Jeff Belkora and colleagues are engaged in various projects to implement and evaluate programs that promote patient participation in medical decisions. These are sponsored by the government and non-profit foundations, as well as generous philanthropic donors.
Ongoing projects include:
Dr. Laura Esserman's Center of Excellence in Breast Cancer Care, which focuses on tailoring treatments to patient preferences and biology, based on medical evidence and clinical performance.
Implementation and evaluation of decision support at the UCSF Breast Care Center, as well as testing measures of decision quality (Funder: Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making)
Community-based research with the Mendocino Cancer Resource Center evaluating decision support among rural, underserved patients, including Latinas and Native Americans, in North Coast counties of California. (Funder: California Breast Cancer Research Program)
Promoting consideration of clinical trials through BreastCancerTrials.org, a not-for-profit online service that makes it easier and faster for people affected by breast cancer to find clinical trials that might be right for them. It features easy-to-read trial summaries, a convenient and secure way for users to share their online health history with research sites, and a trial alert service that notifies users of recently added trials (Funder: Safeway Foundation).
Implementing and evaluating decision support at The Cancer Support Community, in several projects including one with the Education Network to Advance Cancer Clinical Trials (Funders include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)
Implementing and evaluating decision support at The Edinburgh Cancer Centre in Scotland (Funder: Cancer Research UK).
Quality research on the delivery of cancer care at Palo Alto Medical Foundation.
Training and technical assistance for Breast Cancer Connections.
Development of an online question bank (funder: Wells Fargo).