Liana Fraenkel, MD, MPH

Dr. Fraenkel’s research interests lie in applying scientifically rigorous approaches to better understand and improve both patient and physician decision making. Her efforts have resulted in a series of papers describing the use and value of conjoint analysis to ascertain patient treatment preferences across a range of sociodemographic groups and diseases, and customization of the original software program to improve use with patients. Dr. Fraenkel’s work has also led to new insights into decision making which have important clinical implications. For example, using conjoint analysis, she has demonstrated that rheumatoid arthritis patient preferences for more aggressive treatment with disease modifying antirheumatic drugs differ by race, with Black patients preferring less aggressive treatment compared to White patients with similar disease severity. These results may help explain the disparity in utilization of newer riskier drugs in minority patients. Dr. Fraenkel has also developed decision support tools, based on Fuzzy Trace theory, for patients facing decision involving medications with significant risks of toxicity.