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F. Reed Johnson

Professor in Population Health Sciences
Population Health Sciences

Overview


F. Reed Johnson, PhD, has more than 40 years of academic and research experience in health and environmental economics. He has served on the faculties of several universities in the United States, Canada, and Sweden, and as Distinguished Fellow at Research Triangle Institute. He currently is Senior Research Scholar in the Duke Clinical Research Institute. As a staff member in the US Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental economics research program during the 1980s, Reed helped pioneer the development of basic non­-market valuation techniques which are widely used for benefit-cost analysis in health and environmental economics. He has designed and analyzed numerous surveys for measuring preferences for and value of health outcomes, health ­risk reductions, and improved environmental quality.

Dr. Johnson has over 140 publications in books and peer-reviewed journals. His research has been published in various medical journals, the Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Health Economics, Medical Decision Making, Health Economics, Value in Health, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and other journals. He has coauthored a book on techniques for using existing environmental and health value estimates for policy analysis.

His current research involves quantifying patients’ willingness to accept side­effect risks in return for therapeutic benefits and estimating general time equivalences among health states. He led the first FDA­ sponsored study on patients’ willingness to accept benefit-risk tradeoffs for new health technologies. The study was used to develop recent FDA guidance on submitting patient-preference data to support regulatory reviews of medical devices.

Areas of expertise: Clinical Decision Sciences, Health Measurement, Health Policy, and Health Economics

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Professor in Population Health Sciences · 2021 - Present Population Health Sciences, Basic Science Departments
Member of the Duke Clinical Research Institute · 2015 - Present Duke Clinical Research Institute, Institutes and Centers
Affiliate Faculty Member, Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy · 2024 - Present Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy, University Initiatives & Academic Support Units

Recent Publications


Quantifying Patient Preferences for Risk Tolerance With Novel Dual Biologic Therapies for Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Journal Article Am J Gastroenterol · March 6, 2025 INTRODUCTION: Many patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) experience treatment failures despite availability of effective advanced biologic and small-molecule therapies with differing mechanisms of action. Dual biologic therapy (DBT) is being explo ... Full text Link to item Cite

The impact of violations of expected utility theory on choices in the face of multiple risks

Journal Article Journal of Choice Modelling · December 1, 2024 Use of preference information to infer risk tolerance has increased in recent years as a way to inform benefit-risk evaluations in regulatory and medical decision making. However, a framework for the measurement of tolerance for multiple uncertain outcomes ... Full text Cite

Patient Preferences for Features Associated With Leadless Versus Conventional Transvenous Cardiac Pacemakers.

Journal Article Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes · December 2024 BACKGROUND: Regulatory approval of the first dual-chamber leadless pacemaker system provides patients an alternative to conventional transvenous pacemakers. The study objective was to quantify the preferences of patients for pacemaker features. METHODS: Pa ... Full text Link to item Cite
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Recent Grants


A Discrete-Choice Experiment on Physician Bias in Colorectal-Cancer Patient Surgery Referrals

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of Pennsylvania · 2023 - 2026

Benefit Risk Tradeoffs Associated with PRO for PAD - Option Period

ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by Food and Drug Administration · 2022 - 2024

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Education, Training & Certifications


Stony Brook University · 1974 Ph.D.