Job Title: Dean, ZHAW School of Health Sciences; Board Member, University of Zurich, Doctoral Program Care and Rehabilitation Sciences; President, Verein zur Förderung der Wissenschaft in den Gesundheitsberufen; Co-President, Fachkonferenz Gesundheit
Bio: Andreas Gerber, M.D, Ph.D., a 2007-08 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice, is a pediatrician and assistant professor in health economics at the Medical School of the University of Cologne, where his research focuses on ethical and epistemological questions of evidence-based medicine, and pediatric health care, policy and financing. Gerber's work includes an assessment of pediatric telephone triage; a comparison of access under public and private health care funds; and an assessment of the effects of relocations of department and subspecialties on in-hospital care by means of DRGs. He has published in journals such as Health Care Analysis, Medical Hypotheses, Journal of Medical Ethics and the European Journal of Health Economics. In addition to his pediatrics license, Gerber holds a doctorate from the University of Hamburg, a master's degree in health economics from the University of Cologne, and a master's degree in religion from Temple University.
Placement: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Mentors: Christopher Forrest, M.D., Ph.D.
Project: Computer Use in a Pediatric Primary Care Network: Is There Variation and What Does It Explain?
Description: Andreas Gerber examined how pediatricians use an electronic health record (EHR) and clinical decision support tool introduced into their office. As part of a larger research team, he undertook observations of pediatricians' interactions with patients and use of the EHR system at primary care centers affiliated with Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Variation among physicians in their patient interactions and computer use were calculated and analyzed.