Valire Copeland named to Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Valire C. Copeland, a professor in the School of Social Work and the Graduate School of Public Health, and associate director of the Public Health Social Work Training Program at Pitt, has been appointed to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a major federal funder within the Department of Health and Human Services.

Copeland was appointed as a standing member of the Healthcare System and Value Research study section at the agency, which focuses on building evidence to make healthcare safer, more accessible, and more equitable.

“(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) often asks for reviewers for a single meeting depending on expertise, but an appointment as a standing member is a high recognition that Dr. Copeland is at the top of her field and therefore trusted to make judicious decisions about what work the federal government should be funding in the areas of healthcare access and equity,” said Shaun Eack, associate dean for Research in the School of Social Work. “It also means that the expertise Dr. Copeland brings is viewed as especially deep, as she will sit on study section for all proposals that the Healthcare System and Value Research study section will receive.”

Copeland’s work as a standing member of a study section will involve providing scientific, budgetary and human subjects review of grant proposals related to healthcare safety, access and equity with a panel of other accomplished scholars to inform the federal government of the merits of project proposals received by the agency.