General Internal Medicine

Peter A Ubel, MD

Professor of Business Administration
Madge and Dennis T. McLawhorn University Distinguished Professor
Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy
Professor of Medicine
Professor in Population Health Sciences
Associate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society
Core Faculty Member, Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute
Campus mail 100 Fuqua Dr, Box 90120, Room W309, Durham, NC 27708-0120
Phone (919) 660-8003
Email address peter.ubel@duke.edu

I am a physician and behavioral scientist at Duke University. My research and writing explores the quirks in human nature that influence our lives — the mixture of rational and irrational forces that affect our health, our happiness and the way our society functions. (What fun would it be to tackle just the easy problems?)

I am currently exploring controversial issues about the role of values and preferences in health care decision making, from decisions at the bedside to policy decisions. I use the tools of decision psychology and behavioral economics to explore topics like informed consent, shared decision making and health care spending. My books include Pricing Life (MIT Press 2000) and Free Market Madness (Harvard Business Press, 2009). My newest book, Critical Decisions (HarperCollins), came out in September of 2012, and explores the challenges of shared decision making between doctors and patients.

Education and Training

  • M.D., University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, 1988
  • B.A., Carleton College, 1984

Grants

Publications

Williamson, Theresa L., Syed M. Adil, Chidyaonga Shalita, Lefko T. Charalambous, Taylor Mitchell, Zidanyue Yang, Beth A. Parente, et al. “Palliative Care Consultations in Patients with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: Who Receives Palliative Care Consultations and What Does that Mean for Utilization?” Neurocrit Care 36, no. 3 (June 2022): 781–90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12028-021-01366-2.

PMID
34988887
Full Text

Sloan, Caroline E., Sophia Gutterman, J Kelly Davis, Ada Campagna, Kathryn I. Pollak, Mary Carol Barks, Taruni Santanam, et al. “How can healthcare organizations improve cost-of-care conversations? A qualitative exploration of clinicians' perspectives.” Patient Educ Couns, April 9, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2022.04.005.

PMID
35440376
Full Text

Prinsloo, E., K. Barasz, and P. A. Ubel. “Motivated Inferences of Price and Quality in Healthcare Decisions.” Journal of the Association for Consumer Research 7, no. 2 (April 1, 2022): 186–97. https://doi.org/10.1086/718452.

Full Text

Scherr, Karen, Rebecca K. Delaney, Peter Ubel, Valerie C. Kahn, Daniel Hamstra, John T. Wei, and Angela Fagerlin. “Preparing Patients with Early Stage Prostate Cancer to Participate in Clinical Appointments Using a Shared Decision Making Training Video.” Med Decis Making 42, no. 3 (April 2022): 364–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272989X211028563.

PMID
34617827
Full Text

Barks, Mary C., Emma A. Schindler, Peter A. Ubel, Megan G. Jiao, Kathryn I. Pollak, Hanna E. Huffstetler, and Monica E. Lemmon. “Assessment of parent understanding in conferences for critically ill neonates.” In Patient Educ Couns, 105:599–605, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2021.06.013.

PMID
34130892
Full Text

Gerrity, Charlotte, Samantha Farley, Mary C. Barks, Peter A. Ubel, Debra Brandon, Kathryn I. Pollak, and Monica E. Lemmon. “Decision Making for Infants With Neurologic Conditions.” J Child Neurol 37, no. 3 (March 2022): 202–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/08830738211056779.

PMID
35133902
Full Text

Mody, Lona, Kent A. Griffith, Rochelle D. Jones, Abigail Stewart, Peter A. Ubel, and Reshma Jagsi. “Gender Differences in Work-Family Conflict Experiences of Faculty in Academic Medicine.” Journal of General Internal Medicine 37, no. 1 (January 2022): 280–82. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-020-06559-7.

PMID
33469767
Full Text

Anderson, David Ian, Vera Balog, Simran Bansal, Marianne Barbu-Roth, Mary Carol Barks, Margaret Barlet, Jesus Edgar Barrera Resendiz, et al. “Proceedings of the 13th International Newborn Brain Conference: Long-term outcome studies, Developmental care, Palliative care, Ethical dilemmas, and Challenging clinical scenarios.” J Neonatal Perinatal Med 15, no. 2 (2022): 441–52. https://doi.org/10.3233/NPM-229004.

PMID
35431187
Full Text

Blumenthal-Barby, Jennifer, and Peter A. Ubel. “Supported Decision Making: A Concept at the Margins vs. Center of Autonomy?” The American Journal of Bioethics : Ajob 21, no. 11 (November 2021): 43–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2021.1981033.

PMID
34710007
Full Text

Pages