Berkeley Franz is a health services researcher and implementation scientist whose research and teaching focus on health disparities and substance use. Dr. Franz is Professor of Community-based Health at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine in Athens, Ohio and Osteopathic Heritage Foundation Ralph S. Licklider, D.O. Endowed Faculty Fellow in Behavioral Health. She received an M.A. in religious studies from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in medical sociology from the University of Miami. Her research program considers how stigma and discrimination serve as fundamental barriers to health equity and population health improvement. Dr. Franz has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and books on community and population health, including hospital-based community benefit programs and strategies to increase access to evidence-based care for individuals with opioid use disorder. She currently leads two NIH/NIDA-funded studies focused on stigma reduction as a strategy for implementing buprenorphine for opioid use disorder within safety net hospitals and rural primary care settings.
Education
- Ph.D., Sociology, University of Miami, 2014
- MA, Religious Studies, University of Chicago, 2009
Publications (selected)
- Franz, Berkeley, James H. Ford II, Hannah Cheng, Helene Chokron Garneau, Kimberley Mount, and Mark P. McGovern. “Medication Approaches for Patients with Opioid Use Disorders: Differences between Primary Care Clinics and Specialty Addiction Treatment Programs.” Journal of Addiction Medicine. In Press.
- Franz, Berkeley, Lindsay Y. Dhanani, Sean Bogart, Cheyenne Fenstemaker, William C. Miller, O. Trent Hall, Daniel Brook, and Vivian F. Go. “Different Forms of Stigma and Rural Primary Care Professionals’ Willingness to Prescribe Buprenorphine.” Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.josat.2025.209633
- Fenstemaker, Cheyenne+, Elizabeth Abrams+, Katherine King+, Benjamin Obringer+, Daniel L. Brook+, Vivian Go, William C. Miller, Lindsay Y. Dhanani, and Berkeley Franz.* 2024. “The Implementation Climate for Integrating Buprenorphine Prescribing into Rural Primary Care.” Journal of General Internal Medicine. DOI: 10.1007/s11606-024-09260-1