Christopher R. Friese, PhD, RN, AOCN®, FAAN

Dr. Christopher R. Friese is a professor at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, where he focuses on measuring and improving the quality of cancer care delivery. He is also a faculty investigator at the university’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, a faculty member of the Cancer Surveillance, Outcomes and Research Team, and a core member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center. He has practiced as a staff nurse at leading cancer centers, including the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the University of Michigan Health System. Friese is a national expert in the analyses of claims data to study care quality and has executed large surveys of ambulatory oncology nurses. The author of over 60 peer-reviewed publications, his research findings were among the first to establish a significant relationship between favorable nurse practice environments and lower surgical mortality. 

As the first nurse scientist to complete a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence award from the National Institute of Nursing Research, Friese leads an interdisciplinary research program to study the quality of care delivered in understudied ambulatory oncology settings from the perspectives of patients and clinicians. He has also led pivotal studies to develop a valid and reliable measure of ambulatory nursing work environments. His recent work looks for patterns and correlates of hazardous drug exposure in oncology nurses. Friese directs the DEFENS (Drug Exposure Feedback and Education for Nurses’ Safety) Study on nurses’ use of personal protective equipment when handling chemotherapy and leads a National Cancer Institute–funded study on individualized decision making and treatment for breast cancer in an era of precision medicine. He was recently awarded a $1.3 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to study the impact of health information technology on clinician communication and chemotherapy safety. In 2016, he was selected as Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow, where he worked on health policy initiatives in the office of Senator Robert P. Casey.

Friese received a BSN-PhD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and completed a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship in Cancer Control and Outcomes at Harvard University/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and received the University of Michigan’s Henry Russel Award for Outstanding Junior Faculty.