About the Eisenberg Center

The John M. Eisenberg Center for Clinical Decisions and Communications Science translates comparative effectiveness reviews and research reports created by the Effective Health Care Program into short, easy-to-read summaries and tools that can be used by three different groups of people:

• Consumers: Patients, caregivers, and others who use health care services
• Clinicians: Medical doctors and other health professionals who provide care to patients
• Policymakers: People involved in creating rules and regulations that influence how health care is provided

Researchers from an Evidence-based Practice Center identify the most important medical research on tests or treatments for different kinds of health problems. The Eisenberg Center translates the research findings into plain language, and then creates a variety of products, ranging from research summaries to decision aids and other materials. These materials can then be used by physicians, patients, and policymakers as they make important medical and policy decisions.

The Eisenberg Center, directed by Michael Fordis, M.D., is located at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. The Center collaborates with local researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the Houston Center for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies, and the Houston Academy of Medicine—Texas Medical Center Library.

Eisenberg Center Conference Series

The Eisenberg Center convenes scientific meetings for the discussion of state-of-the-art concepts in communication and medical decisionmaking. Experts in health communication, health literacy, shared decisionmaking, and related fields come together to produce high quality, scholarly white papers (and stakeholder commentaries) that offer insight into how state-of-the-art advances in medical science can be transformed into state-of-the-art clinical decision making and improved health communication.

Proceedings from these conferences can be accessed by clicking on the titles below.

Eisenberg Center Conference Series 2012: Supporting Informed Decision Making When Clinical Evidence and Conventional Wisdom Collide (September 2012) These presentations are available in a streaming video and slide format. An open captions viewing option is also available.

Eisenberg Center Conference Series 2011: Differing Levels of Clinical Evidence: Exploring Communication Challenges in Shared Decisionmaking (September 2011) These presentations are available in a streaming video and slide format. An open captions viewing option is also available. Selected articles from this conference were published in Medical Care Research and Review.

Eisenberg Center Conference Series 2010: The Prospect for Web 2.0 Technologies for Engagement, Communication and Dissemination in the Era of Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (September 2010) These presentations are available in a streaming video and slide format. An open captions viewing option is also available. Selected articles from this conference were published in Journal of Health Communications.

Eisenberg Center Conference Series 2009: Translating Information Into Action: Improving Quality of Care Through Interactive Media (September 2009) These presentations are available in a streaming video and slide format. An open captions viewing option is also available. Selected papers from this conference were published in the academic journal Medical Decision Making.

Eisenberg Center Conference Series 2006: Communicating Harms and Benefits of Prescription Drugs to Health Care Consumers (September 2006) Summaries of these presentations are available in Microsoft PowerPoint format. The research papers were published in the academic journal Medical Decision Making.

For help viewing these proceedings, please visit Viewers, Players, and Plug-ins.