Walter F. Stewart, PhD, MPH
Associate Chief Research Officer
LOCATION
Center for Health Research
100 North Academy Avenue
Danville, PA 17822
Phone: 570-214-9391
Fax: 570-214-9451
wfstewart@geisinger.edu
EDUCATION
MPH, University of California, Los Angeles, 1977
PhD, Johns Hopkins University, 1983
RESEARCH FOCUS
Epidemiology, Health Services, Health Information Technology, Environmental Health, Outcomes
EXPERTISE
Epidemiology of chronic episodic conditions (i.e., headache, bladder control), use of information technology in the redesign of health care, environmental impact on health.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Dr. Stewart is an epidemiologist with a major interest in neurological conditions that include migraine headaches and other pain conditions and neurodegenerative effects of adult lead exposure, and, more generally, the epidemiology and work impact of chronic episodic conditions (e.g., migraine, bladder control, depression). Since arriving at Geisinger in 2003, he has developed new interests. He has leveraged electronic health records (EHR) data and other Geisinger resources (e.g., Geisinger Medical Laboratories) to develop prediction models (see ROC curve below) to test biomarkers for early detection of heart failures, to test novel and semi-virtual ambulatory care processes using information technology, and to examine the association of EHR-based longitudinal measures of health status (e.g., pediatric BMI, diabetes disease progression) with GIS-based (e.g., see figure of the food outlets in the region) measures of the built and social environment.
Figure 1
- Studies
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Max MB, Stewart WF. (2008 Aug). The molecular epidemiology of pain: a new discipline for drug discovery. Nat Rev Drug Discov, 7(8):647-58.
Stewart WF, Shah NR, Selna MJ, Paulus RA, Walker JM. (2007, Mar-Apr). Bridging the Inferential Gap: The Electronic Health Record and Clinical Evidence. Health Affairs, 26(2):w181-91.
Stewart WF, Schwartz BS, Davatzikos C, Shen D, Liu D, Wu X, Todd AC, Shi W, Bassett S, Youssem D. (2006, May). Past Adult lead exposure is linked to neurodegeneration measured by brain MRI. Neurology, 66 (10): 1476-84.
Stewart WF, Bigal ME, Kolodner K, Dawson A, Liberman JN, Lipton RB. (2006). Familial Risk of migraine: variation by proband age at onset and headache severity. Neurology, 66 (3) 344-8.
Stewart WF, Ricci JA, Chee E, Morganstein D, Lipton R. (2003, November). Lost productive time cost due to common pain conditions in the US workforce. JAMA, 290(18):2443-54.