As an economic geographer with expertise in health policy, Rob Penfold has a  unique perspective on health care. By examining changes in health care use over time and in different regions of the United States, his work develops  strategies to optimize health care delivery. His research addresses practical issues such as how to distribute vaccines efficiently and how to measure direct  and indirect costs of complex, long-term diseases like multiple sclerosis. Dr. Penfold is also especially interested in understanding how cost-control policies change the way people use patient services and how  those changes have both negative or positive effects on health.

He is a co-investigator in the Mental Health Research Network (MHRN), a resource for studies on mental health conditions ranging from autism to postnatal depression. Based at Group Health Research Institute as part of the HMO Research Network, the MHRN is a collaboration among nine nonprofit health care and research systems and is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Penfold directs one of the four main MHRN projects: how youth suicide rates are affected by FDA warnings about the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class of  antidepressants. Dr. Penfold also is investigating reasons why similar patients receive different mental health treatment, such as different medications, depending on where they live or receive care. With his extensive research on mental health services for children and young adults, particularly the use of antipsychotic and antidepressive drugs, he is uniquely qualified to lead these projects.

Dr. Penfold has extensive experience in gathering and analyzing information from large health  databases, including those of Medicare and Medicaid, and the HMO Research Network’s Virtual  Data Warehouse. These data and analyses allow rapid information sharing among Group Health and participating sites, which improves patient safety and timely access to effective, cutting-edge therapies. Researchers and clinicians at Group Health and around the world use methods developed by Dr. Penfold to study the dynamics of patient care as we implement new policies to make health care evidence-based, effective, and affordable.

Before joining GHRI in 2010, Dr. Penfold held research and teaching positions at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio; the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority; the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy; and most recently, at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Population Medicine and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute.