Center for Chronic Disease Research and Policy

03/19/2026

New research by PITCH Fellow Emily Fu finds that personalized assessments in the first session of a family‑based health program were linked to stronger engagement and healthier behaviors a year later https://biologicalsciences.uchicago.edu/customizing-wellness-programs-patients-improves-outcomes

03/03/2026

March 18 at 12PM CT: Maja Kuharic of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, "Care Recipient Self-Perceived Burden: Its Influence on Healthcare Decisions and Implications for Value Assessment."

Maja Kuharic, MPharm, MSc, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Social Sciences at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. Her research spans patient-reported outcomes, health preference measurement, and value assessment. She is a member of the EuroQol Group, where she contributes to work on the EQ-5D and EQ-HWB, and is affiliated with the PROMIS Health Organization at Northwestern, working under the mentorship of Dr. David Cella.

Dr. Kuharic trained as a pharmacist in Croatia, holds a master's in Health Economics and Pharmacoeconomics from the University of Barcelona, and completed her PhD at the University of Illinois Chicago. Prior to academia, she gained industry experience at Takeda and AbbVie.

Her current talk draws on a PhRMA Foundation–funded program of research on care recipient self-perceived burden (CR-SPB) — the feeling patients have of being a burden to their caregivers and how it influences healthcare decisions. This work uses qualitative methods and stated preference techniques to make the case for CR-SPB as a novel element in value assessment frameworks.

Join https://uchicago.zoom.us/j/97170761765?pwd=HPUaqr6Oqv2m2J3Uzb5E9Ps7T0qyqa.1

03/02/2026

Research published in The Obesity Society journal by PITCH alumna Jennifer Hwang shows that new criteria for defining obesity increases estimated prevalence among Americans from 40% of adults to nearly 60% https://biologicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/new-criteria-point-even-higher-rates-obesity-among-americans

02/26/2026

PITCH Fellow Kriya Patel envisions a more continuous pathway to care and community for women in the re-entry period following incarceration. Read more at https://chronicdisease.uchicago.edu/2026/02/25/meet-2025-pitch-fellow-kriya-patel/

02/23/2026

New guidelines from The Lancet classify nearly 3/5 of American adults as having obesity, revealing substantial clinical, public health, and policy implications | Jennifer Hwang and Neda Laiteerapong in The Obesity Society journal

Objective This study compared population characteristics and overall US prevalence of obesity over time using the BMI criteria and the 2025 Lancet Commission criteria (i.e., the Excess Adiposity cri...

02/18/2026

GLP-1 pills may make weight loss drugs more affordable and accessible for those who need them; PITCH alumna Jennifer Hwang interviewed in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/feb/15/weight-loss-race-injections-pills-big-pharma

02/10/2026

February 18: Bryan Tysinger, Director of Health Policy Simulation at USC Schaeffer presents "Do GLP-1s Deliver? Modeling Long-Run Value and Real World Use" at the CDRP Chronic Diseases and Medical Decision-Making Workshop - join at 12PM CT at https://uchicago.zoom.us/j/97170761765?pwd=HPUaqr6Oqv2m2J3Uzb5E9Ps7T0qyqa.1

02/04/2026

The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine 3rd year Thomas Statchen and CDRP faculty affiliate Elizabeth Tung in Hyde Park Herald

Evictions may be a key—and often overlooked—factor shaping gun violence in Chicago, according to a new University of Chicago study that links rising eviction rates to increased exposure to nearby

01/26/2026

CDRP associate director and MedPAC commissioner R. Tamara Konetzka says V28 policy designed to reduce costs for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Medicare Advantage still allows for overcoding, suggests overcoders should be penalized https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/medicare/119500

01/20/2026

Higher rates of eviction associated with more incidents of gun violence in Chicago neighborhoods -- JAMA Network Open study by Thomas Statchen, CDRP's Elizabeth Tung et al featured in WBEZ
https://www.wbez.org/housing/2026/01/15/study-finds-link-between-evictions-and-gun-violence-in-chicago

01/07/2026

Jan 21 at 12PM CT: Amanda C. Leiter, Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine on "Optimizing Diabetes Treatment Strategies in Cancer Survivors" at the CDRP Chronic Diseases and Medical Decision-Making Workshop - join at https://uchicago.zoom.us/j/97170761765?pwd=HPUaqr6Oqv2m2J3Uzb5E9Ps7T0qyqa.1

12/29/2025

"Lifetime Health Effects and Cost-Effectiveness of Tirzepatide and Semaglutide in US Adults" by CDRP's Jennifer Hwang, Neda Laiteerapong, Elbert Huang, and David D. Kim in JAMA Health Forum 's Top 10 articles of 2025! Read at https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2831205