Media Contact: Leslie Franz (619) 543-6163

ROBERT M. KAPLAN, Ph.D. APPOINTED CHAIR OF THE UCSD DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY AND PREVENTIVE MEDICINE

Robert M. Kaplan, Ph.D. has been named Chair of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine.

Kaplan is an internationally recognized leader in the field of health outcomes research. As a member of the UCSD faculty, over the past 25 years he has helped develop models of health outcomes that are used to measure the health status of populations. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services used one of these models as a basis to set health objectives for the year 2000.

"We have a very successful department," said Kaplan. "Besides the primary care provided by our family medicine physicians, we also have more research grants and contracts than any department of our kind in the country. We have large-scale studies focusing on issues such as preventive medicine, the health issues of different ethnic groups, women's health and health policy. Our goal is to be at the forefront of clinical practice, teaching, community-based studies, public health policy research, and epidemiology".

Kaplan's numerous awards include the Distinguished Scientific Contribution award from the American Association of Medical School Psychologists. He is currently co-chair of the Behavioral Committee for the National Institutes of Health Women's Health Initiative, and a member of both the National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute Behavioral Medicine Task Force and the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences Committee on Health and Behavior.

He is also involved in behavioral medicine and behavioral interventions in chronic disease, and preventive health care. Kaplan is the author of 14 books and over 300 publications.