Harkness Project Title: The Role of Technology Assessment in Health Care Coverage Decisions in the U.S.: A Case Study of Breast Cancer and Autologous Bone Marrow or Stem Cell Transplant
Mentor: John Eisenberg, M.D., Carolyn Clancy, M.D., and Douglas Kamerow, M.D.
Placement: Agency for Health Care Policy and Research
Biography at time of Harkness Fellowship: Cynthia M. Farquhar, M.D., a 1999-2000 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, is a medical practitioner and postgraduate chair in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Auckland. She has spent time at the Health Services Research Unit at the University of Oxford and at the U.K. Cochrane Center, and is coordinating editor of the Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group. In 2000 Farquhar was a Harkness Fellow at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Farquhar's published articles address women's reproductive health, fertility, and evidence based medicine.
Project: The subject of Farquhar’s project was on the role of technology assessment in health care coverage in the U.S., with a particular focus on high-dose chemotherapy and autologous bone marrow transplant or stem cell support in women with breast cancer. She examined the evidence on the effectiveness and safety of these treatments, the history and variations in payers’ decisions about whether to cover these treatments, and the impact of these coverage decisions on utilization.
Career Activity Since Fellowship
- Postgraduate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Auckland
- Member, New Zealand Order of Merit, Queen’s Birthday Honors, 2006
- Member, Medicine and Public Health Panel, Tertiary Education Commission for Performance Based Research Funding, 2003-06
- Outstanding Paper, RCOG/RANZCOG Annual Scientific Meeting, 2002
- Associate Professor of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Auckland, 2002
- Clinical Director of Gynaecology, National Women’s Hospital, Auckland, 2001
- Country Women’s Institute Medical Research Scholarship, 2000
Current Position: Postgraduate Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Auckland. (Updated 1/2014)
E-Mail: [email protected]
Selected Publications:
Macdonald AA, Stewart AW, Farquhar CM. Body mass index in relation to semen quality and reproductive hormones in New Zealand men: a cross-sectional study in fertility clinics. Hum Reprod. 2013 Dec;28(12):3178-87.
Sullivan EA, Wang YA, Norman RJ, Chambers GM, Chughtai AA, Farquhar CM. Perinatal mortality following assisted reproductive technology treatment in Australia and New Zealand, a public health approach for international reporting of perinatal mortality. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2013 Sep 18;13:177.
Sadler LC, Austin DM, Masson VL, McArthur CJ, McLintock C, Rhodes SP, Farquhar
CM. Review of contributory factors in maternity admissions to intensive care at a New Zealand tertiary hospital. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2013 Dec;209(6):549.e1-7.
Parker WH, Feskanich D, Broder MS, Chang E, Shoupe D, Farquhar CM, Berek JS, Manson JE. Long-term mortality associated with oophorectomy compared with ovarian conservation in the nurses' health study. Obstet Gynecol. 2013 Apr;121(4):709-16.
Farquhar CM, Brown J, Arroll N, Gupta D, Boothroyd CV, Al Bassam M, Moir J, Johnson NP. A randomized controlled trial of fallopian tube sperm perfusion compared with standard Intrauterine insemination for women with non-tubal infertility. Hum Reprod. 2013 Aug;28(8):2134-9.
Hughes EG, van Wely M, Farquhar CM. Cochrane reviews in perspective: the importance of appropriate conclusions and timing of publication. Hum Reprod. 2012 Jan;27(1):3-5.
Metwally M, Farquhar CM, Li TC. Is another meta-analysis on the effects of intramural fibroids on reproductive outcomes needed? Reprod Biomed Online. 2011 Jul;23(1):2-14.
Farquhar CM, van den Boogaard NM, Riddell C, Macdonald A, Chan E, Mol BW. Accessing fertility treatment in New Zealand: a comparison of the clinical priority access criteria with a prediction model for couples with unexplained subfertility. Hum Reprod. 2011 Nov;26(11):3037-44.
Farquhar CM, Wang YA, Sulliavan EA. “A comparative analysis of assisted reproductive technology cycles in Australia and New Zealand 2004-07.” Human Reproduction 2010.
Rettig R, Jacobson P, Farquhar C, Aubry W. False Hope: Bone Marrow Transplantation for Breast Cancer. Oxford University Press, 2007.
Lavis J, Gruen R, Davies H, Walshe K, Farquhar CM. Working Within and Beyond the Cochrane Collaboration to Make Systematic Reviews More Useful to Healthcare Managers and Policymakers. Healthcare Policy 2006: 1(2): 21-33.
Farquhar CM, Kofa E, Slutsky J. “Clinicians' Attitudes to Clinical Practice Guidelines: A Systematic Review.” Medical Journal of Australia 2002; 177: 502-506.
Farquhar CM, Stryer D, Slutsky J. “Translating Research into Practice: the Future Ahead.” International Journal of Quality in Health Care 2002; 14: 233-249.
Farquhar CM, Naooms S, Steiner CA. “The Impact of Endometiral Ablation on Hysterectomy Rates in Women with Benign Uterine Conditions in the United States.” International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care 2002; 18: 625-634.
Farrquhar CM Steiner CA. “Hysterectomy Rates in the United States 1990-1997” Obstetrics and Gynecology 2002; 99: 229-34.
Farquhar CM, Kofa E, Power ML, Hill LD, Zinberg S, Schulkin J, “Clinical Practice Guidelines: a Survey of ACOG Fellows Attitudes” International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 2002.
Thornley C, Bloomfield A, Farquhar C. “The Effectiveness Of Postal Dissemination of Evidence-Based Clinical Guidelines” (letter) New Zealand Medical Journal 2000;113(1115):343-4.
Farquhar CM. “Evidence on Endometriosis” (letter) BMJ 2000;321:1077.