Tim Anderson, MD, MAS

Dr. Timothy Anderson is a clinician-investigator and Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Anderson's primary research interests are identifying strategies to improve the quality and equity of care delivered to older adults with chronic conditions and to optimize prescribing decisions for patients in the hospital, at home and during transitions of care. His research methodologies include retrospective studies of claims databases, national surveys, and electronic health records; mixed methods prospective cohort studies; and interventional trials targeting clinician and patient behavior

Dr. Anderson studies transitions of care for patients being discharged from the hospital. He is the Principal Investigator for an American Heart Association funded 3-year study to evaluate the impact of Medicare’s Transitional Care Management (TCM) program on patient outcomes following cardiovascular hospitalizations. He is also the Principal Investigator of an NIH National Institute on Aging funded 5-year study to address knowledge gaps on why clinicians change older adults' chronic medication during hospitalization and what the outcomes of these changes are as well as to develop new strategies for optimizing prescribing decisions for hospitalized older adults with chronic conditions.

Dr. Anderson also studies deprescribing, the process of tapering or stopping medications, aimed at minimizing polypharmacy and improving patient outcomes. He is the Co-Principal Investigator for a National Institue on Aging / US Deprescribing Research Network pilot study testing whether providing older adults brief cognitive behavioral therapy can enhance benzodiazepine deprescribing . He is also the Principal Investigator for a National Institue on Aging / US Deprescribing Research Network qualitative study collecting perspectives of older adults with chronic pain and primary care providers on opioid deprescribing.

Dr. Anderson also has a long-standing interest in medical ethics and understanding how financial conflicts of interest influence prescribing and care delivery. He completed a Master of Arts in Bioethics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and has led national campaigns advocating for stronger conflict of interest policies at academic medical centers. He was an invited participant on a 2012 Institute of Medicine taskforce focused on harmonizing reporting on potential conflicts of interest, and his research in this area has been published in JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, BMJ, and Health Affairs

Dr. Anderson greatly enjoys mentoring and is available to provide both career and project mentorship to students, residents, and fellows interested in health services and health policy research. Examples of his mentee's accomplishments can be found at www.prescribingwiselylab.org. He also serves as a member of the national Society for General Internal Medicine Research Committee and an Associate Editor at the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Recognition of Dr. Anderson's research contributions includes selection for the National Institute on Aging's Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging (K76), the New England Regional Award for Excellence as a Clinician Investigator from the Society for General Internal Medicine, and the American Geriatrics Society's Outstanding Junior Investigator Of The Year Award. 

Dr. Anderson is board-certified in Internal Medicine and serves as a primary care provider at the UPMC Montefiore General Internal Medicine Clinic.