Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has appointed a Wayne State University School of Medicine faculty member to the Michigan Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee.

M. Safwan Badr, M.D., M.B.A., chair of the Department of Internal Medicine and professor of Internal Medicine, Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, will represent physicians on the committee. His term began Aug. 25, and he will serve through Oct. 1, 2023.

The Michigan Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee advises the Department of Health and Human Services on issues affecting prescription drug coverage for its various health care programs. The committee recommends to the department guidelines for prescription drugs covered in its various health care programs.

Dr. Badr is chief of the WSU Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, and a staff physician at the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center. He serves as the chief clinical officer of Wayne Health, the non-profit, multi-specialty academic group practice for WSU faculty physicians.

He is an internationally known sleep disorders researcher and research mentor with current funding from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense and National Institutes of Health.