APHA since 2002, he is leading the Association’s push to make America the healthiest nation.His academic career has consisted of a full range of endeavors from teaching and policy research to academic program development and management. Benjamin has combined his practice and academic experience as an emergency physician with public health to become one of the nation’s experts in public health emergency preparedness.
Nakela L. Cook, MD, MPH
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
David H. Rehkopf, PhD
Stanford University
John P. Browne, PhD
National Health Services Research Institute, Ireland
Tumaini R. Coker, MD, MBA
University of Washington
Mark Holmes, PhD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Joseph R. Betancourt, MD, MPH
The Commonwealth Fund
Mike English, MBBChir, MRCP, MD
University of Oxford