Welcome to the Opel Lab
The Opel Lab focuses on clinician-parent communication and medical decision-making, with a primary goal to improve child health by identifying effective clinician communication strategies that positively influence parent acceptance of recommended interventions for children. Specific research topics include vaccine communication and delivery, shared decision-making, and the clinician-parent relationship.
Investigator Biography
Douglas J Opel, MD, MPH
Douglas J. Opel, MD, MPH, Director of the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics and Palliative Care at Seattle Children's Research Institute. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Opel received his BS from Duke University, MD from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and MPH from the University of Washington School of Public Health. He practices as a general pediatrician at the University of Washington Medical Center.
Current Research/Scholarship Projects
Dr. Opel’s current research projects focus on health communication, health policy, and shared decision-making. Active or recently completed projects include:
Evaluation of the Presumptively Initiating Vaccines and Optimizing Talk with Motivational Interviewing (PIVOT with MI) Interventio
The overall goal of this project is to evaluate the impact of a novel and innovative provider communication strategy on vaccine acceptance among vaccine-hesitant parents.
Source of Support: National Institutes of Health
Role: Multiple Principal Investigator
Validation of a Framework for Shared Decision-Making in Pediatrics
The overall goal of this project is to empirically refine a framework for implementing SDM in pediatrics using a diverse set of decision-making scenarios across multiple pediatric disciplines and child ages.
Source of Support: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Role: Principal Investigator
Development and Evaluation of an Instrument to Measure Shared Decision-Making in Pediatrics
The overall goal of this project is to develop and evaluate a dyadic instrument to measure the process of shared decision-making with parents of young children that includes both parent and clinician perspectives.
Source of Support: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Role: Principal Investigator
Mobile Video interpretation to Optimize Communication Across Language barriers: mVOCAL
The goal of this project is to test two discrete, scalable implementation strategies for improving professional interpreter use in primary care, while collecting detailed information about mechanisms of action and costs that will be applicable to many sites of care and contribute meaningfully to the goal of reducing communication-based disparities.
Source of Support: National Institutes of Health
Role: Co-Investigator (PI: K. Casey Lion)
Alaska Native Communities Advancing Vaccine Uptake
The overall goals of this project are to better understand vaccine attitudes and intentions, including hesitancy, in Alaskan Native American Indian (ANAI) communities, and to develop and implement a theory-driven intervention designed to increase vaccine uptake that is grounded in ANAI values of relationality and respect.
Source of Support: National Institutes of Health
Role: Co-Investigator (PI: Sue Trinidad)
Regional Pediatric Pandemic Network
The goal of the RPPN is to coordinate among the Nation’s children’s hospitals and their communities in preparing for and responding to global health threats, including the coordination, preparation, response, and real-time dissemination of research-informed pediatric care for future pandemics.
Source of Support: Health Resources and Services Administration
Role: Site Co-Investigator (Site PI: Danielle Zerr)
Highlighted Publications
- Opel DJ, O’Leary ST, Stockwell MS. The Future of Research on Vaccine Uptake at the National Institutes of Health. JAMA 2025: 333(19):1661-1662.
- Opel DJ, Gerstein MT, Carle AC, et al. Saving Shared Decision-Making. J Gen Int Med 2025: 40(8):1844-1847.
- Robinson JD, Opel DJ. Word Choice and the Patient Encounter. JAMA 2024; 332(15):1296-1297. PMID: 39292478.
- Sawyer KE, Opel DJ. Shared Decision-Making in Pediatrics. Pediatr Clin North Am 2024; 71(1):39-48. PMID: 37973305.
View a full list of Dr. Opel's publications on MyBibliography.
Participate in Research
Help us answer questions about childhood health and illness and help other children in the future. Learn more about Clinical Trials and Research Studies.