Rita Redberg, MD

Dr. Rita F. Redberg is a cardiologist who practices general and preventive cardiology and a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She is passionate about helping patients adopt positive lifestyle behaviors, enabling them to reduce heart disease risk and stay healthy. She is also interested in how to promote high-value health care, an approach that emphasizes delivering appropriate treatment while avoiding tests or therapies with no known benefit. 

Dr. Redberg studies how the assessment of medical technology for safety and effectiveness influences – and is influenced by – public health policy. In particular, she studies the regulatory process for medical devices and the strength of evidence that supports them, particularly high-risk devices, both before and after they are marketed. She is a strong proponent of high-quality data to support safety and effectiveness for medical devices, in order to provide the best quality and appropriate medical care and advice. Dr. Redberg has testified before Congress multiple times on these issues and previously served on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which advises Congress on medical payment policy. She has also served as Chairperson of Medicare’s Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee.

During her time as editor in chief of JAMA Internal Medicine, Dr. Redberg spearheaded the publication’s focus on health care reform and less-is-more medicine, a movement to reduce unnecessary interventions. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.