Dr. Morris to Serve on NIH Study Section

Dr. Arden Morris has been invited to serve on the Healthcare and Health Disparities (HHD) study section at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on March 9.

"This is an honor acknowledging her expertise in the field," said Professor Emeritus Dr. Stefanie Jeffrey.

According to the NIH website the HHD study section "reviews applications examining the systemic underpinnings of health care disparities closely associated with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage (race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, age, geographic location, education level, disability status, immigrant status and a wide range of other vulnerable populations), and how social determinants of health relate to access to, use of, and effectiveness of health services and health promotion at the health systems level."

Reviewers are chosen based on "scientific excellence, respect in the scientific community, breadth of expertise, fairness and evenhandedness in review, and performance as a reviewer."

"It's an important contribution to the community of health services and clinical researchers. Surgery as a field is highly under-represented," said Morris.

Morris is board certified in colon and rectal surgery, and she serves as vice chair of research and director of the S-SPIRE Center. Additionally, she holds several national positions including vice-chair of the Commission on Cancer’s National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer Quality Committee, American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons’ representative to the American Joint Commission on Cancer, and Chair of the ACS Cancer Surgery Standards Program Implementation and Integration Committee.