Skip to main content

Weill Cornell To Perform Epidemiologic and Economic Evaluations for Healthcare Industry

Jul 11, 2000

NEW YORK

Helping the healthcare industry meet the challenge of providing the best quality care with the most efficient use of resources, Weill Medical College of Cornell University and its Department of Public Health are assembling their leading epidemiologists, economists, and statisticians in a new and unique service called Cornell Analytic/Consulting Services (CACS).

"Our aim is to be the resource of choice for such healthcare providers as pharmaceutical companies and hospitals when they are faced with the question of how effectively they are reaching their goals," says Dr. Madelon L. Finkel, Director of CACS. "We specialize in epidemiological studies, outcomes research, economic evaluations, and objective assessment of the appropriate use of pharmaceuticals in various populations."

Dr. Finkel, Professor of Clinical Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College, has a Ph.D. in epidemiology from New York University. She is joined by faculty in the Department of Public Health who include Alvin I. Mushlin, M.D., Sc.M., FACP, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Public Health at Weill Cornell; Hirsch S. Ruchlin, Ph.D., Professor of Economics in Public Health; Edith Zang, Ph.D., a biostatistician; Linda M. Gerber, Ph.D., a cardiovascular epidemiologist and Associate Professor of Public Health; and Martin L. Lesser, Ph.D., Director of the Division of Biostatistics at North Shore University Hospital and Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at Weill Cornell.

Among the tasks that CACS will perform are:

  • literature review and critiques
  • survey design
  • assessment of outcomes
  • quality of life studies
  • patient satisfaction surveys
  • cost benefit and cost effectiveness analyses
  • drug efficacy outcomes analyses
  • drug comparison studies
  • marketing phase IV studies
  • general consultation studies
  • database development and management

"We bring the most rigorous academic methods to bear on the needs of the client," Dr. Finkel says. "Every client in the industry needs objectivity, and as Weill Cornell faculty members we provide that objectivity. Our work has many uses, but whether it is publicized is up to the individual client. We think the expertise we offer is critically important in this era of rapid reorganization, burgeoning technology, and stringent demands for economy."