HSR&D Senior Research Career Scientist Award

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Project Summary/Abstract As a VA Core Investigator at the HSR&D Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care and the Evidence Synthesis Program Coordinating Center based at the Portland VA Healthcare System, my current research activities include Scholarly Research, Training emerging scientists, and leading and participating in Service to VA research and clinical programs. My current work is innovative and highly relevant for one of the most dynamic and transformative periods for healthcare systems broadly, and for VA healthcare especially. The overarching goal of my Scholarly Research activities is to understand and identify ways to improve chronic disease management, including access, quality, and economic outcomes. I direct research on the potential for care coordination models to improve chronic disease management for high risk/high need Veterans and to offset any adverse effects of multi-system health care use across the VA and non-VA health systems. My past research focused on Veterans with chronic kidney disease and cancer led to my current focus on high risk/high need Veterans, including ongoing research on Veterans recovering from COVID-19 illness. Our HSR&D grant pending “Care Coordination and Outcomes for High Risk Patients: Building the Evidence for Implementation”, seeks to identify the current care coordination processes and data resources necessary to conduct a VA implementation study aimed at improving patient and provider experience and health outcomes across VA and non-VA settings. The project also includes partnership with the VA Offices of Community Care, Nursing, and Social Work and other VA offices. Proactive dissemination of my research findings is done through briefings at stakeholder meetings and professional society meetings. I will continue to produce peer reviewed publications of my own research and seek a new opportunity to edit a journal supplement on care coordination as more evidence on implementation science grows and yields results. My research Training activities aim to develop the next generation of VA health services researchers with focus on skill development in methods, measurement, and applying health data resources. I am currently mentoring four VA early career clinician scientists and one PhD postdoctoral fellow. As a graduate program director in Health Management and Policy in my university role, I am and will continue to mentor MPH and PhD candidates and make them aware of the opportunities the VA offers in HSR&D research careers. Further, with faculty roles in Oregon State University (OSU) College of Public Health and Human Sciences, the OSU Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing, and Oregon Health and Science University, together with a new HSR&D Senior Research Career Scientist award, I will be uniquely positioned to develop a new training program that draws on these multi-institutional relationships. My vision is to develop a new training program in Data Science for Better Health, including data science to support care coordination process and outcome measurement and analytics. The goals of my research Service activities are to share my research expertise to inform clinical policy and practice and to contribute to the VA research programs. I will continue involvement in the national VA efforts to inform implementation of care coordination practice alongside our research. My contributions to research programs will include continued support of our Veteran engagement efforts, and participation in peer review activities and on advisory boards for critical VA research programs. An award as a Senior Research Career Scientist would provide me with the opportunity to continue and enrich these important research activities in conducting scholarly and impactful research, training the next generation of scientists, and enhancing the visibility of VA research through leadership and service, and ultimately benefiting the Veterans served by VA health systems.