ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF, IN COLLABORATION WITH CANADIAN FRIENDS OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY
Updated:

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

9:00 AM PST | 12:00 PM EST | 19:00 Israel Time | 17:00 UK Time

Professor Shoham Choshen-Hillel has received international recognition for her research on real-world decision-making situations. One of her best-known studies demonstrated that most medical personnel underprescribe for women who are experiencing the same amount of pain as men. “If you’re a woman coming to the ER, you’re less likely to receive pain medication for the same type of pain for the same complaint, compared to a man,” she says.

PROF. SHOHAM CHOSHEN-HILLEL: ‘Physicians are prescribing less analgesics for the same reported pain score and type of pain for women than for men.’
PROF. SHOHAM CHOSHEN-HILLEL: ‘Physicians are prescribing less analgesics for the same reported pain score and type of pain for women than for men.’ (Credit: MICHAL REVIVO)

Choshen-Hillel’s research explores how people make decisions, which biases shape their choices, and how fairness and honesty influence behavior. “Decision-making is the foundation of human behavior,” she says. “Without decisions, nothing would happen in the business world or the social world.”

A professor of organizational behavior and vice-dean for teaching at the Hebrew University Business School, Choshen-Hillel is a member of the Federmann Center for the Study of Rationality at the Hebrew University and serves as an associate editor at the journal Management Science. Her award-winning work, published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) and Management Science, examines everything from bias in physicians’ decisions to sleep and resilience during war.

Written in cooperation with Canadian Friends of Hebrew University.