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FRAENKEL RECEIVES HENRY KUNKEL YOUNG INVESTIGATOR AWARD FROM AMERICAN COLLEGE OF RHEUMATOLOGY

ATLANTA – Liana Fraenkel, MD, MPH, associate professor of rheumatology at the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., received the Henry Kunkel Young Investigator Award from the American College of Rheumatology during the ACR Annual Scientific Meeting, October 16 – 21 in Philadelphia, Pa.

The Henry Kunkel Young Investigator Award is given to a young physician scientist, age 45 or under, who has made outstanding independent contributions to basic or clinical research in the field of rheumatology. 

Dr. Liana Fraenkel graduated from McGill University Medical School in Montreal after which she pursued her internal medicine training and was chief medical resident at the Montreal General Hospital. During her residency training, Dr. Fraenkel was fortunate enough to work with John Esdaile, MD, MPH who sparked her interest in clinical research. Dr. Fraenkel subsequently pursued rheumatology training at Boston University where she completed a Masters of Public Health under the mentorship of David T. Felson, MD, MPH. After completing her fellowship training, Dr. Fraenkel was appointed as an instructor in medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, where she has developed a research career focused on medical decision-making and risk communication.

Dr. Fraenkel’s research interest is in developing robust and practical methods to elicit patient treatment preferences and to improve medical decision-making. She has developed a technique based on sound cognitive theories and well-established marketing tools to improve informed consent and the quality of decision-making in patients with rheumatic diseases. Her work has highlighted trends in decision-making, which have important clinical implications; these include the findings that rheumatologists’ prescribing patterns are biased by patient age, that physicians’ treatment preferences frequently conflict with patients’ preferences, and that patients’ and physicians’ widespread acceptance of new and safer drugs are due to a misperception that these drugs eliminate as oppose to reduce the risk of toxicity. She has also demonstrated that patients are more likely to refuse treatment due to increased worry about toxicity when asked to assume responsibility for making a decision. In a recent paper, Dr. Fraenkel found that preferences for more aggressive rheumatoid arthritis treatment differ by race. In the latter study, black patients were found to focus more on risk where as their white counterparts with similar disease severity focus more on benefits.

Dr. Fraenkel is currently associate professor of medicine and associate program director, section of rheumatology, Yale School of Medicine. She is also section chief of rheumatology at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System and founder and co-director of the VA Bone and Joint Center. Dr. Fraenkel became a member of the ACR Guideline Subcommittee in 2004 and has been chair of this subcommittee and a member of the ACR Quality of Care Committee since 2007. She is a member of the Arthritis Foundation Chapter Scientific Committee and has been a member of the program committee for the Conjoint Analysis in Health Care Conference.

Dr. Fraenkel currently serves on the editorial boards of Medical Decision Making and The Patient – Patient Centered Outcomes Research.

Dr. Fraenkel says she has been extremely fortunate, and is extremely grateful, to have trained with Drs. Esdaile and Felson. Both have provided her (and continue to provide her) with invaluable guidance, support and friendship.

The ACR is an organization of and for physicians, health professionals, and scientists that advances rheumatology through programs of education, research, advocacy and practice support that foster excellence in the care of people with or at risk for arthritis and rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases.

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