August 17, 2009

New Deputy Director Named for HSR&D

Andrew Guccione, PT, PhD, DPT, FAPTA, Deputy Director of VA HSR&D

Andrew Guccione, PT, PhD, DPT, FAPTA, has been named Deputy Director of VA's Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D) effective July 2009. Prior to this, Dr. Guccione served as Scientific Program Manager for HSR&D's Quality Measurement Development portfolio, which focuses on HSR&D research that designs, tests, and refines quality indicators, provider performance tools, and systematic approaches to evaluating the quality of care for Veterans.

Dr. Guccione received his PhD in sociology from Boston University (BU) and served as Director of Physical Therapy Services at Massachusetts General Hospital. He also spent 11 years with BU's Multipurpose Arthritis Center as part of the Health Services Research Unit. Dr. Guccione's research interests include functional outcomes after rehabilitation, health status measurement, and alternative payment models for post-acute services. In addition to authoring or co-authoring more than 20 articles in peer-reviewed journals, he has received grant funding from the Arthritis Foundation and was the recipient of a Special Emphasis Research Career Award from the National Institute on Aging. His clinical practice has concentrated mainly on geriatrics and musculoskeletal impairment in older adults. In addition, he is editor of a textbook in geriatric physical therapy–the third edition forthcoming.

As the new Deputy Director of HSR&D, Dr. Guccione will assist HSR&D Director Dr. Seth Eisen with several key goals: continuing to improve VA databases so that researchers and clinicians will have better access to vital patient information; fostering collaborations across health services, clinical science, and rehabilitation research that will enhance the quality of healthcare for veterans; and developing the next generation of health services researchers through HSR&D's Career Development Award Program.

HSR&D welcomes Dr. Guccione into this new position and looks forward to his continued contributions toward improving the health and healthcare of Veterans.