ARTHUR L. KLATSKY, MD, is a Senior Consultant in Cardiology for The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. (TPMG) in Oakland, California, and is an Associate at the Division of Research. Dr. Klatsky has written extensively about the relations of alcohol to cardiovascular conditions and about other epidemiologic subjects. E-mail: hartmavn@pacbell.net
STEPHEN SIDNEY, MD, MPH, is the Associate Director for Clinical Research at the Division of Research in Oakland, California and a Consultant at the University of California School of Public Health. He received a BA degree from Yale University, an MD degree from Stanford Medical School, and a MPH degree from the University of California at Berkeley. His list of about 100 publications concerns a variety of epidemiologic and preventive medicine topics. E-mail: sxs@dor.kaiser.org
NOEL S. WEISS, MD, DrPH is Professor, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, where he was Chairman of the Department of Epidemiology from 1984-1993. He received BA and MD degrees from Stanford University, and MPH and DrPH degrees from the Harvard School of Public Health. He has more than 300 publications to his credit on epidemiologic, public health, and methodological topics. E-mail: nweiss@u.washington.edu
JOE SELBY, MD, MPH is Director of the Division of Research at Oakland, Associate Clinical Professor at the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco, and Lecturer in the Department of Medicine and Biostatistics at the University of California San Francisco. In 1996, he received the Kaiser Permanente James A. Vohs Award for Quality for Northern California's Colon Cancer Prevention Program (CoCaP). He has approximately 100 publications on epidemiologic topics to his credit. E-mail: jrs@dor/kaiser.org
GARY D. FRIEDMAN, MD, MS, is a Senior Investigator at the Division of Research, where he has worked for 30 years and was Director from 1991-1998. As a musician, he plays the oboe in two orchestras, a band, and chamber music groups. He has produced more than 250 scientific publications. (See the more detailed Biography following his article). E-mail: gdf@dor.kaiser.org