Clinical Interests:
Adult primary care medicine
General internal medicine

Research Abstract:
Dr. Barry's work focuses on outcomes research, which seeks to define the results of common strategies of care in terms that are most relevant to patients, particularly in terms of symptom burden and functional status. The content area of this research has been largely, but not exclusively, at the interface of primary care and urology. Using prostatic disease as a paradigm for other largely preference-driven medical problems requiring shared care between generalists and specialists, Dr. Barry has studied the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment outcomes of this common set of disorders among older men. Methods employed have included decision analysis, analysis of the operating characteristics of diagnostic tests, development and validation of disease-specific health status measurements, predictive modeling, and technology assessment. A particular theme has been to develop methods to allow patients greater participation in their medical decisions, and to measure the impact of that involvement. The results of this work have had a direct impact on the treatment of prostatic diseases in the United States and worldwide.