Zeeshan Butt, PhD

Patient-Centered Outcomes

and Behavioral Health Expert

  • Professional Summary

    For the first 15 years of my career, I was on faculty at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, where I led
    federally funded studies that improved assessment of patient symptoms and life quality, served as the sole psychologist for several organ transplant programs, and provided mentorship in research and clinical care.


    In 2021, I was recruited to a healthcare technology company, Phreesia, where I brought measurement science to scale to help improve the care that hundreds ofthousands of patients receive. I increased the number and variety of patient-reported outcome (PRO) tools in the library, grew the number of clients using PRO solutions, and streamlined custom PRO builds. I led the successful effort to get a PRO-based performance measure into a CMS payment program and spearheaded the multi-disciplinary workstream that won the re-endorsement of that healthcare quality measure.

    I’m used to being the only psychologist in the room and that’s helped hone my ability to communicate our best science to health care leaders, policy makers, and most importantly, to the patients we serve. Across my work in the academy, industry, and in consultation, my ultimate goal remains the same: to champion the voice of the patients in order to develop empirically-driven, practical, and scalable solutions that improve health care.

  • Leadership Snapshot

    Applied Psychological Science to Support Healthcare Quality

    • Led team to successfully include a first-in-class patient-reported outcome - performance measure into the CMS Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)
    • Represent APA on the Partnership for Quality Measurement (PQM) Pre-Rulemaking Measure Review (PRMR) Committee to provide ongoing expertise in the review of measures being considered to assess healthcare quality

    Academic Scholarship and Dissemination

    • Awarded grants and contracts from National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense (DOD), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and industry partners on research to improve assessment of patient symptoms and quality of life
    • Published over 100 peer-reviewed publications, which have been cited nearly 8500 times (h-index = 50)

    Education and Training

    • Taught graduate level course in survey design and methodology; led graduate seminar on diversity issues in clinical care
    • Provided supervision in research and clinical care to trainees and faculty

    Clinical Care

    • Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Illinois, 2010 - present
    • Served as sole psychologist for kidney, liver, and lung transplant programs
    • Contributed expertise to several clinical practices guidelines and best practices documents focused on organ donation/transplantation and behavioral aspects of surgical procedures

    Awards and Honors (select)

    • 2014, APA Presidential Citation
    • 2016, 2018, named “Outstanding Teacher” by medical school
    • 2021, 2022, Fellow status, Division 5 (Quantitative and Qualitative Methods), Division 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology), and Division 38 (Society for Health Psychology)
    • 2023, Outstanding Mid-Career Psychologist Contributions Award, Association of Psychologists in Academic Health Centers

    (Scroll down to see my 2-page resume or a full, comprehensive bookmarked CV.)

  • Resume - Zeeshan Butt, PhD (April 2025)

    You can download my 2-page resume for a quick overview of my background and past leadership.

  • CV - Zeeshan Butt, PhD (April 2025)

    You can download my full CV for more information on my background and activities.

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