Alex Fiks, MD, MSCE

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Alex Fiks, MD, MSCE, is a pediatrician, holder of the Distinguished Chair in the Department of Pediatrics, an academic investigator in childhood obesity research for the Healthy Weight Program, and the Director of the Possibilities Project: Innovation in Pediatric Primary Care at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Areas of Expertise: General pediatrics
Locations: Main Hospital; Karabots Pediatric Care Center, West Philadelphia

Appointments and Referrals: 1-800-TRY-CHOP (1-800-879-2467)

Background

Dr. Fiks, the Director of the Possibilities Project, is a primary care pediatrician, an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and holds a Distinguished Endowed Chair in the Department of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Board certified in clinical informatics, Dr. Fiks’ research is aimed at improving outcomes for ambulatory pediatric patients through practice-based research with a focus on improving health and health care decision-making through health information technology.

To achieve these goals, much of Dr. Fiks’ research focused on fostering shared decision making between clinicians and families, often in the setting of behavioral health conditions. He is also especially interested in how electronic health record data may best be used to improve primary care, medication use and child health more broadly. With the American Academy of Pediatrics Pediatric Research in Office Settings Network, which he directs, Dr. Fiks has overseen the creation of the Collaborative Electronic Reporting for Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER2), an electronic health record database designed to support pharmacoepidemiologic and other comparative effectiveness studies that currently includes >1.5 million US children from across multiple health systems.

Dr. Fiks is also the Medical Director for the Pediatric Research Consortium (PeRC), CHOP's practice-based research network, Associate Director of CHOP’s Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness (CPCE), a founding member of the hospital’s Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics (DBHi), and faculty in PolicyLab.

Education and Training

Medical School

Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass.

Board Certification

American Board of Pediatrics
Clinical Informatics

Titles and Academic Titles

Attending Physician

Academic Investigator, Healthy Weight Program

Distinguished Chair, Department of Pediatrics

Co-Medical Director, Pediatric Research Consortium (PeRC)

Director, Possibilities Project: Innovation in Pediatric Primary Care

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Departments and Services

Publications

Papers

Fiks AG, Gafen A, Hughes CC, Hunter KF, Barg FK. Using freelisting to understand shared decision making in ADHD: Parents' and pediatricians' perspectives. Patient Educ Couns. 2010 Aug 24. [Epub ahead of print]

Fiks AG, Leslie LK. Partnership in the Treatment of Childhood Mental Health Problems: A Pediatric Perspective. School Ment Health. 2010 Jun 1;2(2):93-101.

Bell LM, Grundmeier R, Localio R, Zorc J, Fiks AG, Zhang X, Stephens TB, Swietlik M, Guevara JP. Electronic health record-based decision support to improve asthma care: a cluster-randomized trial. Pediatrics. 2010 Apr;125(4):e770-7. Epub 2010 Mar 15.

Pati S, Feemster KA, Mohamad Z, Fiks A, Grundmeier R, Cnaan A. Maternal Health Literacy and Late Initiation of Immunizations Among an Inner-City Birth Cohort. Matern Child Health J. 2010 Feb 24. [Epub ahead of print]

Fiks AG, Localio AR, Alessandrini EA, Asch DA, Guevara JP. Shared decision-making in pediatrics: a national perspective. Pediatrics. 2010 Aug;126(2):306-14. Epub 2010 Jul 12.