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Lawrence Ragard

Senior Study Director

Dr. Lawrence R. Ragard is a Senior Study Director in Westat’s Clinical Trials Practice. He is a physician with 15 years of experience in internal medicine and 20+ years in medical research. Dr. Ragard has experience in cancer prevention research and the development of data collection tools and procedures to abstract data from medical records to better understand cancer causes and risk factors. As a member of research teams, Dr. Ragard participates in analytic design, information synthesis, interpretation of findings, and preparation of publications.

His recent focus is the national coverage analysis work for NCI’s Cancer Trials Support Unit designed to assist sites with study setup and based on feedback from physicians and site staff activating clinical trials at their sites. The coverage analysis is a review of all clinical trial tests, procedures, and interventions to determine whether or not they are billable to Medicare, Medicaid, or a third-party payer. Dr. Ragard has developed expertise in this area and is serving as a resource to the program.

In previous work as a staff physician in internal medicine at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Dr. Ragard treated patients; trained residents, interns, and medical students; and, at one time, managed the Center’s Physical Examination Section.

Dr. Ragard is an elected Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Selected Publications and Presentations

Khan, S., Wolin, K.Y., Pakpahan, R., Grubb, R.L., Colditz, G.A., Ragard, L., Mabie, J., Breyer, B.N., Andriole, G.L., and Sutcliffe, S. (2021). Body size throughout the life-course and incident benign prostatic hyperplasia-related outcomes and nocturia. BMC Urology, 21(1), 47. doi: 10.1186/s12894-021-00816-5 PMID: 33773592 PMCID: PMC8005244
Buys, S.S., Partridge, E., Black, A., Johnson, C.C., Lamerato, L., Isaacs, C., Reding, D.J., Greenlee, R.T., Yokochi, L.A., Kessel, B., Crawford, E.D., Church, T.R., Andriole, G.L., Weissfeld, J.L., Fouad, M.N., Chia, E.D., O’Brien, B., Ragard, L.R., Clapp, J.D., Rathmell, J.M., Riley, T.L., Hartge, P., Pinsky, R.F., Zhu, C., Izmirlian, G., Kramer, B.S., Miller, A.B., Xu, J.-L., Prorok, P.C., Gohagan, J.K., Berg, C.D., and for the PLCO Project Team. (2011). Effect of screening on ovarian cancer mortality: The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Randomized Trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 305(22), 2295-2303.
Nyante, S.J., Black, A., Kreimer, A.R., Duggan, M.A., Carreon, J.D., Kessel, B., Buys, S.S., Ragard, L.R., Johnson, K.A., Dunn, B.K., Lamerato, L., Commins, J.M., Berg, C.D., and Sherman, M.E. (2011). Pathologic findings following false-positive screening tests for ovarian cancer in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial. Gynecologic Oncology, 220(3), 474-479.
Hocking, W.G., Oken, M.M., Winslow, S.D., Kvale, P.A., Prorok, P.C., Ragard, L.R., Commins, J., Lynch, D.A., Andriole, G.L., Buys, S.S., Fouad, M.N., Fuhrman, C.R., Isaacs, C., Yokochi, L.A., Riley, T.L., Pinsky, P.F., Gohagan, J.K., Berg, C.D., and for the PLCO Project Team. (2010). Lung cancer screening in the randomized Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 102(10), 722-731.
Greenlee, R.T., Kessel, B., Williams, C.R., Riley, T.L., Ragard, L.R., Hartge, P., Buys, S.S., Partridge, E.E., and Reding, D.J. (2010). Prevalence, incidence, and natural history of simple ovarian cysts among women >55 years old in a large cancer screening trial. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 202(4), 373.e1-373.e9.
Ragard, L. (2012, April). Understanding changes in colorectal cancer coding and data collection (invited plenary session presenter). National Association of Cancer Registrars Annual Meeting, Oxon Hill, MD.
Ragard, L. (2017, March). NCI’s Cancer Trials Support Unit clinical trials coverage analysis (invited lecture presenter). 11th Annual Clinical Trial Billing and Research Compliance Conference, The Woodlands, TX.
Denicoff, A., Mishkin, G., Good, M., Patrichuk, L., Ragard, L., Hurtado, K., Willenberg, K., Szczepanek, C., Dawson, C., Alexander-Young, M., Strandberg, D., Kardell, J., McCartney, S., Sullivan, M., Kelly, M., Montello, M., McCaskill-Stevens, W., Abrams, J., and Mooney, M. (2017, June). National Coverage Analyses for NCI clinical trials: A pilot project to reduce participation barriers (invited poster). American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.
Ragard, L., Camarca, M., Ke, P., Patrichuk, L., Mishkin, G., Goode, M., and Denicoff, A. (2019, May). Improving transparency in clinical trial costs for participants: National Coverage Analysis Initiative supported by the NCI’s Cancer Trials Support Unit (invited lecture presenter). Society of Clinical Trials Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA.
Ragard, L.R., Camarca, M., Ke, P., Patrichuk, L., Mishkin, G., Good, M., and Denicoff, A. (2020, September). Interdisciplinary collaboration in review of National Coverage Analysis (NCA) documents to enhance clinical trial site activation and recruitment of participants (invited workshop presenter). Society for Clinical Trials, Virtual Meeting.