IFH Director Announcement

May 1, 2023

Dear RBHS Colleagues:

Following a thorough and extensive national search with multiple distinguished applicants, I am pleased to announce the selection of Tobias Gerhard, BSPharm, PhD as the Director of the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research (IFH). Dr. Gerhard is a Professor of Pharmacy and Epidemiology at the Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and has served in the capacity of Acting and Interim Director of IFH since December 2021. He will formally begin his term as IFH Director today.

Dr. Gerhard earned his pharmacy degree from the University of Freiburg, Germany, and his doctoral degree in pharmacoepidemiology from the University of Florida. He joined Rutgers in 2007 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Administration at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. In 2017, he became the Founding Director of the Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science (PETS). A national search for a new director for PETS will commence in the coming months.

Dr. Gerhard is a pharmacoepidemiologist whose career focuses on the use and effects of drugs for mental health disorders, and the use and effects of drugs in the elderly. He has made extensive and impactful contributions to the real-world use, comparative effectiveness, and safety of psychotropic medications. A fellow of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology, he currently serves as the Society’s elected President. In 2022, he was elected to the prestigious American Epidemiological Society. With more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, he also serves on the editorial boards of Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety and Clinical and Translational Science.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Gerhard on his new permanent position. I would also like to thank the members of the IFH search committee, listed below, for their diligence in conducting this search for their commitment to academic excellence and support for our missions.

• Ethan Halm, MD, MPH, MBA (Search Committee Chair)
• Carol Byrd-Bredbenner, PhD
• Joel Cantor, ScD
• Chintan Dave, PharmD, PhD
• Pamela DeCordova, PhD, RN-BC
• Nir Eyal, DPhil
• Daniel Horton, MD, MSCE 
• William Hu, MD, PhD
• Shawna Hudson, PhD
• Leslie Kantor, PhD, MPH
• Richard Marlink, MD
• Margaret Marsh, PhD

Sincerely,

Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH
Chancellor