WENKE HWANG, PHD

PaTH Role: Penn State site co-PI and informatics lead for clinical data research

Institution

Penn State College of Medicine

Profile

Wenke Hwang, PhD, is trained in health services research and health economics. He specializes in risk adjustment methodology and measurement of individuals’ comorbidity and disease burden in the context of evaluating treatment effects, quality of care, and health care costs and reimbursement. His research also focuses on health system issues such as care coordination, integrated health care system, and the functional division between different medical specialties across different practice settings in care for persons with multiple conditions.

He has received research grant funding from the AHRQ, Astra Zeneca, Hospital Corporation of America, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Pennsylvania Department of Health, and NIH to study ongoing care for cancer patients with co-existing chronic conditions. Dr. Hwang served as a co-investigator on an NIH randomized controlled trial on diabetes (ACCORD), a co-investigator on a randomized controlled trial on the economic impact of using MRI technology in emergency department patients with chest pain, and a co-investigator on a study focusing on sharing health information and imaging data across providers in different health care settings. He is currently a Penn State Co-PI for a Clinical Research Network funded by the Patient Center Outcomes Research Institute.

Dr. Hwang has taught graduate level courses in health services research, health organization and delivery systems, quality of care measurement, and health policy. He currently serves as the Director of the Penn State Master of Public Health (MPH) Program.