Vermeulen Joins UK Center for Health Services Research

The University of Kentucky Center for Health Services Research welcomes Lee Vermeulen Jr., as director of the Office for Value & Innovation in Healthcare Delivery (OVIHD) and professor in the Division of Biomedical Informatics within the UK Department of Internal Medicine. Vermeulen will hold a joint appointment between the UK College of Medicine and the UK College of Pharmacy.

“We are thrilled to recruit someone of Lee Vermeulen’s caliber to lead our Office of Value & Innovation in Healthcare Delivery, and guide UK HealthCare in implementing cutting edge evidence-based care,” said Dr. Michael Karpf, UK executive vice president for health affairs.

In addition to serving as director of OVIHD, he will help lead UK HealthCare’s OptimalCare efforts to deliver evidence-based practices across the health system. An internationally recognized expert in pharmacy and informatics, Vermeulen will facilitate the implementation of evidence-based clinical decision support and knowledge management tools in electronic health records.

“As an addition to the Center for Health Services Research, Lee Vermeulen’s extensive experience and expertise allows UK HealthCare to take a major step toward advancing our efforts in applying research to optimize care,” said Dr. Mark V. Williams, professor and director for the UK Center for Health Services Research.

Vermeulen's research focuses on measuring the value of medical care interventions, clinical practice tools that improve patient outcomes, and the efficient application of health care technology. His research also evaluates technology development and diffusion, and he publishes annual forecasts of the medication development pipeline and forecasts of the rising cost of medications. His previous scholarly work has focused on measuring the impact of various health-system medication use policies and programs.

Previously, Vermeulen served as director of the Center for Clinical Knowledge Management with the University of Wisconsin Health System (comprised of the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics and UW Medical Foundation). He received his undergraduate degree in pharmacy from the University of Buffalo in New York and a master’s degree in pharmacy administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He completed a residency in pharmacy practice and pharmacy administration at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics and a fellowship in medical technology assessment at the University Healthsystem Consortium (now known as Vizient).

“Lee brings great expertise to UK, helping further leverage our academic strengths with evidence based discovery and implementation for healthcare,” said Dr. Robert DiPaola, dean of the UK College of Medicine.

"We are overjoyed to have Dr. Vermeulen joining the College of Pharmacy," said Kip Guy, dean of the UK College of Pharmacy. "His strong expertise in decision support adds immensely to or programs aimed at improving medication choice at point of care."

MEDIA CONTACT: Allison Perry, (859) 323-2399 or allison.perry@uky.edu