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- Evelyn Troup Hobson Professor; Founding Chair, Department of Public Health Sciences
Acting Director, Division of Biostatistics & Epidemiology
- Expertise: An experienced academic physician educator/scientist with a record of accomplishments in developing innovative approaches to education, research, and health care services.
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EXPERIENCE
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. Professor & Founding Chair, Department of Health Evaluation Sciences recently re-titled Public Health Sciences (1996-present)
Designed and developed a new department within School of Medicine. Drafted strategic and business plans, established five-year objectives, recruited division directors, executive director, and initial faculty. Initiated external research and contract partners and negotiated contracts with health care informatics, managed care, and biotechnology firms. Attracted first clinical genetics research grant at UVA for development of clinical risk assessment software application. Developed integrated clinical and administrative data repository to support research and management efforts throughout school of medicine and health system. Initiated and led development of new Master’s program in Health Evaluation Sciences that is currently 2nd largest graduate degree program in School of Arts and Sciences and has lead to development of new university wide integrated Master’s of Public Health. The Department changed its title in 2005 to Public Health Sciences. Dr. Knaus is currently leading university wide effort to develop human genetics research and education programs with the establishment of a new university wide Center for Public Health Genomics. Public Health Sciences has 34 full-time and 40 associate faculty members. Review of Chairman concluded that he brought “extremely valuable leadership and intellectual force both within this institution and internationally “.
Dr. Knaus was elected to The Institute of Medicine; National Academy of Sciences in 2000. In 2004 Dr. Knaus was awarded The Distinguished Investigator Award from the American College of Critical Care Medicine and in 2006 the GE-Healthcare Pioneering Spirit Award.
APACHE Medical Systems, Inc.
Founder (1988) and Director (1994) and past President and CEO (2000)
Founded the first commercial decision-support software and outcomes management companies in order to disseminate and support APACHE approach to risk assessment and outcomes evaluation. Following initial start-up financing attracted venture and private funding totaling $15M over five years. Recruited corporate management and directed strategic aspects of product development, which received Smithsonian award for innovative contemporary software, design. Dr. Knaus help support Initial Public offering in 1996 with initial market value of $25M on NASDAQ (AMSI). Participated in creation of a new market for disease-specific modeling and pre-trial strategic approaches for design, data analysis, FDA approval, and cost-effectiveness studies for biotech and pharmaceutical developers and health care service companies. From July 1 to December 31, 2000, assumed responsibilities as President and CEO as part of major re-structuring and subsequent sale to Cerner Corporation (CERN: NASDAQ).
Patient Command, Inc. and Intelligent Search technologies, LLC. (2000-present)
Dr. Knaus and his business partner Richard Marks are currently developing a primary patient-centric certified Personal Health Record Company, Patient Command, based on business process patents filed in 2000. He has also partnered with a UVA faculty colleague, Mir Siadaty, to launch a new refined search engine and data mining capabilities for the biomedical literature and large heterogeneous clinical databases with the formation of Intelligent Search Technologies LLC. The first product of this endeavor, a refined search engine for the biomedical literature as represented in MEDLINE, www.relemed.com went online in January 2007.
The George Washington University Director, ICU Research Unit Professor, School of Medicine (1978-1995)
Created clinical research unit focused on developing severity of illness and prognostic scoring system for critically ill hospitalized patients, APACHE (Acute Physiology, Age, Chronic Health Evaluation). Expanded initial database of 500 to over 1,000,000 cases worldwide with databases in Europe, Australia, South America, and Japan establishing APACHE system as international standard for evaluating and predicting outcomes of patients treated within Intensive Care Units.
Designed and successfully managed largest and most well supported ($30 million) clinical trial of physician decision making ever completed, The SUPPORT (Study to Understand Prognoses, Preferences, and Outcomes from Treatment) Trial. SUPPORT is widely credited with initiating and defining the ongoing national debate and re-examination of U.S. approach to provision of care for seriously ill and dying patients.
- Research Interests: William A. Knaus, M.D. is the Evelyn Troup Hobson Professor and founding Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Virginia Health System.
Dr. Knaus received his medical degree from West Virginia University School ...moreof Medicine in 1972 and, after completing an internal medicine residency and critical care fellowship, served as the Co- Director of the ICU and established the ICU Research Unit at George Washington University. The ICU Research Unit focused on developing a severity of illness and prognostic scoring system for critically ill hospitalized patients, APACHE (Acute Physiology, Age, Chronic Health Evaluation). Supported and expanded with public and private grant funds from an initial database of 500 to over 1,000,000 cases worldwide, the APACHE scoring system has become the gold standard for severity scoring for acutely ill hospitalized patients. Dr. Knaus also designed and successfully managed one of the largest and most influential clinical trials of physician decision-making, The SUPPORT (Study to Understand Prognoses, Preferences, and Outcomes from Treatment) Trial, ever conducted. Since 1996, in his capacity as Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Virginia Health System, Dr. Knaus has designed and developed a new department within School of Medicine. He established Divisions of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Clinical Informatics, and Public Health Policy and Practice. The department developed and manages an integrated clinical and administrative data repository (CDR) to support research and management efforts throughout the School of Medicine and Health System. In 2007 a new Center for Public Health Genomics under the directorship of Dr. Steven Rich, formerly of Wake Forest University, was established at UVA in partnership with the Department. In addition to establishing NIH, Foundation, and corporate partnerships for the Department, Dr. Knaus continues his own research in novel decision support and medical software development for which he has been elected to The Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences.
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