Mary Politi is a health psychologist, behavioral scientist and co-director of WashU’s Center for Collaborative Care Decisions. Her primary research interests include health communication and shared decision-making within and outside health systems. Her work helps patients and the public understand health information, explore what is important to them when making health decisions, and collaborate to make evidence-informed decisions that meet their needs. She also trains health-care professionals, public health advocates and members of the public interested in shared decision-making and patient engagement.
Example current projects include supporting older adults’ decisions about anesthesia options for surgical procedures, supporting older adults’ decisions about antibiotics given uncertain symptoms, reducing the financial toxicity (burden of care costs) of health care, and improving the way we deliver imaging reports in patient portals. She works extensively with community and clinical partners to ensure her research is relevant to end users.
Areas of focus:
- Health communication
- Shared decision-making
- Patient and public engagement
- Implementation science methods
Featured publications
- Accelerating implementation of visual key information to improve informed consent in research: a single-institution feasibility study and implementation testing
BMJ Open
March 2025 - Patient partner engagement in the publication process: challenges and possible solutions
BMC Medical Research Methodology
February 2025 - A randomized controlled trial of the implementation of BREASTChoice, a multilevel breast reconstruction decision support tool with personalized risk prediction
Annals of Surgery
February 2025 - A scoping review of interventions to address financial toxicity in pediatric and adult patients and survivors of cancer
Cancer Medicine
April 2025