Research Summary

My training is in sociology (emphasis on culture, inequality, and research methods) and health policy. My research uses mixed-methods social scientific approaches to examine how the culture of medicine shapes delivery of patient care and conduct of medical research. I lead three major research projects. I am co-Program Director for EngageUC – a three-year CTSA initiative to develop harmonized processes for biospecimen repository data collection and analysis across all five University of California medical centers. EngageUC includes a statewide community engagement activity as well as a randomized trial of different consenting methods. I am PI for the Cancer Patient Deliberation study, an NCI-funded R01 examining how patients with advanced cancer make decisions about treatment and participation in clinical trials. Finally, I am PI of a recently-funded contract with the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to explore how to integrate qualitative methods into PCOR using visual displays of qualitative data. At UCSF, I hold a number of leadership positions related to training and program development including Deputy Director of the Institute for Health Policy Studies, co-lead of the health policy theme in the undergraduate medical education curriculum, Chair of the campus-wide Precision Medicine Regulatory/Policy workgroup, lead faculty of the proposed MS in Health Policy and Law, and co-Director of the UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science, and Health Policy.

Research Funding

  • September 1, 2020 - May 31, 2025 - Leadership to Enhance Aging Research and Innovation in Medical Culture (LEARN-MC) , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: K07AG066814
  • July 10, 2021 - April 30, 2025 - Anticipating ethical challenges and disparities in the dissemination of novel neurotechnologies , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01MH126997
  • September 15, 2020 - August 31, 2024 - Next-Gen ethnography to understand decision-making among diverse populations impacted by Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: DP1AG069809
  • September 13, 2017 - May 31, 2021 - Achieving ethical integration in the development of novel neurotechnologies , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01MH114860

Education

Harvard College, Cambridge, MA, AB, 1987, Sociology
University of California Berkeley, MA, 1991, Sociology
University of California Berkeley, PhD, 1997, Sociology
University of California Berkeley, post-doc, 1999, Health Policy
University of California Berkeley, post-doc, 2001, Health Policy

Honors & Awards

  • 1987
    AB Magna cum Laude with Highest Honors in Sociology, Harvard College, Cambridge MA
  • 1987
    Hoopes Prize, Senior Honors Thesis "Malpractice in Massachusetts: Physicians' Perspectives," Harvard College
  • 1989
    Regents Intern-Fellow, UC Berkeley
  • 1994
    Carol Hatch Ethnography Award, UC Berkeley Sociology Department
  • 1998
    Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, UC Berkeley
  • 2006
    UCSF-Coro Faculty Leadership Collaborative

Selected Publications

  1. Dzeng E, Batten JN, Dohan D, Blythe J, Ritchie CS, Curtis JR. Hospital Culture and Intensity of End-of-Life Care at 3 Academic Medical Centers. JAMA Intern Med. 2023 08 01; 183(8):839-848.  View on PubMed
  2. Hampson LA, Shaw NM, Breyer BN, Walter LC, Sudore RL, Cooperberg MR, Baussan C, Quanstrom K, Elaine Allen I, Dohan D. Patient-identified Treatment Attributes Among Older Men With Stress Urinary Incontinence: A Qualitative Look at What Matters to Patients Making Treatment Decisions. Urology. 2023 Jul; 177:189-196.  View on PubMed
  3. Jones CP, Shaw NM, Mena J, Breyer BN, Walter LC, Baussan C, Quanstrom K, Allen IE, Dohan D, Hampson LA. The relationship between frailty, incontinence severity, and treatment decisions for men with post-prostatectomy stress urinary incontinence: a mixed methods analysis. Transl Androl Urol. 2023 May 31; 12(5):840-848.  View on PubMed
  4. Li L, Dohan D, Smith AK, Whitlock EL. 'It was a great brain, and I miss it': lay perspectives on postoperative cognitive dysfunction. Br J Anaesth. 2023 05; 130(5):567-572.  View on PubMed
  5. Wilson L, Dohan D, Garibaldi M, Szeto D, Timmerman M, Matheny J. Prosthesis preferences for those with upper limb loss: Discrete choice study of PULLTY® for use in regulatory decisions. J Rehabil Assist Technol Eng. 2023 Jan-Dec; 10:20556683231152418.  View on PubMed
  6. Light SW, Dohan D, Possin KL, Wolf MS, Rankin KP, Lanata S, Sideman AB. Perceptions of and Knowledge Acquisition about Brain Health and Aging among Latin American Immigrants:A QualitativePaper. Clin Gerontol. 2023 Mar-Apr; 46(2):180-194.  View on PubMed
  7. Murphy M, Callander JK, Dohan D, Grandis JR. Networking practices and gender inequities in academic medicine: Women's and men's perspectives. EClinicalMedicine. 2022 Mar; 45:101338.  View on PubMed
  8. Tsang M, DeBoer RJ, Garrett SB, Dohan D. Decision-making about clinical trial options among older patients with metastatic cancer who have exhausted standard therapies. J Geriatr Oncol. 2022 06; 13(5):594-599.  View on PubMed
  9. Harrison KL, Garrett SB, Halim M, Bernstein Sideman A, Allison TA, Dohan D, Naasan G, Miller BL, Smith AK, Ritchie CS. "I Didn't Sign Up for This": Perspectives from Persons Living with Dementia and Care Partners on Challenges, Supports, and Opportunities to Add Geriatric Neuropalliative Care to Dementia Specialty Care. J Alzheimers Dis. 2022; 90(3):1301-1320.  View on PubMed
  10. Murphy M, Record H, Callander JK, Dohan D, Grandis JR. Mentoring Relationships and Gender Inequities in Academic Medicine: Findings From a Multi-Institutional Qualitative Study. Acad Med. 2022 01 01; 97(1):136-142.  View on PubMed
  11. Li Z, Dohan D, Abramson CM. Qualitative Coding in the Computational Era: A Hybrid Approach to Improve Reliability and Reduce Effort for Coding Ethnographic Interviews. Socius. 2021 Jan-Dec; 7.  View on PubMed
  12. Haeusermann T, Lechner CR, Fong KC, Bernstein Sideman A, Jaworska A, Chiong W, Dohan D. Closed-Loop Neuromodulation and Self-Perception in Clinical Treatment of Refractory Epilepsy. AJOB Neurosci. 2023 Jan-Mar; 14(1):32-44.  View on PubMed
  13. Murphy M, Callander JK, Dohan D, Grandis JR. Women's Experiences of Promotion and Tenure in Academic Medicine and Potential Implications for Gender Disparities in Career Advancement: A Qualitative Analysis. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 09 01; 4(9):e2125843.  View on PubMed
  14. Blythe JA, Kentish-Barnes N, Debue AS, Dohan D, Azoulay E, Covinsky K, Matthews T, Curtis JR, Dzeng E. An Interprofessional Process for the Limitation of Life-Sustaining Treatments at the End of Life in France. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2022 01; 63(1):160-170.  View on PubMed
  15. Weiner-Light S, Rankin KP, Lanata S, Possin KL, Dohan D, Bernstein Sideman A. The Role of Spirituality in Conceptualizations of Health Maintenance and Healthy Aging Among Latin American Immigrants. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2021 11; 29(11):1079-1088.  View on PubMed
  16. Rosenwohl-Mack S, Dohan D, Matthews T, Batten JN, Dzeng E. How individual ethical frameworks shape physician trainees' experiences providing end-of-life care: a qualitative study. J Med Ethics. 2021 Feb 16.  View on PubMed
  17. Mergenthaler JV, Chiong W, Dohan D, Feler J, Lechner CR, Starr PA, Arias JJ. A Qualitative Analysis of Ethical Perspectives on Recruitment and Consent for Human Intracranial Electrophysiology Studies. AJOB Neurosci. 2021 01; 12(1):57-67.  View on PubMed
  18. Garg M, Eniasivam A, Satterfield J, Norton B, Austin E, Dohan D. Rapid transition of a preclinical health systems science and social justice course to remote learning in the time of coronavirus. Med Educ Online. 2020 Dec; 25(1):1812225.  View on PubMed
  19. Rosenwohl-Mack S, Dohan D, Matthews T, Batten JN, Dzeng E. Understanding Experiences of Moral Distress in End-of-Life Care Among US and UK Physician Trainees: a Comparative Qualitative Study. J Gen Intern Med. 2021 07; 36(7):1890-1897.  View on PubMed
  20. Bernstein A, Merrilees J, Dulaney S, Harrison KL, Chiong W, Ong P, Heunis J, Choi J, Walker R, Feuer JE, Lee K, Dohan D, Bonasera SJ, Miller BL, Possin KL. Using care navigation to address caregiver burden in dementia: A qualitative case study analysis. Alzheimers Dement (N Y). 2020; 6(1):e12010.  View on PubMed

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