Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion

Profile

Marilyn Schapira, MD, MPH is a CHERP COIN Investigator and Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. A focus of her work is to improve health numeracy and related self-management skills for patients with chronic disease.

Dr. Schapira currently leads the following VA-funded studies:

Incorporating Veterans Preferences into Lung Cancer Screening Decisions

Identifying Risk Factors for New Persistent Opioid Use Among Veterans Following Treatment for Early Stage Cancer

Her research has focused on the area of risk communication and medical decision making, adoption of evidence-based medicine, and the communication of scientific evidence. Her research is trans-disciplinary drawing upon theoretical foundations in clinical medicine, cognitive and social psychology, economics, education, and biostatistics. She has content and methods expertise in the areas of health literacy, health numeracy, patient-provider communication, and value and preference assessment. Her methods expertise includes qualitative studies, survey design, consensus formation, and the development and evaluation of decision support interventions. Her research focuses on the clinical area of cancer control. Dr. Schapira is currently funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs HSR&D Program to develop and evaluate a lung cancer screening decision support intervention for Veterans and a study of predictors and outcomes of long term opioid use among Veterans who are cancer survivors. She is an Associate Editor of the journals Medical Decision Making and Medical Decision Making Policy & Practice. Dr. Schapira is a faculty member in the Masters of Science in Health Policy and an Associate Director for the National Clinician Scholar Program.