The Experts Who Currently Write for WorstPills.org

Robert Steinbrook, M.D.
Director, Public Citizen's Health Research Group
Editor, WorstPills.org and Worst Pills, Best Pills News

Dr. Robert Steinbrook joined Public Citizen as the Health Research Group Director in May 2023. He is available to discuss drug and medical device safety, conflict of interest in medicine and health care, medical journals, health care policy, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other federal health agencies, and the protection of human research subjects.

Dr. Steinbrook is Professor Adjunct of Internal Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. Among prior positions, he has been Editor at Large and Online Editor at JAMA Internal Medicine, Deputy Editor and National Correspondent at the New England Journal of Medicine, and a Medical Writer at the Los Angeles Times. He is a graduate of Amherst College and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and trained in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Sidney Wolfe, M.D.
Founder and Senior Adviser, Public Citizen's Health Research Group

Dr. Wolfe founded Public Citizen's Health Research Group in 1971. He is an expert on issues of drug and medical device safety, health care policy, FDA oversight, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Medicare and Medicaid, and doctor discipline.

In 1966, Dr. Wolfe began working at NIH, where he did research on aspects of blood clotting and on alcoholism. He met Ralph Nader in Washington, D.C., at a meeting of the American Patients Association, began advising Mr. Nader on health problems in America, and helped to recruit medical student volunteers to work for Mr. Nader.

Since 1995, Dr. Wolfe has been an Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

He earned his medical degree at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, and completed his residency training in internal medicine. He is currently a member of the Society for General Internal Medicine. His awards include the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1990.

Azza AbuDagga, M.H.A., Ph.D.
Health Services Researcher, Public Citizen's Health Research Group

Dr. AbuDagga has been researching drug safety at the Health Research Group since 2013. She is an expert in analyzing the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System. She also conducts research studies related to inmates with serious mental illnesses in the criminal justice system and ethics in clinical trials. Additionally, she uses the National Practitioner Data Bank to conduct research on health care professionals' accountability.

Prior to joining Public Citizen, Dr. AbuDagga conducted numerous health research outcomes studies for drugs related to the respiratory system, oral blood thinners and psoriasis during her tenure at WellPoint. She also has conducted various health policy studies funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Agency for Health Research and Quality during her tenure at LeadingAge and IMPAQ International.

She earned her Ph.D. in health policy and administration from Pennsylvania State University, her Master of Health Administration from Ohio State University, and her bachelor's degree in nursing from the Islamic University of Gaza.

Michael Abrams, M.P.H., Ph.D.
Health Services Researcher, Public Citizen's Health Research Group

Dr. Abrams has over 25 years of clinical and governance research experience in the health sciences and more than 35 peer-reviewed publications. He is especially skilled as a health services researcher focused on brain-based illness, including psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia and depression, addictions such as opioid and alcohol use disorders, and degenerative or neurodevelopmental diseases such as dementia and autism.

Dr. Abrams also has served as a director of studies and consensus activities pertaining to national health care strategies at both The National Academy of Sciences and the National Quality Forum, and he is especially knowledgeable about the U.S. Medicaid program.

He earned his M.P.H. degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and his Ph.D. in health policy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Dima Mazen Qato, Pharm.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.

Dr. Qato's research interests focus on access to medicines, polypharmacy and the safe use of prescription and over-the-counter medications and dietary supplements, particularly in vulnerable populations.

Dr. Qato earned her Pharm.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is currently the Hygeia Centennial Chair and Associate Professor (with tenure) in the Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Pharmacy. She has also been appointed as a Senior Fellow with the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. Prior to joining USC, Dr. Qato was an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Systems, Outcomes and Policy at the University of Illionois at Chicago (2012-2020). She has practiced as a pharmacist in various community settings and started working as a consultant for Public Citizen in 2014.