Overview

Dr. Patzer is an epidemiologist and health services researcher whose investigations focus on healthcare access, quality of healthcare delivery, and healthcare outcomes. She has specific research interests in disparities in social determinants of health, community-based participatory research, predictive analytics, health care quality, medication adherence and self-management, mobile health technology, patient education, and healthcare resource utilization.

Her recent research has focused on the development of a novel surveillance data registry for kidney disease, including the collection of data on transplant referral and evaluation start among more than 30 transplant centers nationwide. She leads a research team that uses these data for the development of quality metrics, epidemiologic investigations of the causes of variability in access to kidney transplantation among pediatric and adult end-stage renal disease patients, and the development and evaluation of pragmatic interventions to improve access to transplantation and reduce disparities. She currently serves as the United Network for Organ Sharing Data Advisory Committee Chair, Data Chair of the Southeastern Kidney Transplant Coalition, and is a member of the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients review committee.

Dr. Patzer led the team that developed the iChoose Kidney app, Emory University's first researcher-led mobile iPhone and iPad app, which provides an individualized comparison of mortality risk estimates for patients on dialysis vs. living or deceased donor kidney transplantation. In addition to being available as a free download from the iTunes store, a version is available online at www.ichoosekidney.emory.edu. This clinical decision aid was recently evaluated in a multi-center randomized trial and found to improve patient knowledge of the survival benefit of transplantation.

The results of Dr. Patzer's work are often published in such high-profile journals as JAMA, Health Affairs, American Journal of Transplantation, and American Journal of Kidney Diseases.

Dr. Patzer also advises students, residents, and faculty in the departments of surgery and medicine on research study design and analysis. She also teaches in the Master's in Science in Clinical Research (MSCR) Program.

As the Director of the Health Services Research (HSR) Center, a cooperative initiative of the departments of medicine and surgery of the Emory University School of Medicine, Dr. Patzer is leading the expansion, implementation, and promotion of health services research that is designed to deliver better patient outcomes and work toward making clinical care delivery perform at the highest level of quality and value.

Academic Appointment

• Director, Health Services Research Center, Department of Medicine & Department of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine
• Director, Transplant Health Services and Outcomes Research Program, Department of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine
• Associate Professor, Emory University Department of Epidemiology
• Associate Professor, Emory University Department of Surgery

Education

Research