Zackary Berger, MD, PhD

Associate Professor
CV

Contact

Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center
601 N Caroline Street, Suite 7143
Baltimore, MD 21287
  • Core Faculty
    Berman Institute of Bioethics
  • Associate Professor
    Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  • Associate Professor
    Division of General Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

An internist, clinical epidemiologist, and bioethicist, Dr. Berger’s clinical, educational, and research work is located at the intersection of shared decision making, patient-centered care and evidence-based medicine. How to make sense of a sharing patient-physician relationship in the context of social and political inequities is a central question underlying much of our health system’s imperfections. Dr. Berger is using interdisciplinary techniques to explore possible answers, especially among vulnerable and victimized populations.

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Dr. Berger is Associate Professor in the Johns Hopkins Division of General Internal Medicine and Core Faculty at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, with joint appointment in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. With an active practice in primary care internal medicine at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Berger focuses his clinical, educational, and research work, as well as his widely read publications for the lay public, on the ways in which shared decision making in the doctor-patient encounter might be in conflict with medical evidence and the political, social, and psychological realities of the patient.

Dr. Berger teaches residents in their internal medicine clinic and medical students on the wards at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and is part of a Berman faculty team which teaches bioethics to residents in a number of Johns Hopkins specialty programs. He is also staff physician at the Esperanza Clinic Health Center, a free clinic serving undocumented Spanish-speaking immigrants.

Dr. Berger is the author of two books for the lay public on doctor-patient communication and on patient preference in the context of medical evidence.

Research Interests

  • Clinical ethics
  • Shared decision making
  • Patient-physician communication
  • Clinical epidemiology
  • Systematic reviews
  • Advocacy
  • Health policy and politics
  • Patient-centered care
  • Evidence-based medicine
  • Sociology and health
  • Jewish bioethics
  • Religion and bioethics
  • Immigrant health
  • Race and bioethics

Education

  • MD, New York University
  • PhD, New York University
  • BS, California Institute of Technology

Activities

  • Staff physician, Johns Hopkins Hospital
  • Attending physician, Johns Hopkins General Internal Medicine practice
  • Staff physician, Esperanza Center Health Clinic
  • Preceptor, Johns Hopkins Adult Internal Medicine residency practice
  • Faculty, Johns Hopkins Osler Medical Residency Bioethics program
  • Initiator and faculty, Ethics of Healthcare Decision Making course, MBE program
  • Founder and treasurer, Clinicians for Progressive Care

Recent Publications

For the most up-to-date list of Dr. Berger’s publications, visit his PubMed page.