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About Me
I am a physician and behavioral scientist. My research and writing explore the quirks in human nature that influence our lives -- the mixture of rational and irrational forces that affect our health, our happiness, and the way our society functions. (more...)- Have a question or just want to get in touch? Email me at peter.ubel@duke.edu
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Tag Archives: public health
Do You Know How Many Calories Are in Your Burrito?
Here’s a new study I conducted with Peggy Liu, Jim Bettman, and Arianna Uhalde on calorie range information. Check it out below. Liu, Peggy J., James R. Bettman, Arianna R. Uhalde, and Peter A. Ubel (forthcoming), “How Many Calories Are … Continue reading
Posted in Behavioral Economics and Public Policy
Tagged behavioral economics, obesity, public health
When Physicians Pay Attentions to Costs, They Promote Public Health!
This week, my good friend Reshma Jagsi and I published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, in which we explain why physicians are doing their job, as physicians, when they pay attention to healthcare costs. Here is a … Continue reading
Posted in Health Policy
Tagged healthcare costs, public health
Should Our Government Combat the Obesity Epidemic?
Here is video from a talk I recently gave at the University of Wisconsin, laying out a few of the reasons I think the government needs to play a role in combating the obesity epidemic. If you dig further into … Continue reading
Posted in Health & Well-being, Health Policy
Tagged health policy, obesity, public health
Why James Bond Needs to Wear Condoms
Think of the last few times you watched a popular movie that involved any kind of sex scene? Not as in pornographic sex, but as in two characters ended up in bed together and had, ahem, conjugal relations. In how … Continue reading
Posted in Health & Well-being
Tagged behavior change, nudges, public health, STDs
I Will Gladly Pay More Taxes to Expand High Schools Sports
My 14-year-old son Jordan did not make the JV basketball team in his high school. Not very surprising really. There is no freshmen basketball team at his school and only six freshmen made the JV, out of a class of more … Continue reading
Posted in Health & Well-being
Tagged health policy, public health
When Americans Rejected Small Pox Vaccines
When I lived in Ann Arbor, my children attended a public school where upwards of 15% of kids were not vaccinated for mumps because their left-wing parents didn’t trust the vaccine industry. Meanwhile on the right end of the political … Continue reading
Posted in Health Policy
Tagged public health, US history