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Drew A. Helmer, MD, MS

Deputy Director
Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety (IQuESt)

Drew A. Helmer, MD, MS, is Deputy Director of the Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety (IQuESt) at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center (MEDVAMC) and Professor of Medicine in the Section of Health Services Research at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, TX. He leads the Data & Biorepository Commons (DBC) Core for the VA Military Exposure Research Program (MERP), the AIMES Collaboration (facilitating implementation of the optional examination and data needs for the VA/DoD Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry (AHOBPR)), co-chair of “Genomics of Gulf War Illness in Veterans (CSP 2006/MVP 029), and site director for the VA Big Data Scientific Training Enhancement Program at MEDVAMC. Dr. Helmer is also principal investigator of several Department of Defense-funded clinical studies.

Dr. Helmer obtained his MD and MS in Health Policy and Management at Columbia University in 1997. Trained as a general internist and primary care researcher at BCM from 1997-2001, Dr. Helmer was the medical director at the War Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC) and a VA Health Services Research & Development Career Development Awardee while at VA-NJ Health Care System from 2001-2007. From 2007-2011, Dr. Helmer worked at the MEDVAMC where he was the lead clinician for Post-Deployment Health. He was the Director of the NJ WRIISC and Associate Professor of Medicine at Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School from 2011 to 2019.

In addition to caring for Veterans and educating providers, researchers, and trainees, Dr. Helmer studies healthcare utilization and outcomes important to deployed Veterans including chronic symptoms, military exposure concerns, depression and suicidal ideation, mild traumatic brain injury, and sexual health concerns. He has published more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific articles and a book for a lay audience on these topics.

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