Jeffrey Fellows, PhD, is a health economist with over 20 years of experience implementing and evaluating community-based and clinical practice-based research. His research has focused on two primary themes: expanding the evidence base in dentistry and dental practice and contributing to the understanding and reduction of the disease burden of smoking in communities and health system populations. He was an associate section editor for the 2021 NIH report on Oral Health in America: Advances and Challenges, focusing on the oral health workforce, education, practice, and integration, and authored an accompanying article in the Journal of the American Dental Association (June 2022) on the implications of the report for dental practice. He was a contributing author for the 2004 Surgeon General’s Report Health Consequences of Smoking.
Dr. Fellows is the director of the Western Region of the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN), a collaborative of over 8,000 U.S. dental practitioners, researchers, and stakeholder organizations. From 2005 to 2012, he was the Permanente Dental Associates’ regional director for the Dental Practice-Based Research Network, which preceded the National Dental PBRN. Dr. Fellows has led PBRN studies of post-endodontic pain, the incidence and risk factors for osteonecrosis of the jaw, thresholds to initiate restorative caries treatment, and pay-for-performance in dentistry.
He led two PBRN COVID-19 studies related to dental practitioners’ experiences with infection control measures in dental offices and with dental office readiness to provide vaccinations. He also has conducted research testing organizational strategies to increase sealant placement rates, clinic interventions to reduce tobacco use among dental patients, and medical-dental integration. He is currently a co-investigator on a large data system study to estimate periodontal risks for men and women with and without type 2 diabetes, leading to the development and testing of risk-prediction software for use in dental offices.
Before joining CHR in 2002, Dr. Fellows served as a health economist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. He has been involved in tobacco control and other health services research since 1999, when he began working in the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. At the CDC, he led the domestic tobacco control economic evaluation program that included assessing the health and economic burden of tobacco. He also guided research on the impact of state excise taxes and state programs on cigarette consumption, smoking prevalence, and health outcomes.
As a CHR researcher, Dr. Fellows was the principal investigator on the Inpatient Technology-Supported Assisted Referral study linking hospitalized smokers at Kaiser Sunnyside, Oregon Health & Science University, and Legacy Emanuel hospitals to outpatient cessation services and medications. He was also principal investigator on a project estimating the return on investment of smoking cessation programs for health plans and employers, and numerous evaluations of the effectiveness of state tobacco control programs, including state tobacco quitlines. Currently, he is a co-investigator on a clinical trial evaluating the cost-effectiveness of smoking cessation clinical decision support, referral, and looped feedback reporting for community health center primary care teams.
Dr. Fellows holds a PhD in economics from the University of Utah.
Selected Current Studies
- National Dental Practice-Based Research Network (NIDCR)
- National Dental Practice-Based Research Network: Coordinating Center (NIDCR)
Selected Publications
- Mosen DM, Banegas MP, Dickerson JF, Fellows JL, Brooks NB, Pihlstrom DJ, Kershah HM, Scott JL, Keast EM. Examining the association of medical-dental integration with closure of medical care gaps among the elderly population. J Am Dent Assoc. 2021;152(4):302-308.
- Lam EWN, Law AS, Nguyen RHN, Basile S, Austah O, Gilbert GH, Lindauer PA, Romano MJ, Nixdorf DR, Fellows JL; National Dental Practice-Based Research Network Collaborative Group. Interexaminer Agreement in the Radiologic Identification of Apical Periodontitis/Rarefying Osteitis in the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network PREDICT Endodontic Study. J Endod. 2021 Oct;47(10):1575-1582. doi: 10.1016/j.joen.2021.07.008. Epub 2021 Jul 16. PMID: 34280432.
- Guerrero EG, Kaplan CD, Gruß I, Frantsve-Hawley J, Fellows JL, Yosuf N, Polk DE. Applying a scoping review approach for identifying effective implementation strategies in oral health settings. J Clin Transl Sci. 2021 Sep 20;5(1):e187. doi: 10.1017/cts.2021.857. PMID: 34849262; PMCID: PMC8596080.
- Gilbert GH, Allen GJ, Burton VA, Calnon WR, Cochran DL, Fellows JL, Gordan VV, Meyerowitz C, Rindal DB. Addressing Knowledge Gaps. J Am Dent Assoc. 2021 Apr;152(4):258-259.
- Gruß I, Pihlstrom DJ, Kaplan CD, Yosuf N, Fellows JL, Guerrero EG, Polk DE. Stakeholder Assessment of Evidence-Based Guideline Dissemination and Implementation in a Dental Group Practice. JDR Clin Trans Res. 2021 Jan;6(1):87-95. doi: 10.1177/2380084420903999. Epub 2020 Feb 10. PubMed PMID: 32040925; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7755945.
- Mungia R, Funkhouser E, Makhija SK, Reyes SC, Cohen RA, Cochran DL, Meyerowitz C, Rindal DB, Gordan VV, Fellows JL, Trejo M, Oates TW, McCargar JD, McMahon PA, Gilbert GH; National Dental PBRN Collaborative Group. Practitioner Engagement in Activities of the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN): 7-Year Results. J Am Board Fam Med. 2020 Sep-Oct;33(5):687-697. doi: 10.3122/jabfm.2020.05.190339. PMID: 32989063; PMCID: PMC7895471.
- Polk DE, Weyant RJ, Shah NH, Fellows JL, Pihlstrom DJ, Frantsve-Hawley J. Barriers to sealant guideline implementation within a multi-site managed care dental practice. BMC Oral Health 2018;18:17.
- Fellows JL, Mularski RA, Leo MC, Bentz CJ, Waiwaiole LA, Francisco MC, Funkhouser K, Stoney CM. Referring Hospitalized Smokers to Outpatient Quit Services: A Randomized Trial. Am J Prev Med 2016;51(4):609-19.
- Rigotti NA, Harrington KF, Richter K, Fellows JL, Sherman SE, Grossman E, Chang Y, Tindle HA, Ylioja T; for the Consortium of Hospitals Advancing Research on Tobacco (CHART). Increasing Prevalence of Electronic Cigarette Use Among Smokers Hospitalized in five U.S. Cities, 2010-2013. Nic Tob Res. 2015 Feb;17(2):236-44.
- Fellows JL, Gordan VV, Gilbert GH, Rindal DB, Qvist V, Litaker MS, Benjamin P, Flink H, Pihlstrom DJ, Johnson N. Dentist and practice characteristics associated with restorative treatment of enamel caries in permanent teeth: multiple-regression modeling of observational clinical data from the National Dental PBRN. Am J Dent 2014 Apr;27(2):91-99.