Janet Diaz Martinez, Ph.D., RD, LD/N, assistant professor in the Department of Dietetics & Nutrition at FIU’s Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, has been appointed to the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s (PCORI) Patient Engagement Advisory Panel for a three-year term.
Diaz Martinez will serve as a researcher representative on the national panel, joining patients, caregivers, advocates, clinicians and health system representatives from across the country. The group provides recommendations that help inform PCORI’s patient-centered research funding and engagement initiatives.
PCORI is a nonprofit organization authorized by Congress to fund comparative clinical effectiveness research aimed at helping patients, caregivers and health professionals make more informed healthcare decisions. Its advisory panels provide recommendations to the organization’s Board of Governors, Methodology Committee and staff and help inform research priorities, funding initiatives and approaches to stakeholder engagement.
The Patient Engagement Advisory Panel focuses specifically on strengthening the role of patients and other stakeholders throughout the research process and ensuring that the perspectives of those most affected by health care decisions are reflected in the work PCORI supports.
Through the appointment, Diaz Martinez will bring her experience as an FIU researcher to national conversations around patient-centered research, stakeholder engagement and the ways researchers can work more closely with communities in the development and implementation of health research.
“This appointment is especially meaningful to me because it brings together two important parts of my work: my research and my clinical practice as a dietitian,” Diaz Martinez said. “I am honored to represent FIU, Stempel College and the CBRI on this national panel, and I hope to contribute to ensuring that the voices, lived experiences and priorities of patients and communities meaningfully inform the research intended to improve their health and health care.”
Her appointment is part of PCORI’s latest group of selections across its multi-stakeholder advisory panels, bringing together experts and community voices from across the country to help guide the organization’s work over the next three years.