Professor Sue Blalock, Ph.D., M.P.H., has been appointed chairperson of the Food and Drug Administration’s Risk Communication Advisory Committee, effective until Sept. 30, 2018. She has been a member of the committee since 2013.
Blalock is a professor in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, as well as the division’s vice chair and an adjunct professor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health’s Department of Health Behavior and Health Education.
Blalock’s expertise is in the area of patient and public health education, and she is particularly interested in risk communication and the effect of pharmaceutical care, including patient education and counseling, on patient outcomes. Her primary research focuses on finding ways to prevent and treat rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, and her work includes studies that evaluate the impact of community-pharmacy-based illness prevention and disease management programs.
The Risk and Communication Advisory Committee advises the commissioner of the FDA or designee on effective methods to communicate risk that is associated with products the FDA regulates, as well as with discharging responsibilities as they relate to helping make sure there are safe and effective drugs for human use.
The committee also reviews and evaluates programs and strategies intended to communicate with the public about the risks and benefits of products regulated by the FDA to ensure their optimal use. Additionally, committee members review and evaluate research that is related to such communication by both the FDA and other entities.
Blalock joined the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in 2002 as an associate professor in DPOP. She received her B.S. in pharmacy in 1976 and her M.P.H. in 1980 from the University of Michigan and her Ph.D. from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in 1987.