Anna Johansson, PhD

Dr. Johansson is an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in the Division of Translational Research and Innovative Technologies. She is a Social Psychologist, holding a PhD in Sociology, and provides consultation on social, behavioral and educational research (SBER), qualitative research methods, as well as IRB and regulatory consultation for clinical/translational research. Dr. Johansson’s research focus is developing and testing explanatory models of the structure and function of small decision-making groups using quantitative and qualitative research methods, with a specific interest to assess the degree to which the social structure, namely status hierarchies, of healthcare teams impacts diagnostic and treatment decisions, and patient outcomes. This work has focused primarily on the emergent and complex scenarios often encountered in the ICU setting, high-fidelity simulation training, and the multidisciplinary inpatient consultation process. Her current research interests include the development and testing of pro-diversity, bias-reduction strategies including a multi-center study, NIH funded study that seeks to evaluate the impact of a pro-diversity intervention designed to address implicit bias and involves teaching faculty workshops to recognize and mitigate the effects of stereotypes and unconscious bias for which she serves as the local PI. She is also part of an NIH-funded project to assess, using various validated coding and analytical frameworks, the effectiveness of a virtual reality simulation system to train multi-disciplinary OR teams to develop nontechnical (“team”) skills. Dr. Johansson is also a Vice Chair for the BIDMC Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Program Director for IRB Navigation and Scientific Review Program.