Christopher Friese, Ph.D., RN, AOCN, is the Elizabeth Tone Hosmer Professor of nursing, health management and policy at the University of Michigan, where he also serves as vice provost for academic and faculty affairs.
Friese has practiced as a staff nurse at leading cancer centers, including the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center. 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 high-risk settings, such as cancer centers and high-risk inpatient settings. 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. He has authored over 140 peer-reviewed publications.
Friese's research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the National Institute of Nursing Research, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the American Cancer Society and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In 2016, he served as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow, where he worked on health policy initiatives in the office of Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. (Pennsylvania).
Friese received a BSN-PhD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cancer control and outcomes at Harvard University/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and received the University of Michigan’s Henry Russel Award for Outstanding Junior Faculty.
Friese was appointed as a member of the PCORI Board of Governors by the Comptroller General of the United States in September 2018 and again in September 2024.