Expert Comments on Available Evidence
The DEPRESSD Project
A Unique and Rigorous Data Platform for Depression Screening Research
Name: Mary A. Whooley
Degree(s): MD
Institution: UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA
Email: University of California, San Francisco
Biography:
Dr. Whooley is a primary care physician, health services researcher, Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, and Director of the Center for Healthcare Improvement and Medical Effectiveness (CHIME) at the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System. In 1997, she validated a simple, two-question screening instrument for depression that is now used world-wide (whooleyquestions.ucsf.edu). She then served as Principal Investigator of the Heart and Soul Study, a prospective cohort study of >1000 patients with coronary heart disease who were followed for 20 years (heartandsoulstudy.ucsf.edu). The Heart and Soul Study demonstrated that the adverse cardiovascular outcomes associated with depression are largely explained by poor health behaviors, especially physical inactivity (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19033588). Data collected for the Heart and Soul Study were contributed to the DEPRESSD project.
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