VCU news

By Anne Dreyfuss
C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research

Alex Krist, M.D., a professor of family medicine in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine, considered one of the highest honors in the fields of medicine and health.

Krist, a practicing family medicine physician, teaches resident physicians at the VCU-Fairfax Family Medicine Residency and serves as vice chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent, volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine. He is the co-director of community-engaged research at the VCU C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research, the only institution in Virginia to receive a Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health. The five-year, $21.5 million award is the largest NIH grant ever bestowed to VCU. It allows the center to support clinical research, integrate research and clinical practice and provide training to develop the clinical research workforce.

“I blend being a practicing family physician, teaching new physicians, conducting research and evaluating evidence to inform policy,” Krist said. “Each activity informs the other. For example, being a busy family physician helps shape my research to address the problems real-world patients and physicians face. Likewise, most of my research helps guide the steps I need to take to be a better physician.”

Among Krist’s accomplishments is his role in developing MyPreventiveCare, an interactive online personal health record that empowers patients to better understand the factors that contribute to their health and take actions to improve them.

As a National Academy of Medicine member, Krist joins the ranks of five other VCU School of Medicine colleagues, including fellow Wright Center community-engaged research co-director and family medicine physician Steven Woolf, M.D.

“I have long looked to the National Academy of Medicine for guidance on helping my patients improve their health and well-being,” Krist said. “Its members are thought leaders who I greatly admire, and it is an honor to become a member of the community.”