Randall Stafford

Clinical Focus

• Hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol)
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Diabetes Mellitus
• Cardiology (Heart), Preventive
• Obesity

Administrative Appointments

• Medical Director, SPRC Research Clinic (2004 - present)
• Program Director, Program on Prevention Outcomes and Practices (2001 - present)

Honors and Awards

• Outstanding Teaching Award, Stanford Prevention Research Center (2009)

Professional Education

Postdoctoral Advisees

Sandra Tsai

Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations

• Epidemiology
• Health Services Research
• Medicine

Community & International Work

• Osteoporosis Decision-Making 

Web Site Links

• Program on Prevention Outcomes and Practices

Research Interests

My research aims to advance scientific understanding of the forces that influence physician and patient behavior, with a focus on evaluating and modifying physician and patient practices to improve health outcomes through prevention. The process by which new medical practices and knowledge are disseminated often fails to serve the best interests of patients. Frequently, new practices are readily adopted without adequate assessment. Paradoxically, other practices with strong evidence-based support are adopted only slowly and then inconsistently. By understanding the determinants of health behaviors, specific factors that facilitate or impede the adoption of appropriate new practices can be identified. These issues are critical to the future of medicine. Rising health care costs and the changing organization of health care have increased societal demands for high quality, yet cost-effective, clinical care. A preventive model that focuses on reducing the risk of future adverse outcomes, rather than symptom management, has become a dominant goal of health care delivery. By evaluating current practices and designing interventions to improve health care, my work responds to these demands. In addition, this nation’s investment in biomedical science is jeopardized if we fail to recognize that the adoption of new medical practices and health behaviors is a complex, yet potentially modifiable, process. My objective is to further develop the science of health care innovation as a mean for understanding current patterns of health care and as a vehicle for designing interventions to facilitate the adoption of evidence-based practices by patients, their care providers, and health care systems. This research agenda is reinforced and stimulated by an array of clinical and teaching activities. My clinical work in general internal medicine and preventive cardiology provide a rich observational experience that guides my research, as well as a context for applying clinical insights derived...

Clinical Trials

• Understanding Pine Bark Extract as an Alternative Treatment (UPBEAT) Study Completed

Publications

• Does comparative effectiveness have a comparative edge? Alexander GC, Stafford RS. JAMA. 2009; 301 (23): 2488-90
• New, but not improved? Incorporating comparative-effectiveness information into FDA labeling. Stafford RS, Wagner TH, Lavori PW. N Engl J Med. 2009; 361 (13): 1230-3
• Prioritizing future research on off-label prescribing: results of a quantitative evaluation. Walton SM, Schumock GT, Lee KV, Alexander GC, Meltzer D, Stafford RS. Pharmacotherapy. 2008; 28 (12): 1443-52
• National trends in treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus, 1994-2007. Alexander GC, Sehgal NL, Moloney RM, Stafford RS. Arch Intern Med. 2008; 168 (19): 2088-94
• Regulating off-label drug use--rethinking the role of the FDA. Stafford RS, N Engl J Med. 2008; 358 (14): 1427-9