Marilyn Schapira, MD, MPH

Marilyn Schapira, MD, MPH is a native of Montreal, Canada. Dr. Schapira grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and is a graduate of Oberlin College. She attended the University of Michigan School of Medicine and Public Health where she obtained an MD and MPH in Health Planning and Administration. Following completion of an Internal Medicine Residency and General Internal Medicine Fellowship, she became a faculty member at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she established a research career in the area of risk communication and medical decision making. In 2011, Dr. Schapira joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in the Division of General Medicine and the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP) at the Philadelphia VA. Dr. Schapira conducts research in the area of risk communication and medical decision making. She has developed and evaluated risk communication tools and decision-aids for use in a variety of clinical decisions including prostate cancer screening and treatment, postmenopausal hormone therapy, breast cancer screening, and prevention and treatment of osteoporotic fractures. Her current work involves the development of a measure of a new health numeracy using item response theory (IRT) scaling methods. Dr. Schapira is pursuing additional studies related to risk communication and medical decision making in the context of chronic disease management and cancer prevention, screening, and treatment decisions. Dr. Schapira is a member of the Society of General Internal Medicine and is the President of the Society for Medical Decision Making (2010-2011).