David CellaProfessor

Our department conducts basic and applied social science research to advance the understanding of the mechanisms and measurement of health and disease. I oversee all academic and research programs, financial operations, faculty affairs and program development of the department. In both my capacity as PI on multiple trans-NIH initiatives and as Chair, I play leadership roles in the development and orchestration of transdisciplinary scientific collaborations. As a measurement scientist with expertise in applied health status measurement, I have led the development of numerous item banks and instruments, intended for both normal and clinical populations including paper-and-pencil and computer administered instruments. I was the principal investigator of the trans-NIH NeuroQoL and the PROMIS Statistical Center. In the first cycle of PROMIS (2004-2009), I was PI of the Statistical Coordinating Center (SCC). Currently I am the MPI of the Environmental Children’s Health Outcomes (ECHO) Consortium PRO Core grant. A theme of my work has been ensuring that the voice of the patient is reflected in clinical care and clinical research, including areas of high-stakes decision-making such as regulatory review, payer negotiations, and individual clinical care. A major focus of many of these initiatives has been ensuring measurement sensitive to diverse populations including issues of health literacy and health disparities and developmentally-sensitive measurement across the lifespan.