Jerome "Jerry" Lewis Avorn (born February 13, 1948) is a Professor of Medicine at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

and Chief of the Division of

Pharmacoepidemiology Pharmacoepidemiology is the study of the uses and effects of drugs in well-defined populations.Porta M, editor. Greenland S, Hernán M, dos Santos Silva I, Last JM, associate editors (2014). "A dictionary of epidemiology", 6th. edition. New York: O ...

and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He invented the practice of " academic detailing" in which pharmacists, nurses, and physicians educate doctors about cost-effective prescribing practices using the same tactics that drug companies employ to market their products. He received a B.A. from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1969 and M.D. from

in 1974.

Early life and education

Avorn was born in 1948, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and grew up in

Rockaway, Queens The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of the ...

. While attending

during the

opposition to the Vietnam War Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War (before) or anti-Vietnam War movement (present) began with demonstrations in 1965 against the escalating role of the United States in the Vietnam War and grew into a broad social mov ...

and

American civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United ...

, he was a campus activist against the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

with his investigative journalism for the '' Columbia Daily Spectator''. In the summer of 1969, he wrote '' Up Against the Ivy Wall'' with fellow Spectator journalists about the campus uprisings at Columbia. Avorn graduated from

with an

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. ...

in 1974.

Career

Avorn was a resident at the Cambridge Hospital in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

and then at the Beth Israel Hospital (now the

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, Massachusetts is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. It was formed out of the 1996 merger of Beth Israel Hospital (founded in 1916) and New England Deaconess Hospital (founded ...

in Boston, Massachusetts). He became an associate professor at

in 1985 and a full professor in 2005. In 1983, he published his first paper on academic detailing. The practice has been taken up by several hospitals and governments, such as

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

, Australia,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, and

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. His work on academic detailing was featured in the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

and on

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...

. In 1996 he published "Reduction of bacteriuria and pyuria after ingestion of cranberry juice" in the Journal of the American Medical Association which identified

cranberry juice Cranberry juice is the liquid juice of the cranberry, typically manufactured to contain sugar, water, and other fruit juices. Cranberry – a fruit native to North America – is recognized for its bright red color, tart taste, and versat ...

as an effective means of controlling

urinary tract infections A urinary tract infection (UTI) is an infection that affects part of the urinary tract. When it affects the lower urinary tract it is known as a bladder infection (cystitis) and when it affects the upper urinary tract it is known as a kidne ...

in elderly women. Avorn is also past president of the

International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology The International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE) is a society focused on the practice of pharmacoepidemiology. The society was launched officially by Stanley A. Edlavitch, David E. Lilienfeld, and Hugh A. Tilson in 1989 during the Fifth I ...

. In 2004, he founded Alosa Health, a nonprofit organization that develops and implements academic detailing programs to improve prescribing. Avorn's paper on

coxibs COX-2 inhibitors are a type of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that directly targets cyclooxygenase-2, COX-2, an enzyme responsible for inflammation and pain. Targeting selectivity for COX-2 reduces the risk of peptic ulceration and ...

was one of the first medical research papers to demonstrate that Vioxx increased some patients' risk of heart attack and stroke. In 2006 he testified as a plaintiff’s expert witness in the Vioxx litigation, but he donates all profit from his involvement to Alosa Health. Avorn lives in Brookline, Massachusetts with his wife, community activist Karen Tucker. They had two children.

Works

Avorn is the author of the 2004 book " Powerful Medicines".

Notable research papers

A new approach to reducing suboptimal drug use

Cardiovascular outcomes in new users of coxibs and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs: High-risk subgroups and time course of risk

Reduction of bacteriuria and pyuria after ingestion of cranberry juice

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use and acute myocardial infarction.

References

External links

Alosa Health

* ttp://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/syplrc/dr--spin--medicine-woman Dr. Avorn on The Daily Show* ttps://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/16/opinion/16avorn.html?ex=1161144000&en=2614e05e870beca6&ei=5070 New York Times Op Ed "The Sting of Ignorance" {{DEFAULTSORT:Avorn 1948 births Living people Columbia University alumni Harvard Medical School alumni Harvard Medical School faculty People from Brookline, Massachusetts