Bio: Cynthia M. Farquhar, M.D., a 1999-2000 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, is a medical practitioner and postgraduate chair in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Auckland. She has spent time at the Health Services Research Unit at the University of Oxford and at the U.K. Cochrane Center, and is coordinating editor of the Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group. In 2000, Farquhar was a Harkness Fellow at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Farquhar's published articles address women's reproductive health, fertility, and evidence-based medicine.
Placement: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Mentors: Carolyn Clancy, M.D.; Douglas Kamerow, M.D.; Jon Eisenberg, Ph.D., M.D.
Project: The Role of Technology Assessment in Health Care Coverage Decisions in the U.S.: A Case Study of Breast Cancer and Autologous Bone Marrow or Stem Cell Transplant
Description: The subject of Farquhar's project was on the role of technology assessment in health care coverage in the U.S., with a particular focus on high-dose chemotherapy and autologous bone marrow transplant or stem cell support in women with breast cancer. She examined the evidence on the effectiveness and safety of these treatments, the history and variations in payers' decisions about whether to cover these treatments, and the impact of these coverage decisions on utilization.