Heather T. Gold

My work focuses on determining how socioeconomic, racial and ethnic, geographic, and clinical variations in healthcare affect health and economic outcomes, especially in cancer and orthopedics and in patients with multiple comorbid conditions.

I aim to translate my research into policies that encourage appropriate use of treatments and technology. I do this through complex quantitative methods of analyzing large, population-based data, and through mathematical modeling, using decision and cost-effectiveness analysis. I also use qualitative methods to explore physician and patient decision-making experiences. With this unique, multimethod approach, I aim to identify and evaluate the health and economic implications of socioeconomic and geographic variations in healthcare use and adoption and the diffusion of new healthcare interventions.

I am also engaged in the implementation of and research on patient-reported outcomes in electronic health records. The findings of this research will inform optimal care coordination and evidence-based interventions to reduce avoidable morbidity and mortality from multimorbidity.

I am an expert in cost-effectiveness analysis and calculating the overall costs of comparative behavioral interventions. I teach a course on cost-effectiveness analysis for the NYU Langone School of Medicine’s master’s degree program in clinical investigation.

Finally, I am active in the Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM) and currently serve as president. The mission of the SMDM is “to improve health outcomes through the advancement of proactive systematic approaches to clinical decision making and policy-formation in health care by providing a scholarly forum that connects and educates researchers, providers, policy-makers, and the public.”