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Institute for Bioethics logo
Gary S. Fischer

Gary S. Fischer, MD, FACP

Core Faculty

Professional Statement

Gary Fischer completed a residency in Primary Care Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Fellowship in Medical Ethics at the University of Pittsburgh. He is Professor of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Biomedical Informatics, and is a Medical Director for the Ambulatory eRecord and Program Director for the UPMC/Pitt Clinical Informatics Fellowship. Dr. Fischer teaches medical ethics to medical students, with a special interest in how the use of technology in medicine, including artificial intelligence, raises ethical issues. He conducts research in several areas related to quality improvement: the use of health information technology (HIT) and clinical decision support to improve quality of care; the use of patient-facing HIT tools to improve patient outcomes, including with weight loss, diabetes care, hypertension, and prevention; electronic communication between patients and health care providers; and ambulatory quality improvement.

Appointments

  • Professor of Medicine, Associate Chief for Division of General Internal Medicine, Medical Director of eRecord Ambulatory Decision Support and Analytics, and Director of the Clinical Informatics Fellowship Division of General Internal Medicine School of Medicine
  • Professor of Biomedical Informatics Department of Biomedical Informatics School of Medicine
  • Core Faculty Institute for Bioethics

Education and Training

  • Medical Ethics and General Internal Medicine Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh, 1995
  • Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency, Massachusetts General Hospital, 1993
  • MD, Harvard Medical School, 1990

Professional Interests in Bioethics

Representative Publications

  1.  Moerenhout T, Fischer GS, Saelaert M, De Sutter A, Provoost V, Devisch I. Primary care physicians’ perspectives on the ethical impact of the electronic medical record. J Am Board Fam Med. 2020;33(1):106-117.

  2.  Moerenhout T, Fischer GS, Devisch I. The elephant in the room: a postphenomenological case study of the electronic health record and its impact on the clinical encounter. Med Health Care Philos. 2020;23:227-236.

  3.  Arterburn D, Tuzzio L, Anau J, Lewis C, Williams N, Courcoulas A, Stilwell D, Tavakkoli A, Ahmed B, Wilcox M, Fischer GS, Paul K, Handley M, Gupta A, McTigue K. Identifying barriers to shared decision making about bariatric surgery in two large health systems. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2023:1-9. doi:10.1002/oby.23647

  4.  McTigue K, Courcoulas A, Wellman R, Tavakkoli A, Lewis C, Klawson E, Anau J, Garcia R, Williams N, Stilwell D, Ahmed B, Fischer GS, Paul K, Handley M, Saurabh S, Daigle C, Elwyn G, Arterburn D. Exploring patient perspectives on shared decision making about bariatric surgery in two healthcare systems. Obes Sci Pract. Published online November 26, 2024. doi:10.1002/osp4.779

  5.  Lussier ME, Hamm ME, Kenkre BN, Wright EA, Gordon AJ, Wasan AD, Gellad WF, Althouse AD, Cochran G, Fischer GS, Salay M, Kern MS, Kraemer KL. Clinician perceptions of electronic health record and email nudge interventions to prevent unsafe opioid prescribing: a qualitative study. J Opioid Manag. 2025;21(2):121-130. doi:10.5055/jom.0913

  6.  Wojda TR, Savio FVD, Hochheiser H, Amaravasthi A, Bharat K, Fischer G. Understanding the human-computer interaction of ambient AI in healthcare: a qualitative study of early provider experiences. In: Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Surgery – An Exploration of Current Trends, Potential Opportunities, and Evolving Threats. Vol 3. 2025. doi:10.5772/intechopen.1011340

Recent Funding

  • NIH R01 AG070054 Reducing High Risk Polypharmacy Using Behavioral Economics Through Electronic Health Records (HRPP) Co-investigator, 2022-2026
  • NIH 1 R01 DK116957-01A1 PopulAtioN health management to OPTImize Care in CKD (PANOPTIC-CKD) Co-Investigator, 2018-2023
  • PCORI Kaiser Permanente NW Research Institute/PCORI Shared Decision Making for Bariatric Surgery in Patients with Severe Obesity Co-investigator, 2019-2022

Awards and Honors

  • ACP Laureate Award, Western Pennsylvania American College of Physicians 2025
  • Physician Excellence in Leadership Award, UPMC, 2023