My research interests are in understanding practice patterns in oncology, with a particular focus in financial determinants. This includes patient-level barriers to care from high drug costs, as well as the financial incentives inherent in our current reimbursement models that may nudge providers to choose one cancer drug over another. I want to understand how these factors influence care quality, especially in areas that may result in lower-quality care being delivered. My current project is in line with this overarching interest. US medical oncologists receive, on average, over $6,000 in money and gifts from the drug industry each year, and I propose to study whether receipt of these gifts changes cancer care delivery and quality.

I first became interested in understanding the causes – and the resultant harms – of unwarranted variation in medical care during medical school at NYU. NYU students divide their time between the private Tisch hospital and Bellevue, a New York City municipal hospital. I was struck by how, just a few city blocks apart, different patients were simultaneously suffering from overtreatment and undertreatment. This quickly drew me away from my planned career in basic science and drug development, and I have been a health services researcher ever since. I completed my internal medicine training at Duke University Hospital, and oncology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I received an MPH in epidemiology from UNC's Gillings School of Global Public Health, and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at UNC's Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research.