Research Team
Renata W. Yen, PhD, MPH
Renata W. Yen, PhD, MPH
Research Scientist, Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Renata is a health services researcher at the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health and the Department of Biomedical Data Science at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. She works on the OpenRecordings team under the mentorship of Dr. Paul Barr. Her research focuses on patient-clinician communication, particularly for patients with lower health literacy or who are socially disadvantaged.
She completed her PhD in Health Policy & Clinical Practice at Dartmouth in 2023. For her PhD, she studied how to measure clinician use of plain language in healthcare encounters and the impact of shared decision-making interventions for socially disadvantaged populations. Before moving into research, Renata worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a public health associate, tracking transmission of communicable diseases at a health department in St. Petersburg, Florida. Renata received a Masters in Public Health from Dartmouth in 2016 and a dual Bachelor of Science degree in Biology & Society and Development Sociology from Cornell University.
Outside of work, Renata spends her time with her husband and two kids in their yard or otherwise outside. She is a novice gardener and also makes a decent lasagna.
Selected Publications
- Coyle AC, Yen RW, Elwyn G. Interrupted opening statements in clinical encounters: A scoping review. Patient Educ Couns. 2022 Aug;105(8):2653-2663. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2022.03.026. PMID: 35393229. View Source
- Yen RW, Smith J, Engel J, Muscat DM, Smith SK, Mancini J, Perestelo-Pérez L, Elwyn G, O'Malley AJ, Leyenaar JK, Mac O, Cadet T, Giguere A, Housten AJ, Langford A, McCaffery K, Durand MA. A systematic review and meta-analysis of patient decision aids for socially disadvantaged populations: Update from the International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IDPAS). Med Decis Making. 2021 Oct;41(7):870-896. doi: 10.1177/0272989X211020317. PMID: 34151614. View Source
- Yen RW, Durand MA, Harris C, Cohen S, Ward A, O'Malley AJ, Schubbe D, Saunders CH, Elwyn G. Text-only and picture conversation aids both supported shared decision making for breast cancer surgery: Analysis from a cluster randomized trial. Patient Educ Couns. 2020 Nov;103(11):2235-2243. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2020.07.015. PMID: 32782181. View Source
- Schubbe D, Scalia P, Yen RW, Saunders CH, Cohen S, Elwyn G, van den Muijsenbergh M, Durand MA. Using pictures to convey health information: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects on patient and consumer health behaviors and outcomes. Patient Educ Couns. 2020 Oct;103(10):1935-1960. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2020.04.010. PMID: 32466864. View Source
- Durand MA, Yen RW, O'Malley AJ, Politi MC, Dhage S, Rosenkranz K, Weichman K, Margenthaler J, Tosteson ANA, Crayton E, Jackson S, Bradley A, Volk RJ, Sepucha K, Ozanne E, Percac-Lima S, Song J, Acosta J, Mir N, Elwyn G. What matters most: protocol for a randomized controlled trial of breast cancer surgery encounter decision aids across socioeconomic strata. BMC Public Health. 2018 Feb 13;18(1):241. doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5109-2. PMID: 29439691; PMCID: PMC5812033. View Source