Beth Devine, PhD, PharmD, MBA is Professor Emerita at the Comparative Health Outcomes, Policy, and Economics (CHOICE) Institute, School of Pharmacy, University of Washington (UW), Seattle. She holds an Honorary Professorship at the University of Murcia, Spain, and is currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom.
After earning her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of the Pacific she devoted her early career to advancing Pharmacy Practice. While holding leadership positions in state and national professional pharmacy organizations, she was recognized for championing initiatives to advance the Scope of Practice (prescribing). Leading the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Committee as an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California San Francisco, she found her true passion for HEOR. She embarked on her HEOR career by completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the UW Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program (now CHOICE), spending one year at Roche Pharma Business. She joined the CHOICE faculty in 2001.
With a PhD in Health Services Research (UW), and over 170 publications, Beth’s scientific focus is on quantitative evidence synthesis, precision medicine, preference assessment, and outcomes research. Her vision for the HEOR field is to continually adopt emerging, yet proven, data science methods to inform all HEOR decision-making contexts. An early adopter of network meta-analyses as a way to strengthen HTA appraisals, she served on the ISPOR Task Force on Indirect Treatment Comparisons and co-authored the accompanying Value in Health publication. Also dedicated to precision medicine, she has leveraged her clinical background to champion the incorporation of pharmacogenomic testing into clinical practice and is lead editor for the textbook in this field (ISBN: 978-0-12-824453-1). Her work has been funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Cancer Institute, and the pharmaceutical industry.
Beth’s 15 year, UW-HEOR teaching career includes teaching graduate-level courses in Meta-Analysis, Outcomes Research Methods and an Introduction to Biostatistics and Epidemiology (PharmD). With a passion for mentoring, Beth has served as the CHOICE Graduate Program Director and led the UW-CHOICE AbbVie (legacy Allergan) post-PharmD fellowship for 12 years. She has mentored countless graduate students, and coached PharmD students to place in the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy National Pharmacy & Therapeutics Competition. She has been honored as a UW Pharmacy Alumni Legend and nominated for the UW-wide Mentor of the Year award.
Beth recently completed a term on ISPOR Board of Directors (2021-2024) and is currently an Associate Editor for Value in Health (since 2021). She has led several ISPOR workshops and is a co-author on the forthcoming update of the ISPOR HEOR Competency Framework. She was the 2021 recipient of the ISPOR HEOR Excellence in Application Award for the paper titled, “Online tools to synthesize real-world evidence of comparative effectiveness research to enhance formulary decision-making.” From 2013-2019 she served on the Advisory Panel of the PhRMA Foundation’s Comparative Effectiveness Research Initiative. She is an elected member of the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology and a former Fulbright US Scholar to Spain.
ISPOR Vision Statement by Beth Devine, PhD, PharmD, MBA
“Embracing the HEOR Challenge”
I am honored to be considered for President-Elect of ISPOR at this time when global forces present unique opportunities for the profession of health economics and outcomes research (HEOR). Geopolitical polarization is causing instability and exacerbating the divide between those who can and cannot access the healthcare needed to lead fulfilling lives. On the flip side, the ever accelerating availability of data and expansions in innovation hold the promise of increased efficiencies to improve standards of living.
Issues in the healthcare sector are plentiful and ISPOR members are tackling these issues and embracing these challenges using their talent and creativity to achieve the ISPOR Strategic Plan 2030, which boldly states that ISPOR intends to be the trusted HEOR leader advising health policy globally. ISPOR’s Vision is to achieve a world where healthcare is accessible, effective, efficient, and affordable for all. The ISPOR Top 10 HEOR Trends Report (2024-2025) provides insight into the cutting-edge areas where ISPOR members are leading the way to achieve this vision: real-world evidence, drug pricing, artificial intelligence, fostering innovation, health equity, accelerating drug approvals, value measurement, patient centricity, precision medicine, and public health.
However, ISPOR´s Health Science Policy Council Visioning White Paper (2024) cautions that although our scientific evidence is rigorously produced, we need to improve our messaging of results, thus demonstrating the value of HEOR to our stakeholders. Former president Jan Hansen’s initiative to “Amplify HEOR” is underway. Current president, Eberechukwu Onukwugha’s vision, “HEOR Excellence for All”, spurs us forward as we continually seek to generate science that is rigorous and relevant. Additional ISPOR strategic initiatives capture the volunteer spirit of our dedicated members. The initiative to advance HEOR in low- and middle-income countries prioritizes the group that represents 20% of our members in 65% of regional chapters and 35% of our student chapters who strive to advance their practices. The recently completed update of the HEOR Competencies Framework outlines a variety of skill sets in which our members, particularly our students and junior professionals, can choose to excel. With our nearly 18,000 individual and chapter members hailing from more than 100 countries, ISPOR is poised to lead on an ever expanding global stage. ISPOR’s upcoming Global Initiative will focus our attention on engaging new partners, networking with stakeholders, and demonstrating and communicating our science intended to improve human health.
With my 25 years of active ISPOR membership, my international experience and perspective, my dedication to rigorously conducted science, my heart for mentoring, and my experience as a leader in professional arenas, I would be greatly honored to help lead our organization. Indeed, I am particularly passionate about ISPOR’s Global Initiative and Global Access to Innovation work. Our Values are to be transformative, scientific, inclusive, collaborative, transparent, and ethical. These values are not new; rather, as ISPOR members we now aspire to take them to even greater heights. I am committed to these efforts. I “embrace the HEOR challenge” as together we seek to improve global health and health policy. Thank you for your consideration!