Dedra S. Buchwald is an American epidemiologist. She is a retired professor at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

Early life and education

Buchwald was born near

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, to two German immigrants. As a teenager, she co-established a "Free School" which aimed at providing school-aged children with an alternative learning system. Upon graduating from high school, Buchwald completed her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in neurobiology and her

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

from the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

. She then completed her

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...

and

residency Residency may refer to: * Artist-in-residence, a program to sponsor the residence and work of visual artists, writers, musicians, etc. * Concert residency, a series of concerts performed at one venue * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or m ...

at the North Carolina Memorial Hospital and

Duke University Medical Center Duke University Hospital is a 1062 -bed acute care facility and an academic tertiary care facility located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Established in 1930, it is the flagship teaching hospital for the Duke University Health Sy ...

. Following this, Buchwald became a Henry J. Kaiser Fellow in general internal medicine at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

and

Brigham and Women's Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH or The Brigham) is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two ...

Career

University of Washington

Following her fellowship, Buchwald joined the faculty of the

University of Washington School of Medicine The University of Washington School of Medicine is the medical school of the University of Washington, a public research university in Seattle, Washington. According to ''U.S. News & World Report''s 2022 Best Graduate School rankings, University ...

(UW) and School of Public Health for 29 years. During her tenure, she directed and cared for patients in the International Clinic and created Partnerships for Native Health. As the director of this program, Buchwald helped conduct one of the largest alcohol addiction-treatment trials among American Indian and Alaska Native adults titled the HONOR Project (Helping Our Natives' Ongoing Recovery). She also oversaw the Regional Native American Community Networks Program to address cancer-related disparities among American Indians and Alaska Natives. Beyond this, Buchwald also directed the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Cooperative Research Center where she conducted studies with twins using the Department of Licensing identification system.

Washington State University

Buchwald left UW in 2015 to join the faculty at

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

(WSU) as the director of their Initiative for Research and Education to Advance Community Health (IREACH). In this role, she followed up with surviving participants from the 1989 Strong Heart Study of Native Americans study and reconducted brain scans to understand declining Native American elder health. In 2018, Buchwald was appointed director of the Native Alzheimer's Disease-Related Resource Center in Minority Aging which was a collaboration between WSU, the

University of Colorado, Denver The University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) is a public research university located in downtown Denver, Colorado. It is part of the University of Colorado system. Established in 1912 as an extension of the University of Colorado Boulder, C ...

, and

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. Following the establishment of the center, Buchwald received the 2019 Faculty Woman of Distinction Award. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Buchwald received a grant to address the lack of COVID information and testing being spread among American Indian and Native Alaskan populations. She then launched a multi-center project to assess levels of testing and challenges that prevent urban American Indians and Alaska Natives from getting tested and vaccinated. In 2021, Buchwald was one of 18 doctors and scientists selected to identify a new

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

for ''

JAMA ''JAMA'' (''The Journal of the American Medical Association'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of b ...

'' (The Journal of the American Medical Association).

Personal life

Buchwald is married to Spero Manson, a medical and cultural anthropologist at the University of Colorado Denver.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buchwald, Debra Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Scientists from Michigan American women epidemiologists American epidemiologists University of California, San Diego alumni Washington State University faculty University of Washington faculty Year of birth missing (living people)