Learn more about the meeting and register here.

Nominating Committee Candidates

The membership will vote to elect three Nominating Committee members at the business meeting. Learn more about them below!

John F P Bridges, PhD | Professor in the Departments of Biomedical Informatics and Surgery, Ohio State University

I am a regular SMDM attendee and presenter. I am international expert in patient preferences. I am very keen to support nominations from non-traditional places to ensure that SMDM grows.

Rowan Iskandar, PhD | Principal HEOR Researcher, Medtronic (Switzerland)​

Coming soon.

Ashley Leech, PhD | Assistant Professor in Department of Health Policy, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine​

Ashley A. Leech, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine working at the intersection of health policy and decision science whose research advances high-value care for reproductive-age, pregnant, and postpartum populations. Her research uses decision-analytic modeling with epidemiologic and statistical analyses of large healthcare claims data to evaluate the value, effectiveness, and use of treatment for these populations. Dr. Leech has published 53 peer-reviewed articles (43% as first or senior author) in leading medical and policy journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), JAMA Pediatrics, JAMA Internal Medicine, JAMA Health Forum, Health Affairs, and Medical Decision Making. Her recent cost-effectiveness analysis of treatment for opioid use disorder in pregnancy, published in JAMA Pediatrics, received the Society for Medical Decision Making’s Outstanding Paper by an Early Investigator Award in 2026. Dr. Leech completed an NIH-NIDA K01 Career Development Award as Principal Investigator and now leads an NIH-NIDA R01 examining buprenorphine dosing and clinical outcomes across pregnant and nonpregnant populations. She has a second R01 pending award on decision analytic modeling of weight loss medication use before and after pregnancy. She teaches decision analysis in the Vanderbilt MPH program and co-leads international health economic modeling training through the Vanderbilt Center for Health Economic Modeling, where she is a primary faculty member.

James O’Mahony, PhD | Assistant Professor at the School of Economics, University College Dublin​

I am a health economist working in CEA methods. I have an interest in cancer screening, microsimulation, cost-effectiveness thresholds and the use of CEA evidence by policy makers. I have research links to Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam. I have been regular attendee at SMDM meetings for over 15 years and I greatly appreciate the society and the academic network it offers.

Kine Pedersen, PhD | Associate Professor at University of Oslo

Kine Pedersen is an Associate Professor of Health Economic Evaluation at the University of Oslo. Her research focuses on evaluation of health policies and interventions, including model-based cost-effectiveness analyses, registry-based analyses, and mixed-methods studies. Kine has been an SMDM member since 2014 and is currently a board member as an International Trustee.