Elizabeth Dzeng, PhD, MD, MPH
Associate Professor
Medicine
School of Medicine
Dr. Dzeng is a sociologist and hospitalist physician conducting research at the nexus of sociology, medical ethics, palliative care, health equity, anti-racism, and human-centered design.
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She is an Associate Professor "In Residence" at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in the Division of Hospital Medicine and Social and Behavioral Sciences, Sociology program, Affiliated Faculty in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies. She spends her time between San Francisco and London where she is a Senior Research Fellow at the Cicely Saunders Institute at King's College London. She is also a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health, a Visiting Research Fellow at Kings College London’s Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, and a Visiting Assistant Professor in General Internal Medicine at UCLA.
Her research program focuses on using sociological and human centered design methods to understand how institutional cultures and policies influence clinical practice patterns and how to change institutional culture to improve the quality of care. She conducts large-scale comparative ethnographic interview studies in the United States and the United Kingdom to understand the influence of institutional cultures and policies on clinicians’ ethical frameworks, communication practices, and clinical practice patterns around end-of-life care. A particular area of interest is around the influence of neoliberalism and specifically the culture and ethical implications of neoliberalism on an institution's ethical priorities around end-of-life care.
Her other major research focus is around using community-based participatory research methods to understand how structural racism across the life course influences the provision of quality end-of-life care in older Black adults. This project is in part funded by a NIA/NIH Beeson award and a Sojourns Scholars Leadership Award. In addition, she is working on several projects to improve equity and promote anti-racist care around hospitalist care at UCSF. One project, funded by UCSF's Caring Wisely award, is a new health advocate program to help support and advocate for African American and patients with limited English proficiency. A second project is a partnership with GLIDE, to expand their program, "Healers at the Gates" to create culture change around anti-racism and equity in UCSF's Division of Hospital Medicine.
Among her national leadership roles, Dr. Dzeng is on the Society of General Internal Medicine's (SGIM) Governing Council Executive Committee as an At-large Member, an Associate Editor for the Journal of General Internal Medicine (JGIM), and a member of the Executive Committee of the Research Centers Cooperative Network (RCCN), a national coordinating center of the National Institutes on Aging (NIA) center programs. She is also a past Chair of the SGIM Ethics Committee. A central focus of her local and national leadership efforts have been focused on anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion. This includes involvement as a member of the Task Force for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility for the Clinician-Scientists Transdisciplinary Aging Research (Clin-STAR) Coordinating Center, a national NIA platform for early career researchers in aging research; member of UCSF’s Taskforce on Anti-Racism and Equity in Research; a member of the Equity Committee of the Sojourns Scholars Leadership Program community; and a member of the UCSF Academic Senate's Equal Opportunity Committee.
Dr. Dzeng completed her PhD in Medical Sociology and an MPhil in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge at King’s College as a Gates Cambridge Scholar where she wrote her doctoral thesis on the influence of institutional cultures and policies on physicians’ ethical beliefs and how that impacted the way they communicate in end of life decision-making conversations. She was also a General Internal Medicine post-doctoral clinical research fellow and palliative care research fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. As an undergraduate and engineering graduate student at Stanford, she participated in the first class of Stanford's Biodesign Innovation program where she used design thinking to co-invented and patented a device to non-invasively cool the heart through the esophagus to prevent myocardial damage during a myocardial infarction (US Patent 7,758,623; 2010). In August, 2019 this patent was licensed to Attune Medical.
Outside of academic medicine, Dr. Dzeng is a competitive masters and club rower and has competed in races such as the Head of the Charles and won at the British Master Regatta. She is happiest when traveling the world, especially hiking and exploring the world's natural wonders.
Awards
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- Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging (K76), National Institute on Aging (NIA/NIH), 2022-2027
- Sojourns Scholars Leadership Award, Cambia Health Foundation, 2022-2024
- Alzheimer's Disease Research Award, California Department of Public Health, 2019-2024
- NIH Loan Repayment Program Renewal Award, National Institute on Aging (NIA/NIH), 2019-2021
- KL-2 Scholar, UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), 2017-2020
- NIH Loan Repayment Program Award, National Institute of Health, 2017-2019
- Junior Investigator Career Development Award, National Palliative Care Research Center (NPCRC), 2017-2019
- Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health, Global Brain Health Institute, UCSF, 2017-2018
- Andrew Markus Scholarship, Ethox Centre for Bioethics and Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, 2016
- Research Scholar Award, American Association of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), 2015-2016
- Research Core Development Scholar, UCSF Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, 2015-2016
- Ho-Chiang Palliative Care Research Fellowship, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 2014-2015
- Founders Grant Award, Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM), 2014-2015
- Gates Cambridge Scholarship, University of Cambridge, 2011-2015
- Gates Cambridge Scholarship, University of Cambridge, 2007-2008
- Delta Omega Public Health Honors Society Inductee, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2007
- Watt Hansell Scholarship, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2006-2007
Education & Training
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- Fellowship General Internal Medicine Johns Hopkins School of Medicine 2015
- PhD Medical Sociology University of Cambridge 2015
- Residency Internal Medicine Columbia New York Presbyterian Hospital 2011
- MD Johns Hopkins School of Medicine 2009
- MPhil Development Studies University of Cambridge 2008
- MPH Health and Human Rights/Humanitarian Aid Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 2007
- BS Biological Sciences and History Stanford University 2003
- MS Chemical Engineering Stanford University 2003
Interests
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- anti-racism
- social justice
- medical ethics
- moral distress
- potentially inappropriate life-sustaining treatments
- medical sociology
- human-centered design
- qualitative research
- palliative care
- end of life care
- neoliberalism
- structural racism
Websites
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- Personal Website (elizabethdzeng.com)
- Twitter: @lizdzeng (twitter.com)
- RESET Health research group website (resethealthresearch.org)
Grants and Projects
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- Understanding and addressing structural racism and its impact on the quality of end-of-life care in older Black adults, National Institute on Aging (NIA/NIH), 2022-2027
- Human-Centered Desiqn to Mitigate Burdensome Life-Sustaininq Treatments at the End-of-Life, California Department of Public Health, 2019-2024
- Developing an educational program for palliative care clinicians on how structural racism influences goal-concordant, quality end-of-life care in older Black adults, Sojourns Scholars Leadership Award, Cambia Health Foundation, 2022-2024
- Development of a project collaboration between Atlantic Fellows around health advocacy and capacity building in Nigeria and South Africa, Atlantic Institute Collective Impact Grant, 2023
- Using qualitative life course perspectives to understand the lived experience of structural racism in older Black adults and its influence on goal-concordant end-of-life care, RCCN's Inter-NIA Center Pilot Award on Life Course Perspectives on Aging and Resilience., 2021-2023
- Understanding how structural racism influences goal concordance around end-of-life care in older Black adults, UCSF Resource Allocation Program (RAP) Pilot Award for Research on Racism Impacting Black People, 2021-2022
- Understanding access to palliative care support for people with advanced ill health who have unsettled immigration status and are homeless, Marie Curie Internal Small Research Grants, 2021-2022
- Identifying factors that contribute to burdensome treatments near the end of life in older adults with dementia in the US, UK, and France, Alzheimer's Association UK and Global Brain Health Institute, 2019-2021
- Identifying contributing factors to burdensome ICU treatments in older adults with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in the United States and United Kingdom, NIH, 2018-2021
Publications (65)
Top publication keywords:
Suicide, AssistedWithholding TreatmentMoralsAttitude of Health PersonnelAmyotrophic Lateral SclerosisPersonal AutonomyDeathSuicideHospice and Palliative Care NursingResuscitation OrdersBurnout, ProfessionalPhysiciansHospice CareTerminal CareMedical Futility
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Hospital Culture and Intensity of End-of-Life Care at 3 Academic Medical Centers.
JAMA internal medicine 2023 Dzeng E, Batten JN, Dohan D, Blythe J, Ritchie CS, Curtis JR -
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Ethical Challenges Posed by Neoliberal Healthcare.
Journal of general internal medicine 2020 Ahlbach C, King T, Dzeng E -
Ethics in Conflict: Moral Distress as a Root Cause of Burnout.
Journal of general internal medicine 2020 Dzeng E, Wachter RM -
Habermasian communication pathologies in do-not-resuscitate discussions at the end of life: manipulation as an unintended consequence of an ideology of patient autonomy.
Sociology of health & illness 2018 Dzeng E -
Moral Distress Amongst American Physician Trainees Regarding Futile Treatments at the End of Life: A Qualitative Study.
Journal of general internal medicine 2015 Dzeng E, Colaianni A, Roland M, Levine D, Kelly MP, Barclay S, Smith TJ -
Influence of institutional culture and policies on do-not-resuscitate decision making at the end of life.
JAMA internal medicine 2015 Dzeng E, Colaianni A, Roland M, Chander G, Smith TJ, Kelly MP, Barclay S, Levine D
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Doubling Down on Diversity: Enhancing the Recruitment and Retention of Underrepresented Academic Physicians in a Post-affirmative Action Era.
Journal of general internal medicine 2024 Martinez M, Arora V, Gonzalez CM, Dzeng E, Williams JS -
Achieving Goals of Care Decisions in Chronic Critical Illness: A Multi-institutional Qualitative Study.
Chest 2024 Andersen SK, Yang Y, Kross EK, Haas B, Geagea A, May TL, Hart J, Bagshaw SM, Dzeng E, Fischhoff B, White DB -
Physician Perspectives on Challenges in Understanding Patient Preferences for Emergency Intubation: A Qualitative Assessment of Hospital Code Status Orders.
CHEST Critical Care 2024 Emily J. Shearer, Jacob A. Blythe, Sarah E. Wieten, Elizabeth W. Dzeng, Miriam P. Cotler, Karin B. Porter-Williamson, Joshua B. Kayser, Stephanie M. Harman, David C. Magnus, Jason N. Batten -
Palliative care, homelessness, and restricted or uncertain immigration status.
Palliative care and social practice 2023 Hudson BF, Dzeng E, Burnett A, Yeung M, Shulman C -
Web Exclusive. Annals Graphic Medicine - A Graphical Abstract Examining Moral Distress and Coping Practices Among Clinicians During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Annals of internal medicine 2023 Li L, Rosenwohl-Mack A, Dzeng E -
Legacy and communication in palliative and end-of-life care: Honoring Dr. J. Randall Curtis.
Palliative & supportive care 2023 Rosa WE, Hadler RA, Dzeng E, Sullivan DR, Epstein AS, Nelson JE -
When Critically Ill Patients with Decision Making Capacity and No Further Therapeutic Options Request Indefinite Life Support.
The American journal of bioethics : AJOB 2023 Batten JN, Dzeng E, Finder S, Blythe JA, Nurok M -
"No Escalation of Treatment" Designations: A Multi-institutional Exploratory Qualitative Study.
Chest 2022 Batten JN, Blythe JA, Wieten SE, Dzeng E, Kruse KE, Cotler MP, Porter-Williamson K, Kayser JB, Harman SM, Magnus D -
A Call for Restorative and Transformative Justice Approaches to Anti-Racism in Medicine.
Journal of general internal medicine 2022 Eniasivam A, Pereira L, Dzeng E -
Anatomy of a Consult: How a Multidisciplinary Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Team Considers Specialty Palliative Care Consultation (GP722).
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2022 Griffin Collins, Hannah Beaman, Alvin Ho, Michelle Hermiston, Harvey Cohen, Elizabeth Dzeng -
How Does Hospital Culture Influence the Intensity of End-of-Life Care? (CO201D).
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2022 Elizabeth Dzeng, Jason Batten, Daniel Dohan, J Randall Curtis -
J. Randall Curtis's Legacy and Scientific Contributions to Palliative Care in Critical Care.
Journal of pain and symptom management 2022 Dzeng E, Merel SE, Kross EK -
Strategies to Promote Goal-Concordant End-of-Life Care in Older Adults with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias: Perspectives of United Kingdom Clinicians and Caregivers (GP761).
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2022 Amy Sun, Katherine Sleeman, Amy Rosenwohl-Mack, Daniel Dohan, Elizabeth Dzeng -
“She Always Knew I Would Call”: The Role of Family Liaisons in Serious Illness Communications During the COVID-19 Pandemic (GP719).
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2022 Lingsheng Li, Amy Rosenwohl-Mack, Elizabeth Dzeng -
Of care, cure and the in-between: COVID-19 treatment in a New York City intensive care unit.
International Journal of Care and Caring 2022 Tobias Haeusermann, Heather Romero-Kornblum, Elizabeth Dzeng -
The role of policy and law in shaping the ethics and quality of end-of-life care in intensive care.
Intensive care medicine 2022 Dzeng E, Bein T, Curtis JR -
Perceptions of specialty palliative care and its role in pediatric stem cell transplant: A multidisciplinary qualitative study.
Pediatric blood & cancer 2021 Collins GS, Beaman H, Ho AM, Hermiston ML, Cohen HJ, Dzeng EW -
An Interprofessional Process for the Limitation of Life-Sustaining Treatments at the End of Life in France.
Journal of pain and symptom management 2021 Blythe JA, Kentish-Barnes N, Debue AS, Dohan D, Azoulay E, Covinsky K, Matthews T, Curtis JR, Dzeng E -
Spheres of Influence and Strategic Advocacy for Equity in Medicine.
Journal of general internal medicine 2021 Karches K, DeCamp M, George M, Prochaska M, Saunders M, Thorsteinsdottir B, Dzeng E -
How individual ethical frameworks shape physician trainees' experiences providing end-of-life care: a qualitative study.
Journal of medical ethics 2021 Rosenwohl-Mack S, Dohan D, Matthews T, Batten JN, Dzeng E -
We Need a Paradigm Shift Around End-of-Life Decision Making.
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2020 Dzeng E, Morrison RS -
Understanding Experiences of Moral Distress in End-of-Life Care Among US and UK Physician Trainees: a Comparative Qualitative Study.
Journal of general internal medicine 2020 Rosenwohl-Mack S, Dohan D, Matthews T, Batten JN, Dzeng E -
Variation in the design of Do Not Resuscitate orders and other code status options: a multi-institutional qualitative study.
BMJ quality & safety 2020 Batten JN, Blythe JA, Wieten S, Cotler MP, Kayser JB, Porter-Williamson K, Harman S, Dzeng E, Magnus D -
The Influence of Neoliberalism on Burdensome Life Sustaining Treatments Near the End of Life (RP313).
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2020 Elizabeth Dzeng, J. Randall Curtis, Thea Matthews, Jason Batten, Christine Ritchie, Daniel Dohan -
Values at the End of Life: The Logic of Palliative Care . By Roi Livne. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2019. Pp. x+341. $45.00.
American Journal of Sociology 2020 Elizabeth Dzeng -
Ethics and Spheres of Influence in Addressing Social Determinants of Health.
Journal of general internal medicine 2020 DeCamp M, DeSalvo K, Dzeng E -
A Society of General Internal Medicine Position Statement on the Internists' Role in Social Determinants of Health.
Journal of general internal medicine 2020 Byhoff E, Kangovi S, Berkowitz SA, DeCamp M, Dzeng E, Earnest M, Gonzalez CM, Hartigan S, Karani R, Memari M, Roy B, Schwartz MD, Volerman A, DeSalvo K, Society of General Internal Medicine -
Moral distress and burnout in caring for older adults during medical school training.
BMC medical education 2020 Perni S, Pollack LR, Gonzalez WC, Dzeng E, Baldwin MR -
No Escalation of Treatment: Moving Beyond the Withholding/Withdrawing Debate.
The American journal of bioethics : AJOB 2019 Batten JN, Blythe JA, Wieten SE, Dzeng EW -
A Codified Process for Multidisciplinary Team Consensus Around the Termination of Life Sustaining Treatments (LST) in France: An Interview Study (S822).
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2019 Elizabeth Dzeng, Nancy Kentish-Barnes, J Randall Curtis, Anne-Sophie Debue -
395.
Critical Care Medicine 2019 Jason Batten, Gregory Taylor, Jacob Blythe, Karin Porter-Williamson, Elizabeth Dzeng, Miriam Cotler, Joshua Kayser, Stephanie Harman, David Magnus -
Concurrent and Overlapping Surgery: Perspectives From Parents of Adolescents Undergoing Spinal Posterior Instrumented Fusion for Idiopathic Scoliosis.
Spine 2019 Bryant J, Markes A, Woolridge T, Cerruti D, Dzeng E, Koenig B, Diab M -
Reply to: Social Causes of Rational Suicide in Older Adults.
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2018 Dzeng E, Pantilat SZ -
Response to "Added Points of Concern About Caring for Dying Patients".
AMA journal of ethics 2018 Craig A, Dzeng E -
Reply to Rational Suicide in Older Adults: Not by Default an Ageist Concept.
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2018 Dzeng E, Pantilat SZ -
Can Growing Popular Support for Physician-Assisted Death Motivate Organized Medicine to Improve End-of-Life Care?
Journal of general internal medicine 2018 Dzeng E -
How Should Physicians Care for Dying Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis?
AMA journal of ethics 2018 Craig A, Dzeng E -
Facts and Fetishes: When the Miracles of Medicine Fail Us.
The American journal of bioethics : AJOB 2018 Dzeng E, Booth J -
Understanding ethical climate, moral distress, and burnout: a novel tool and a conceptual framework.
BMJ quality & safety 2018 Dzeng E, Curtis JR -
Social Causes of Rational Suicide in Older Adults.
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2018 Dzeng E, Pantilat SZ -
Ethical Issues in the Design and Implementation of Population Health Programs.
Journal of general internal medicine 2017 DeCamp M, Pomerantz D, Cotts K, Dzeng E, Farber N, Lehmann L, Reynolds PP, Sulmasy LS, Tilburt J -
Homing in on the Social: System-Level Influences on Overly Aggressive Treatments at the End of Life.
Journal of pain and symptom management 2017 Dzeng E, Dohan D, Curtis JR, Smith TJ, Colaianni A, Ritchie CS -
RESPONDING TO THE END-OF-LIFE OPTION ACT IN CALIFORNIA.
Innovation in Aging 2017 L. Forbes, L. Petrillo, E. Dzeng, K.L. Harrison, B. Scribner, B. Koenig -
When Teachable Moments Become Ethically Problematic.
Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics : CQ : the international journal of healthcare ethics committees 2017 Dzeng E -
How California Prepared for Implementation of Physician-Assisted Death: A Primer.
American journal of public health 2017 Petrillo LA, Dzeng E, Harrison KL, Forbes L, Scribner B, Koenig BA -
Addressing Palliative Care Clinician Burnout in Organizations: A Workforce Necessity, an Ethical Imperative.
Journal of pain and symptom management 2017 Harrison KL, Dzeng E, Ritchie CS, Shanafelt TD, Kamal AH, Bull JH, Tilburt JC, Swetz KM -
How Should Palliative Care Be Involved in the Response to Physician Assisted Dying in California? Intimately: Perspectives from a Statewide Conference (S795).
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2017 Laura Petrillo, Eric Widera, Elizabeth Dzeng, Krista Harrison, Lindsay Forbes, Barbara Koenig, Ben Scribner -
Navigating the Liminal State Between Life and Death: Clinician Moral Distress and Uncertainty Regarding New Life-Sustaining Technologies.
The American journal of bioethics : AJOB 2017 Dzeng E -
Populations and Interventions for Palliative and End-of-Life Care: A Systematic Review.
Journal of palliative medicine 2016 Singer AE, Goebel JR, Kim YS, Dy SM, Ahluwalia SC, Clifford M, Dzeng E, O'Hanlon CE, Motala A, Walling AM, Goldberg J, Meeker D, Ochotorena C, Shanman R, Cui M, Lorenz KA -
Moral Distress Amongst Physician Trainees Regarding Futile Treatments.
Journal of general internal medicine 2016 Dzeng E -
California's End of Life Option Act: Opportunities and Challenges Ahead.
Journal of general internal medicine 2016 Petrillo LA, Dzeng E, Smith AK -
Treatment escalation in the intensive care unit among patients with preexisting treatment limitations: best-laid plans gone awry?
JAMA internal medicine 2015 Barnato AE, Dzeng E -
Interaction of palliative care and primary care.
Clinics in geriatric medicine 2015 Ghosh A, Dzeng E, Cheng MJ -
Physicians’ Understanding of Patient Autonomy and Choice in Discussions Surrounding the Do-Not-Resuscitate Order (FR415-B).
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2015 Elizabeth Dzeng, Sydney Dy, Thomas Smith -
Public Attitudes on the Future Sustainability of Medicare
Journal of Health Care Financing 2015 Xu T, Goldstein E, Dzeng E, Dy S, Nicholas LH -
Rationing healthcare: who's responsible?
Oncology (Williston Park, N.Y.) 2013 Dzeng E, Smith TJ -
Media coverage of violent deaths in iraQ: an opportunistic capture-recapture assessment.
Prehospital and disaster medicine 2008 Siegler A, Roberts L, Balch E, Bargues E, Bhalla A, Bills C, Dzeng E, Epelboym Y, Foster T, Fulton L, Gallagher M, Gastolomendo JD, Giorgi G, Habtehans S, Kim J, McGee B, McMahan A, Riese S, … -
Psychotropic medications and HIV.
Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2006 Thompson A, Silverman B, Dzeng L, Treisman G -
Enhancement of DNA vaccine potency through linkage of antigen gene to ER chaperone molecules, ER-60, tapasin, and calnexin.
Journal of biomedical science 2005 Lin CT, Chang TC, Chao A, Dzeng E, Soong YK, Hung CF, Lai CH