How do we...

• ...help physicians and patients make the best use of the latest medical advances?
• ...measure the impact of illnesses and disabilities - and their treatments - on quality of life?
• ...expand our understanding of psychological influences on health?

The Center for Behavioral and Decision Sciences in Medicine brings together behavioral scientists and clinicians, from a wide array of fields in social science and medicine, to research health behavior and decision making, with the goal of improving health care policy and practice.

Center Highlights

• Research News: Making Decisions about Care at the End of Life

  Maria Silveira, MD, MPH, is the lead author on an article in the New England Journal of Medicine (April 1, 2010) on end-of-life decision making. Silveira and her colleagues found in a large-scale study that more than a quarter of the...
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  More Research News Scott Kim Ken Langa Maria Silveira Doctor-patient communication Bioethics Impaired decision making End-of-life decision making

• Grant: CBDSM Staff Member Awarded NSF Fellowship

  Ian Wall, CBDSM Research Associate, has been awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for his upcoming doctoral work in sociology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The three-year award...
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  More Grants Ian Wall

• Research News: Radiation after Mastectomy Underused

  Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, is the lead author on a new study showing that breast cancer patients who have had mastectomies and need radiation are less likely to receive these treatments than patients who have had lumpectomies. The article...
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  More Research News Reshma Jagsi Sarah Hawley Jennifer Griggs Cancer - breast

• Press Coverage: Rationing Vs. Rationalizing Health Care

  Peter Ubel, MD, spoke recently at the DeVos Medical Ethics Colloquy at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dr. Ubel's presentation, "Rationing vs. Rationalizing Health Care," was covered by news outlets in western...
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  More Press Coverage Peter Ubel Healthcare policy Cost effectiveness Healthcare rationing

• Grant: Witteman Receives Funding from FIMDM

  Holly Witteman, Research Fellow at CBDSM, has been awarded a $25,000 Robert Derzon Post-Doctoral Grant from the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making for her project entitled "Development and Evaluation of Interactive...
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  More Grants Holly Witteman Decision aids

• Decision of the Month: I Saw It on a Billboard

  What is the impact of medical advertising that is directly targeted at patients? What information do consumers of medical products and therapies need in order to make informed decisions about their health?

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  More Decisions of the Month Reshma Jagsi Bioethics Doctor-patient communication

• Press Coverage: Decision Aids for Health and Finance

  Angela Fagerlin, PhD, talked with Financial Planning about how research on decision aids in healthcare might be used to help financial planners convey complex information to their clients. She discussed specifics: use of absolute vs relative ...
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  More Press Coverage Angela Fagerlin Decision aids Risk communication graphics Risk communication Numeracy