Sheri Fehnel

Sheri Fehnel, PhD, is the Vice President of Patient-Centered Outcomes Assessment at RTI Health Solutions. Since joining the RTI staff in 1988, she has combined the study of clinical psychology and psychometrics with practical research and clinical experience. She specializes in the development and evaluation of questionnaires designed to measure health-related quality of life, functional status, patient satisfaction, resource utilization, and other patient-centered outcomes assessments. This work has involved a wide range of therapeutic areas, including dermatology (e.g.,psoriasis, eczema, acne), psychiatry (e.g.,depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia), urology (e.g.,urinary incontinence, nocturia, erectile dysfunction), gastroenterology (e.g.,irritable bowel syndrome, chronic constipation, gastroparesis), oncology, cardiovascular disease, women's health (e.g.,endometriosis, uterine fibroids, menopause), diabetes, respiratory (e.g.,asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis), sexual dysfunction (male and female), obesity, chronic pain, and sexually transmitted diseases (e.g.,herpes, human papillomavirus, HIV/AIDS). As part of the questionnaire-development process, Dr.Fehnel has moderated countless focus groups, conducted cognitive interviews with a wide variety of patient and professional populations, and assessed potential sources of measurement error through cognitive forms appraisal. She has also evaluated the psychometric properties of many survey and clinical instruments using techniques such as factor analysis, structural equations modeling, and item response theory.

Dr. Fehnel is a frequent presenter at annual conferences held by organizations such as the International Society for Quality of Life Research (ISOQOL) and the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), as well as at various Drug Information Association (DIA) symposia. She also has published a number of articles related to questionnaire development and psychometric evaluation in Quality of Life Research, Medical Care, and Pharmacoeconomics, and serves as a co-editor for Value in Health.