Bisakha Sen, Ph.D.Bisakha Sen, Ph.D., the Blue Cross Blue Shield Endowed Chair in Health Economics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health, will be co-chair of an expert review committee for the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.
As co-chair, Sen will work with a team of leading health scientists to review the results of a large study by the Department of Veterans Affairs on how service dogs and emotional support dogs help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. The committee will focus on outcomes related to health care utilization and health economics.
“The opportunity to serve as an expert on a NASEM committee is a great honor for any academic, and I am grateful and excited to be given this role,” Sen said. “As someone whose main focus is policies and interventions that help vulnerable populations, I am excited to be part of something that can help alleviate the fallout from PTSD, which is a leading cause of impairment of quality of life and functioning among veterans.”
Susan Busch, Ph.D., Yale School of Public Health, is the other co-chair. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide expert advice on some of the most pressing challenges facing the nation and world.