Newsroom

For Immediate Release:

Contact: Vicky Jaffe
MS&L
Phone: 617-937-2578
Vicky.jaffe@mslpr.com or
Lyn Paget
Foundation for Informed Medical Decision-Making
Phone: 617-367-2000, x 243

Boston, MA September 25, 2007 – The Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making announced this year’s six $25,000 George Bennett Dissertation Fellowship winners. The awards will support dissertation and post doctoral research to better understand and improve patient/doctor communication.

Dissertation topics include testing how anxiety affects decision-making and the effect of video images, testimonials or discussions. The grants are designed to support basic and applied research that advances the field of informed decision making, which helps patients make better, more informed health care choices connected to their individual values.

“These grants are intended to encourage young researchers to pursue interests related to helping patients be informed and actively involved in decisions that affect their health and well being,” said Jack Fowler, president of the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making. “We had a strong set of applications, and we are very pleased to be able to fund these projects.”

The fellowship is named for George Bennett, founder and CEO of Health Dialog, a leading provider of care management and analytic services dedicated to a patient centered approach to support informed medical decision making.  Each award provides $25,000 to be paid through each fellow's school, and may be used to cover living expenses, travel, tuition support, or research expenses. 2007 award winners include:

Angelo Volandes, MD,  M.P.H., a Ph.D candidate at the Harvard School of Public Health is conducting a randomized trial studying Advance Care Planning for elderly patients using a video depiction of a patient with dementia compared to the traditional verbal narrative. Angelo is from New York City and received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University.  He is also a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Erin Winters Ulloa, Ph.D at Boston VA Research Institute, is examining how functional health literacy (a patients’ ability to read, understand, and effectively utilize basic health information) and cancer-related anxiety affect men’s decision making about treatment for prostate cancer. Results from the project will be used to support and develop interventions to improve decision making for men with localized prostate cancer by addressing the variables studied in this proposal: functional health literacy and cancer-related anxiety.  Erin is from New Brunswick, NJ and received her undergraduate degree from James Madison University and her Masters and Ph.D in Clinical Psychology from University of South Florida.

Loren Berman, MD is pursuing his Doctorate at Yale University School of Medicine, researching patients’ informed preferences related to operative repair for abdominal aortic aneurysm. He is also a resident in surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Loren, originally from Needham, MA received his undergraduate degree from University of Pennsylvania and MD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Gabriel Karl Silverman, originally from Floral Park, Queens, New York is a Ph.D candidate in Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, is examining whether physician communication about end-of-life issues with patients and their caregivers can lead to "good deaths" and better bereavement adjustment, if those discussions happen early enough, often enough, are clear, and allow questions.  Gabriel received his undergraduate degree from Yale University.

Talya Salz is a Ph.D candidate at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, whose research is part of the national Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance study of colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors. She is examining the underuse and overuse of colonoscopies to improve informed decision making about colonoscopy use among CRC survivors. Talya is originally from Longmeadow, MA and received her undergraduate degree from Brown University.

Amanda Dillard, Ph.D, from Tiffin, OH is working on post-doctoral research at the University of Michigan to study the effect of patient testimonials to improve the accuracy of cancer risk perceptions among colon cancer patients. Amanda received her Ph.D from North Dakota State University.

About Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making
The Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making’s mission is to assure that people understand their choices and have the information they need to make sound decisions affecting their health and well being. The Foundation organizes and frames medical evidence in an unbiased manner to help people evaluate their options, particularly in instances where differences in individual preferences and perspectives are likely to affect personal choice. For more information, visit www.fimdm.org.