Berkeley Franz, Ph.D.

Franz is a medical sociologist and health services researcher whose research and teaching focus on health disparities, population health, and substance use. She is an 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 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. 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-funded studies focused on increasing access to opioid use disorder services in rural and urban underserved communities.