Berkeley Franz, Ph.D., is a medical sociologist and health services researcher whose research and teaching focus on health disparities, population health and substance use. Dr. Franz is Associate 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 sociology from the University of Miami.
Dr. Franz has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and books on community and population health, including hospital-based population health programs and their potential to increase access to services among underserved populations and for individuals with opioid use disorder. She also leads a productive research program on how continued racial resentment in the U.S. serves as a fundamental barrier to health equity and population health improvement. She currently leads two NIH/NIDA-funded studies focused on increasing access to opioid use disorder services in rural and urban underserved communities.
Education
- Ph.D., Sociology, University of Miami, 2014
- MA, Religious Studies, University of Chicago, 2009
Publications (selected)
- Chang, Ji E., Cory E. Cronin, Zoe Lindenfield+, Jose A. Pagan, Janet Simon, Berkeley Franz.* 2022. “Trends in the Prioritization and Implementation of Substance Use Programs by Nonprofit Hospitals: 2015-2021.” Journal of Addiction Medicine. Published online ahead of print. doi: 10.1097/ADM.0000000000001128.
- Dhanani, Lindsay and Berkeley Franz. 2021. “Why Public Health Framing Matters: An Experimental Study of COVID-19 Prejudice in the United States.” Social Science & Medicine. 269 (January 2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113572.
- Franz, Berkeley, Lindsay Dhanani, and William C. Miller. 2020. “Rural/Urban Differences in Physician Bias toward Patients with Opioid Use Disorder.” Psychiatric Services. 72(8): 874-879. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.202000529