Investigator Alice R. Pressman, Ph.D., M.S.

Dr. Pressman co-directs Sutter Health’s Center for Health Systems Research (East Campus, currently operating as Sutter's Research Development and Dissemination). She also is an epidemiologist and biostatistician specializing in evaluation methodology, clinical trials methods, health disparities, health systems evaluation, and chronic pain research (including migraine and low back pain).

She has 30 years’ experience as a principal investigator, co-investigator, and biostatistician for clinical and epidemiologic research studies in diverse settings including academia, community-based research institutes, and healthcare systems. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NHLBI, NINDS, NIAID, and NCCIH), the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and various universities, foundations and pharmaceutical companies.

She also serves as a consulting methodologist for the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and the Sutter system, focusing on complex, multi-organization-sourced data, and clinical and pragmatic trial design.

She leads an Evaluation as a Service (EaaS) program for Sutter Health, which includes development of a rapid and continuous learning evaluation protocol for new system-wide care models. This program provides researchers, clinicians, staff and policy makers at Sutter with tools and data to make decisions about the dissemination of new care models.

Dr. Pressman received a master’s degree in statistics from the University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Sutter Health Research Enterprise
2121 N. California Ave, Suite 310
Walnut Creek, CA, 94596
(925) 287-4018
PressmAR@sutterhealth.org

Primary Research Interests

Publications

Conducting a pilot randomized controlled trial of community-based mindfulness-based stress reduction versus usual care for moderate-to-severe migraine: protocol for the Mindfulness and Migraine Study (M&M).

This is the first pragmatic trial in U.S. of mindfulness-based stress reduction for migraine using community classes.

Impact of home-based, patient-centered support for people with advanced illness in an open health system: a retrospective claims analysis of health expenditures, utilization, and quality of care at end of life.

Advanced Illness Management program has a positive impact on inpatient utilization, cost of care, hospice enrollment, and site of death.

Fracture risk tool validation in an integrated healthcare delivery system.

Fracture Risk Calculator tool, using administrative data, may help target at-risk populations for more complete fracture risk assessment.

A comparison of two worlds: How does Bayes hold up to the status quo for the analysis of clinical trials?

Choosing usual-care controls, even when a satisfactory placebo exists, would allow clinicians to capture the value of common non-specific therapeutic benefits.

Should we reconsider the routine use of placebo controls in clinical research?

Choosing usual-care controls, even when a satisfactory placebo exists, would allow clinicians to capture the value of common non-specific therapeutic benefits.

Adherence to placebo and mortality in the Beta Blocker Evaluation of Survival Trial (BEST).

Analyses of the Beta Blocker Evaluation of Survival trial data support a strong association between adherence to placebo study medication and total mortality.

Initiation of osteoporosis treatment after bone mineral density testing.

Despite the strong association between bone mineral density testing and initiating treatment, nearly half the osteoporotic women did not initiate treatment.

Methods for assessing fracture risk prediction models: experience with FRAX in a large integrated health care delivery system.

Multiple methods should be used to evaluate risk tool performance with less reliance on area under the receiver operating characteristics alone.

Effectiveness of a pharmacist-based gout care management programme in a large integrated health plan: results from a pilot study.

Pharmacist-staffed program can effectively and safely lower and maintain uric acid levels in a high percentage of patients with recurrent gout in primary care.

Prevalence and determinants of osteoporosis drug prescription among patients with high exposure to glucocorticoid drugs.

Despite ready availability of bone-specific osteoporosis drugs, few patients with high exposure to glucocorticoid drugs received such therapy.

Patterns of infliximab use among Crohn's disease patients in a community setting.

In a community-based setting infliximab use has steadily increased. Need to determine why a large number of patients discontinued their treatment.

Does the diagnosis of breast or ovarian cancer trigger referral to genetic counseling?

There are missed opportunities for referring patients to genetic counseling among patients with breast and ovarian cancer.

Prevalence of migraine in a diverse community--electronic methods for migraine ascertainment in a large integrated health plan.

Inexpensive, easily applied EHR-based algorithm provides a new opportunity for monitoring changes in migraine prevalence and identifying potential participants.

Measuring health equity for ambulatory care sensitive conditions in a large integrated health care system: the development of an index.

We designed and implemented an index, calculated as the ratio of observed-to-expected encounters, to quantify health inequalities in healthcare systems.

Recruitment, retention, and adherence in a randomized feasibility trial of mindfulness-based stress reduction for patients with migraine

Increasing evidence demonstrates effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for pain-related and functional disorders

The learning health system in crisis: lessons from the novel coronavirus disease pandemic

Advocating for a learning health network that promotes collaboration between health systems, community-based organizatons, and government agencies

Disparities In outcomes among COVID-19 patients In a large health care system In California.

Our study provides real-world evidence that there are racial and ethnic disparities in the presentation of COVID-19.

Early weight loss and treatment response: data from a lifestyle change program in clinical practice.

Percentage weight change at 12 weeks from baseline can serve as a single indicator of nonresponse at the completion of the 12-month lifestyle change program.

Serious mental illness and health-related factors associated with regional emergency department utilization.

Findings indicate heterogeneity in regional utilization patterns among frequent ED utilizers, with mental illness increasing the likelihood of multi-ED use.

Longitudinal weight outcomes from a behavioral lifestyle intervention in clinical practice.

A lifestyle change program in clinical practice is associated with modest weight loss, sustained through 24 months, in setting of cardiometabolic risk factors.

Short-term weight trajectories and long-term weight outcomes from a lifestyle intervention in real-world clinical practice.

With relationship between magnitudes of short- and long-term wt change, individual wt trajectories may be useful in identifying non-responders who need alt tx.

Racial and ethnic disparities in opioid prescribing for long bone fractures at discharge from the emergency department: a cross-sectional analysis of 22 centers from a health care delivery system in Northern California.

Racial and ethnic minority groups with long bone fractures receive similar frequencies of opioid prescriptions at discharge, with a small potency difference.

Virtual small groups for weight management: an innovative delivery mechanism for evidence-based lifestyle interventions among obese men.

Virtual small groups may be an effective means of allowing face-to-face group interaction, while overcoming some barriers to access.

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Investigator Alice R. Pressman, Ph.D., M.S.

Primary Research Interests

Publications

Research Studies

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