Decision sciences encompass a collaboration of several disciplines toward the goal of making decisions more rationally. The field includes psychology, economics, statistics, mathematical modeling and computer science. A technique known as decision analysis analyzes decisions according to their possible outcomes and assigns probabilities and values (known as utilities) to each outcome. By combining these elements into decision analytic models, the consequences of each possible decision can be predicted and compared. When the outcomes include financial cost, the result is a cost-effectiveness model. When applied to application of pharmaceutical products, the resulting analyses are referred to as pharmacoeconomics. The informatics institute has an active decision sciences group that is developing new software technology for decision modeling, and studying applications of health economics in the areas of contraception, heart failure, pediatric surgery and oral medicine. For more information, visit http://infolab.umdnj.edu.

Individuals with interests in Decision Sciences are encouraged to contact Dr. Frank Sonnenberg