Name: Elizabeth
Schoenfeld, MD,
MS
Title/Academic
Rank: Assistant
Professor
Department:
Emergency
Medicine, Institute
for Healthcare
Delivery and
Population
Science (IHDPS)
Number of years at Baystate: 8.5
What research training do you have? Masters in Clinical and
Translational Research from Tufts, Mentorship from the IHDPS
What got you interested in research overall? I wanted
to teach the residents evidence-based medicine, but
many of the things that I thought were "right" in terms of
care of patients, had little evidence (and conversely, many
of the things we do regularly, also have little evidence).
Research is a way of getting at the "truth" and what is right
– and demonstrating "right" with science, rather than with
persuasion.
What is your area of research? I study the use of Shared
Decision-Making in the Emergency Department – specifically
whether we can use Shared Decision-Making to decrease advanced imaging and improve patients' experiences.
How do you see your research improving care for patients?
In my newest study, we have the potential to decrease young
patients' exposure to ionizing radiation, which will decrease
future cancer incidence. This is obviously important for
peoples' health in the long term. But using Shared DecisionMaking has the potential to improve short-term health too.
By creating an environment where patients see themselves
as part of the team and full players, we have the potential to
improve adherence and trust within the system, which can
improve health and well-being in the short term, too.
What have been some of your favorite research projects
to date that you have organized/participated in? In my
qualitative projects, I get to interview doctors and patients –
this is always a lot of fun.
Do you have any awards? Baystate gave me the New
Investigator Award in 2017. And this past winter I won for my
age division in a slalom race in Vermont – there were only two of us, and we both fell, but I think I hiked back through the
gates faster...
What do you like most about your job? I am very lucky to
get to spend so much of my time on research. I love working
clinically, but I get to spend my other days trying to find ways
to improve the care we provide – and then designing studies
to test whether my ideas work. It takes a lot of time, but I get
to work with great people. Plus, sometimes the evidence
suggests I'm right, so that's nice. (Nothing is ever "proven,"
though – so I never really "prove" that I'm right.)
What do you do to unwind outside of work? When I'm not
playing/coaching soccer with my kids, I'm downhill mountain
biking (summer/fall) or skiing.