Director
Dr. Susan Jick, Director, has been conducting pharmacoepidemiological studies at BCDSP for over 35 years. She also has expertise in the use of large electronic databases, particularly the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), for conducting drug safety studies. Her research activities include the safety of drugs such as oral contraceptives in relation to venous thrombosis, hormone replacement therapy in relation to cardiovascular disease and cancers, antibiotics in relation to various serious health outcomes, statins in relation to autoimmune diseases and diabetes, and safety of drug use in the first trimester of pregnancy and use of folic acid to prevent neural tube defects, among many others. She has worked with pharmaceutical companies to design and conduct post-marketing safety studies for regulatory requirements. She is a professor of epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health where she teaches drug epidemiology and serves as an advisor to doctoral students in epidemiology. Dr. Jick has been a visiting professor in epidemiology at the University of Dunedin, New Zealand, serves on the Amgen Methods Council, and consults with industry on post-marketing safety issues.
Dr. Susan Jick’s Publications can be found here.
Connect with me on LinkedIn.
sjick@bu.edu
Researchers
Dr. Christoph Meier is a Professor for Clinical Pharmacy and Epidemiology at the University of Basel, Switzerland, with a PhD in clinical pharmacology and MSc in epidemiology. Professor Meier has been conducting research in pharmacoepidemiology since 1995, when he trained at the BCDSP. He has been affiliated with the BCDSP ever since, though he now resides in Switzerland. He started the Basel Pharmacoepidemiology Unit research group at the University Hospital Basel in 1998 and became a member of the faculty at Basel University at that time. He has been Head of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Basel University since 2012 and continues to run the Basel Pharmacoepidemiology Unit at the University of Basel where he advises many doctoral and post-doctoral students. With his expertise in using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) for research in drug safety and disease epidemiology studies, Dr. Meier has published over 100 papers using the database.
Dr. Christoph Meier’s BCDSP Publications can be found here.
Katrina Wilcox Hagberg is an epidemiologist with a Master of Public Health and over 14 years of experience in the design, conduct, and analysis of post-marketing drug safety and disease epidemiology studies. She has extensive experience using and validating recorded exposure and diagnosis information in electronic medical records, including use of Clinical Practice Research Datalink GOLD and Aurum and multiple United States medical claims databases. Her prior drug safety work includes cohort and case-control studies evaluating risk serious health outcomes, including cancer, mental health outcomes, cardiovascular disease, and venous thrombosis with various drug exposures. Two of her areas of interest include studies where methodological design is used to address confounding by indication, and studies on maternal exposures during pregnancy and outcomes in offspring. For a few examples, she has published studies on maternal depression and antidepressant use during pregnancy and risk of autism in children, anti-diabetic medications and risk of primary liver cancer, and 5-alpha reductase inhibitors for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia and risk of erectile dysfunction and depression. She is interested in the application of epidemiologic and outcomes research principles to improve public health.
Katrina Wilcox Hagberg’s Publications can be found here.
Connect with me on LinkedIn.
khagberg@bcdsp.org
Dr. Catherine Vasilakis-Scaramozza has over 25 years of experience in pharmacoepidemiology working with pharmaceutical and biotech clients. She worked at BCDSP from 1994 to 2003 and rejoined the group in 2016. Dr. Vasilakis-Scaramozza has a Master of Public Health and PhD from the Boston University School of Public Health. Her research has often focused on maternal and child health, including the safety of oral contraceptives and drug use in the first trimester of pregnancy. She has experience working with large, electronic databases from the United Kingdom and the United States.
Dr. Catherine Vasilakis-Scaramozza’s Publications can be found here.
Connect with me on LinkedIn.
cvasilakis@bcdsp.org
Rebecca Persson has over 15 years’ experience in clinical research and has been conducting studies in pharmacoepidemiology and disease epidemiology at BCDSP since 2015. Ms. Persson has a Master of Public Health from the Boston University School of Public Health with a concentration in biostatistics. She has experience with large, electronic databases from the United Kingdom and the United States. Her research has included the natural history and safety of treatments for neurological and autoimmune disorders, the safety of antibiotics, and the validation of newly available data resources. She has conducted studies for industry sponsors, including post-marketing safety studies for regulatory agencies.
Rebecca Persson’s Publications can be found here.
Connect with me on LinkedIn.
rpersson@bcdsp.org
Administrators
Michael Horton, Director of Administration and Treasurer, provides leadership and knowledge in general office fields and focuses on human resources and manages company finances. He is working with a team of scientists that are passionate and striding toward providing further insight on medical knowledge and treatments.
Programming
Daniel Huff is a Senior Software Engineer and the newest addition to the BCDSP team. He manages the extraction and processing of data for the research team. He develops and integrates long term data programs and methods related to securely handling data.
Pascal Egger is a computer programmer who supports the research activities of the Basel Pharmacoepidemiology Unit research group. He is responsible for extracting data based on study specific data requests and creating analysis datasets for studies conducted by the Basel research team.
