Institute for Technology Assessment

Dr. Pearson is the Founder and President of the ITA’s Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER).  His team that brings together stakeholders to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of medical interventions, and to translate comparative effectiveness information into formats that can help patients, clinicians, and policy makers make better use of evidence throughout the health care system.  Their ultimate goal is to inform health care policy and spur innovation in the use of evidence to improve the value of health care for all.

Dr. Pearson is a Lecturer in the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and also serves as Visiting Scientist in the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health.  He attended UCSF School of Medicine, completed his residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and obtained a Master of Science Degree in Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health.  He has served in many advisory and leadership roles in academia and government.  From 2005-2006 he was Special Advisor, Technology and Coverage Policy, within the Coverage and Analysis Group at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  He has also served as Senior Fellow at America’s Health Insurance Plans, and as the Vice Chair of the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee (MedCAC) from 2007-2009.  Dr. Pearson continues to be active in various roles related to comparative effectiveness research and policy, including the Board of Directors of Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi), the AcademyHealth Methods Council, the Quality Alliance Steering Committee, and the National Institutes of Health Comparative Effectiveness Research Steering Committee. 

Dr. Pearson’s ongoing academic work combines efforts in data aggregation and performance measurement, health services research, technology assessment, and bioethics.  His published work includes numerous articles and commentaries on the role of evidence in the health care system, and the book No Margin, No Mission: Health Care Organizations and the Quest for Ethical Excellence, published by Oxford University Press.

• Pearson, S. (2012). Cost, Coverage, and Comparative Effectiveness Research: The Critical Issues for Oncology.. J Clin Oncol. [Online version]
• Emanuel, E. J. & Pearson, S. (2012). Physician autonomy and health care reform. JAMA, 307(4), 367-8. [Online version]
• Largent, E. A. & Pearson, S. (2012). Which orphans will find a home? The rule of rescue in resource allocation for rare diseases. Hastings Cent Rep, 42, 27-34. [Online version]
• Göhler, A., Ollendorf, D. A., Jaeger, M., Ladapo, J., Neumann, T., Gazelle, G. S. & Pearson, S. (2011). A simulation model of clinical and economic outcomes of cardiac CT triage of patients with acute chest pain in the emergency department. AJR Am J Roentgenol, 196(4), 853-61. [Online version]
• Ollendorf, D. A., Kuba, M. & Pearson, S. (2011). The diagnostic performance of multi-slice coronary computed tomographic angiography: a systematic review. J Gen Intern Med, 26(3), 307-16. [Online version]