Rachel M. Werner, M.D., PhD

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine Senior Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics Fellow, Institute on Aging Core Faculty, Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Dr. Rachel Werner is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Core Investigator with the VA HSR&D Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP).  She received her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where she also did her residency in Internal Medicine.  She received a Ph.D. in health economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  Dr. Werner is a current recipient of a VA Research Career Development Award.

Dr. Werner’s research seeks to understand the role of quality improvement initiatives on provider behavior, the organization of health care, racial disparities, and overall health care quality.  Her work was among the first to recognize that public reporting of quality information may worsen racial disparities and she has been recognized through numerous awards including the Dissertation Award from AcademyHealth, the John D. Thompson Prize for Young Investigators from the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, and Article of the Year Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine for her JAMA article on the relationship between measured performance and mortality rates in hospitals.  Her research has been published in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, including JAMA, Health Services Research, and Circulation.

Dr. Werner is currently principal investigator of an R-01 from the AHRQ examining the mechanisms by which public reporting in nursing homes impacts quality of care.  She is also the recipient of a T. Franklin Williams Award in Geriatrics to examine the effectiveness and appropriateness performance measurement in assessing health care quality of older adults.

In addition to her research, Dr. Werner is a practicing primary care internist at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center and regularly attends the hospital’s internal medicine ward and consult service.   She supervises health care provided by Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania medical residents and medical students.