K. Davina Frick, PhD

K. Davina Frick (she/her) is a professor who teaches economics for decision-making, business leadership and human values, frameworks for analyzing healthcare markets, and a course on how the U.S. health care system in the past, present, and future facilitates innovation.

Frick studied health policy and administration at Penn State, followed by economics and health services research at the University of Michigan. In 1996, she joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she still has joint appointments. She moved to a leadership position at the Carey Business School in 2013 and returned to an exclusively faculty role in 2021.

Much of Frick’s research focuses on measuring costs associated with diseases or measuring the cost-effectiveness of new treatments, care systems, or community-based interventions. The most focused area has been public and private eye care, and she is currently co-chairing a National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine workgroup on myopia. In addition, she is co-chairing an AcademyHealth project on health services research’s inclusivity, impact, and innovation. She focuses on research translation, specializing in linking peer-reviewed research with the information business leaders need to make decisions about companies that operate in the real-world marketplace. She plans for future research to focus on mentoring, leadership, and DEIB issues.

Frick has mentored students, faculty, and staff, and spoken about mentoring to many audiences—particularly mentoring as a two-way street. She has focused on DEIB issues as a member of a team that produced a series of videos about LGBTQ+ Narratives in Academia, as part of a second team that produced a video called Business of Pronouns, by serving on the school’s Inclusive Teaching committee as well as the university’s Diversity Leadership Council, by reading names at graduation for 10 years, and by serving on the Diversity and Anti-Racism Team for the Society for Medical Decision Making.

Education

• Ph. D, Economics and Health Services Organization and Policy, University of Michigan
• MA, Economics, University of Michigan
• BS, Health Policy & Administration, Pennsylvania State University

Research

Selected publications

• Garcia J, Yesantharao L, Frick KD, Fakhry C, Koch W, Mydlarz W, Eisele DW, Gourin CG. Concentration of high-cost head and neck cancer surgical patients. d and neck cancer surgical patients. The Laryngoscope. Forthcoming.
• Markoulli M, Fricke T R, Arvind A, Frick KD, Hart KM, Joshi M., Kandel H, Filipe Macedo A, Makrynioti D, Retallic N, Garcia-Porta N, Shrestha G, Wolffsohn JS. (2024). BCLA CLEAR Presbyopia: Epidemiology and impact. Contact lens & anterior eye : the journal of the British Contact Lens Association, 102157. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clae.2024.102157
• Wong B, Singh K, Everett B, O’Brien KS, Ravilla T, Khanna RC, Chase H, Frick KD.  The Potential of Eye Health Investment as a Best Buy in Global Health and Development: A Systematic Review and Economic Modeling Analysis.  Bulletin of the World Health Organization. Forthcoming.
• Sun J, Frick KD, Liang H, Chow CM, Aronwitz S, Shi L.  Examining cancer screening disparities by race/ethnicity and insurance groups: A comparison of 2008 and 2018 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data in the United States.  PLOS ONE. Forthcoming.
• Saraswathula A, Yesantharao ., Gourin CG, Rowan NR, Frick KD. (2023). Cost-effectiveness analysis comparing in-office posterior nasal nerve ablation to surgical therapies. American Journal of Otolaryngology, 44(2), 103776. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjoto.2022.103776.
• Wong B, Singh K, Khanna RC, Ravilla T, Kuyyadiyil S, Sabherwal S, Sil A, Dole K, Chase H, Frick KD. Strategies for cataract and uncorrected refractive error case finding in India: costs and cost-effectiveness at scale. The Lancet Regional Health—Southeast Asia.  Forthcoming.   
• Miller, J. R., Frick, K. D., & Gourin, C. G. (2022). Hospital Markup in Head and Neck Cancer Surgery in the US. JAMA otolaryngology-- head & neck surgery. 148(12): 1147–1155. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoto.2022.3340.   
• Saraswathula, A., Austin, J. M., Fakhry, C., Vosler, P. S., Mandal, R., Koch, W. M., Tan, M., Eisele, D. W., Frick, K. D., & Gourin, C. G. (2023). Surgeon Volume and Laryngectomy Outcomes. The Laryngoscope, 133(4), 834–840.

Working Papers

• Segal J, Yanek L, Jager L, Okoli E, Hatef E, Dada M, Frick KD. Higher percentage of virtual primary care associated with differences in achievement of some quality metrics.
• Wong B, Singh K, Ravilla T, Khanna RC, Chase H, Frick KD.The Potential of Eye Health Investment as a Best Buy in Global Health and Development.
• Collins ME, Alexander G, Guo X, Tariq A, Frick KD. Cost Analysis of a School-Based Vision Program in an Urban, High-Poverty School District.

Teaching

Current

• Frameworks for Analyzing Health Care Markets
• Business Leadership and Human Values
• U.S. Health Care System: Past, Present, and Future
• Economics for Decision Making

Honors and distinctions

• Penn State Alumni Association, Martin R. Cepeda, Jr. Award for Alumni Career Advancement and Development, (August 2024) 
• Johns Hopkins University Diversity Recognition Award (2024) Johns Hopkins Carey Business School (2023)
• Collaborative Leadership Award  Johns Hopkins University Diversity Recognition Award (2022)
• Interviewer and interview annotator for the LGBTQ+ Narratives in Academia Project   Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Best Article Award (2017). 
• Co-author on “APHA Vision Care Section Distinguished Service (2011)      
• Golden Apple Award for Small Class Sizes (2011), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Student Assembly             
• Golden Apple Award for Internet-based Classes (2011), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 
• Student Assembly Penn State Schreyer Honors College (2009) Outstanding Scholar Alumnus

Impacts and Engagements

• Editor, Sage Knowledge Healthcare Management Series (2024-Present) 
• Associate Editor, Women’s Health Issues (2020-Present) 
• Sponsored and participated in a panel discussion following the presentation of the documentary You Belong Here (about coming out) at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing 
• Spoke about developing a joy-centered personal mission statement at the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders 
• Spoke about health care economics at an NIDCD/FDA Working Group on Accessible and Affordable Hearing Health Care for Adults 

• Multiple podcasts and blogs on leadership, values, and DEIB