Zachary F. Meisel, MD, MPH, MSHP

Dr. Meisel is the William G. Baxt Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He serves as the vice chair of research in the Department of Emergency Medicine and is the director of the Center for Emergency Care Policy and Research. He also co-directs the Penn Injury Science Center, a CDC-funded National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, and is a senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics.

Dr. Meisel earned an undergraduate degree from Columbia College, Columbia University, , followed by a Master of Public Health in health policy and management from Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. He completed his medical degree at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1999 and later obtained a Master of Science in health policy research from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his residency in emergency medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania from 2008 to 2011.

As vice chair of research, Dr. Meisel oversees research initiatives within the Department of Emergency Medicine, while also teaching and mentoring medical students, residents, and fellows. His work focuses on emergency care access, patient safety, and health policy. He previously served as the patient safety officer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and has been a medical columnist for Slate and Time, translating health services research for broader audiences.

Dr. Meisel’s research interests include narrative medicine, injury prevention, substance use disorders, medical communication, guideline adherence, opioid use disorder, patient safety, emergency medical services, and patient-centered comparative effectiveness research. He specializes in using and testing persuasive narratives to promote evidence translation to patients, providers, and policymakers. Dr. Meisel leads the Life STORRIED study (Life Stories for Opioid Risk Reduction in the Emergency Department), a multiyear, multicenter Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute-funded clinical trial focusing on the comparative effectiveness of probabilistic versus patient narrative-enhanced risk communication for pain management following emergency care.

Dr. Meisel is senior associate editor for health communication for Academic Emergency Medicine journal. He has published extensively in medical journals, including JAMA, Health Affairs, Annals of Emergency Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and BMJ. His work often addresses the translation of research evidence into clinical practice and policy. He has received over $11 million in extramural funding as principal investigator or co-principal investigator and has been continuously funded by federal agencies since 2013.

Dr. Meisel is a senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics and serves as director of the Policy and Dissemination Core at the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, HCV, and HIV (CHERISH). Dr. Meisel has pioneered the application of narrative medicine to improve the translation of research evidence, particularly concerning prescription opioids. His work has influenced how stories and data are used to communicate risks and benefits to patients, providers, and policymakers, enhancing guideline adherence and patient safety in emergency medical settings.