Harkness Project Title: Use of Population–Based Surveys of the Elderly to Inform Health Care Policy on Aging

Mentor: Gerard F. Anderson, Ph.D.

Placement: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Epidemiology, Demography and Biometry Office of the National Institute on Aging

Biography at time of Harkness Fellowship: David Melzer, a 1998-99 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, is a clinical senior research associate in the Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge.  His research interests span policy issues in mental health, population aging and new technology.  Current funded research includes national projects on mentally disordered offenders, a needs assessment review of services for dementia and policy analyses of the Medical Research Council’s study of Cognitive Function and Aging.  His publications cover a wide range of policy issues from studies of aftercare for people with schizophrenia to the effects of patent law on the development and evaluation of health care interventions.  In his previous post at the National Health Service, he was responsible for advising Cambridge Health Authority on the commissioning of mental health and other services.  He qualified in Medicine in 1981, received his M.Sc. in Public Health in 1987, became a member of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine in 1989, and was elected a Fellow of the Faculty in 1998.  He is also a member of the scientific advisory board of the Journal of Evidence-Based Health Policy and Management.

Career Activity Since Fellowship:

• Collaboration Award, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2006 
• Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, Peninsula Medical School, 2005
• Senior Honorary Visiting Fellow, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, 2005

• Associate editor, U.S. Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 2004.
• Director, Epidemiology for Policy Group, University of Cambridge, 2001

E-Mail: david.melzer@pins.ac.uk

Harkness-Related Publications

Steel N, Bachman M, Maisey S, Shekelle P, Breeze E, Marmot M, Melzer D. “Self reported receipt of care consistent with 32 quality indicators: national population survey of adults aged 50 or more in England.” BMJ 2008; 337;a957.

Lang IA, Llewellyn DJ, Alexander K, Melzer D. “Obesity, physical function, and mortality in older adults.” J Am Geriatr Soc. 2008 Aug;56(8):1474-8. Epub 2008 Jul 24.PMID: 18662211

Stevens, K.N., Lang, I.A., Guralnik, J.M., Melzer, D. “Epidemiology of balance and dizziness in a national population: Findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.” Age and Ageing 37 (3), pp. 300-305:  2008

Lang, I.A., Rice, N.E., Wallace, R.B., Guralnik, J.M., Melzer, D. “Smoking cessation and transition into retirement: Analyses from the English longitudinal study of ageing.” Age and Ageing 36 (6), pp. 638-643: 2007

Lang, I., Guralnik, J., Wallace, R.B., Melzer, D. “What level of alcohol consumption is hazardous for older people? Functioning and mortality in U.S. and English national cohorts.”  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 55 (1), pp. 49-57: 2007

Melzer, D., Lan, T.-Y., Tom, B.D.M., Deeg, D.J.H., Guralnik, J.M. “Variation in thresholds for reporting mobility disability between national population subgroups and studies  Journals of Gerontology - Series A.” Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences 59 (12), pp. 1295-1303: 2004

Lan, T.-Y., Melzer, D., Tom, B.D.M., Guralnik, J.M. “Performance tests and disability: Developing an objective index of mobility-related limitation in older populations.  Journals of Gerontology - Series A.” Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences 57 (5), pp. M294-M301:2002

Steel N, Melzer D, Shekelle PG, Wenger NS, Forsyth D, McWilliams BC.  “Developing Quality Indicators for Older Adults: Transfer From the USA to the UK is Feasible,” Qual Saf Health Care 2004; 13(4):260-4. 

Melzer D, Guralnik JM, Brock D. “Prevalence and Distribution of Hip and Knee Joint Replacements and Hip Implants in Older Americans by the End of Life,” Aging Clin Exp Res 2003; 15(1):60-6.

Melzer D, Izmirlian G, Leveille SG, Guralnik JM. “Educational Differences in the Prevalence of Mobility Disability in Old Age: The Dynamics of Incidence, Mortality and Recovery,”  J Gerontol: Soc Sci 2001; 56B:S294-S301.

Bedford S, Melzer D, Guralnik J.  “Problem Behavior In the Last Year of Life: Prevalence, Risks and Care Receipt in Older Americans,” J Am Geriatr Soc 2001; 49(5):590-595.

Leveille SG, Penninx BW, Melzer D, Izmirlian G, Guralnik JM. “Sex Differences in the Prevalence of Mobility Disability in Old Age: The Dynamics of Incidence, Recovery, and Mortality” Journal of Gerontology 2000; 55:S41-S50.