Convenors of the Cochrane Rapid Reviews Methods Group (RRMG) are listed here (in alphabetical order):
Prof. Declan Devane, PhD, PGDip, MSc, BSc, DipHE, RGN, RM, RNT
Declan is the Chair in Health Research Methodology and Deputy Dean of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at NUI Galway, Ireland. He is also the Director of Evidence Synthesis Ireland, Scientific Director of Cochrane Ireland and Scientific Director of the Health Research Board-Trials Methodology Research Network. Declan trained as a nurse and a midwife before making his way into trials methodology and evidence synthesis. His work now focuses on a blend across randomised trials and synthesising evidence across several clinical areas. He has published over 241 papers (h-index 44 Scopus, June 2022), including numerous Cochrane systematic reviews. He has led several clinical trials recruiting from 100 to over 3000 participants and serves on a number of national and international Trial Steering Committees and Data Monitoring Boards. He is an Editor with the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group and has authored dozens of systematic reviews.
Chantelle Garritty, MSc, PhD
Chantelle Garritty is Manager of the Global Health and Guidelines Division at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). She is also an Adjunct Professor with the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa. Currently, Chantelle is a consulting Senior Advisor with Cochrane Response (Cochrane's evidence consultancy group) and has been a co-convenor of the Cochrane RRMG since its inception in 2015. Previously, she was the Scientific Lead of the Rapid Reviews Program (Knowledge Synthesis Group) based at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI), Ottawa, Canada (2010-2021). During this time, Chantelle led several rapid reviews and (rapid) scoping reviews working closely with several healthcare decision-making organizations. Chantelle has an MSc from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (University of Toronto) and a PhD in Public Health from the University of Split, School of Medicine (Croatia) (Translational Research in Biomedicine program), where she focused on rapid review methodology.
Prof. Gerald Gartlehner MD, MPH
Gerald Gartlehner is Co-Director of Cochrane Austria and the Associate Director of the RTI-International – University of North Carolina Evidence-based Practice Center in the United States. Dr. Gartlehner’s main professional interests concern comparative efficacy and safety of medications and advanced methodology for synthesizing bodies of evidence and for dealing with problems of heterogeneity, applicability, and strength of evidence. He participates in national and international methods groups that strive to advance the field of systematic reviews (e.g., GRADE Working Group). Dr. Gartlehner holds two European Board certifications (family medicine; emergency medicine); he is also a clinical epidemiologist.
Candyce Hamel MSc, PhD
Candyce Hamel is a Senior Epidemiologist with the Canadian Association of Radiologists. Her research interests include the use of artificial intelligence in conducting evidence reviews and evidence review methodology. She received her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Split Translational Research in Biomedicine program, with a research focus on rapid reviews and rapid review methods. Candyce is an Associate Editor for the BMC Medical Research Methodology journal and an Associate Convenor of the Cochrane Rapid Reviews Methods Group. In recent years, Candyce’s work has involved guideline development, conducting systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and rapid reviews, participating in the development of quality assessment tools and guidance documents, and providing methodological support for review conduct.
Chris Kamel MSc
Chris Kamel joined the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) in 2011 and has managed the CADTH Rapid Response Service program. Chris has experience with rapid reviews, systematic reviews, and health technology assessment with a focus on medical devices, diagnostics, and procedures. He has an MSc in Biochemistry from the University of Ottawa.
Prof. Valerie King MD, MPH
Valerie King is the Director of Research for the Center for Evidence-based Policy at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). She oversees research methods and a variety of health services, clinical evidence, and policy implementation research projects. She is a Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). From 2005 through 2008 she was the Associate Director of AHRQ’s Eisenberg Clinical Decisions and Communications Science Center at OHSU, part of AHRQ’s Comparative Effectiveness Program. She has authored, and served as an advisory panel member and peer reviewer for multiple AHRQ Evidence-based Practice Center evidence reports. A cum laude graduate of the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), she also completed residency training in both Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine and a Master’s degree in Epidemiology at UNC. From 1995 through 1997 she was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at UNC and completed the Robert Wood Johnson Generalist Faculty Scholars fellowship in 2007 with a focus on maternity health policy. An Atlantic Fellow in Public Policy at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University from 1998 to 1999, she studied maternity services, health policy, and systematic review methodology. She is actively involved with the Cochrane Collaboration and is a co-convener of the Rapid Review Method Group. Valerie maintains a consulting and teaching clinical practice devoted to women’s health, maternal and newborn care.
Ass.-Prof. Barbara Nussbaumer-Streit PhD, MSc, BSc
Barbara Nussbaumer-Streit is Co-Director of Cochrane Austria and Researcher at the Department for Evidence-based Medicine and Evaluation at the University for Continuing Education Krems. Her professional interests are systematic reviews and methodological research in the field of evidence-based medicine with a focus on assessing the validity of rapid review approaches. She studied health- and nursing science at the Medical University of Graz and completed her PhD in Public Health at the Medical University of Vienna.
Associate Convenor:
Ursula Griebler, PhD, MPH
Ursula Griebler is a senior researcher at the Department for Evidence-based Medicine and Evaluation at the University for Continuing Education Krems in Austria. Her research focuses on evidence syntheses in the field of public health, with a particular emphasis on evaluating health promotion interventions. She also conducts methodological research with a focus on guidance development and usability testing. She pursued her studies in nutritional sciences at the University of Vienna and obtained her PhD in genetic epidemiology as well as a Master of Public Health from the University of Kuopio, Finland.