Berkeley Franz, Ph.D.
- Associate Professor, Community-based Health
- Osteopathic Heritage Foundation Ralph S. Licklider, D.O. Endowed Faculty Fellow in Population Health Science
Areas of Expertise
Community health
COVID-19
Evangelicalism
Health Disparities
Hospitals
Race and health
Racism/Discrimination
Religion
Population Health
Substance use/opioid use
Vaccine Attitudes
Expert Bio
Berkeley Franz is a medical sociologist and health services researcher whose research and teaching focus on health disparities, child and adolescent health, population health, and substance abuse. Dr. Franz is Associate Professor of Community-based Health at Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, in Athens, Ohio and Osteopathic Heritage Foundation Ralph S. Licklider, D.O. Endowed Faculty Fellow in Population Health Science. 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. Currently, she co-directs a study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on the capacity of for profit hospitals to serve as anchor institutions in U.S. communities. She is also co-authoring a book on hospital-community relations in three urban communities for the University of Chicago Press.
Expertise at a Glance
Media Placements
- HuffPost
- Bloomberg Business Week
- Christianity Today