The University of Chicago and Northwestern University Postdoctoral Health Services Research Program

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Project Summary Because of widespread concerns about health care quality and safety, disparities in access and outcomes for vulnerable populations, and the desire to rapidly move evidence-based therapies into practice, there is a critical need to train and develop a highly competent, multidisciplinary workforce of future leaders in health services research (HSR). This application proposes to build on a nine-year history of successful joint training programs and research collaborations to launch a new University of Chicago And Northwestern University Postdoctoral HSR Program, referred to as the “UCANU Postdoctoral HSR Program”, which will use an innovative, competency-based curriculum to train candidates from diverse personal and professional backgrounds in traditional HSR, learning health system methods, implementation science, health disparities research, data science, and systems science. Our robust, comprehensive training architecture incorporates didactics, mentored research, and professional development activities that maximize the complementary strengths of University of Chicago (UC) and Northwestern University (NU) in the diverse metropolitan city of Chicago. Together, we will train the next generation of health services researchers who will conduct and lead rigorous, reproducible health services research using both experimental and observational study designs and quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research. To achieve this goal, we will: (1) administer a two-institution (UC and NU) training program that integrates numerous complementary resources for training and career development, including didactics, conferences (including joint seminars with all UCANU trainees and faculty), mentoring, and other professional development activities; and (2) leverage the exceptional expertise of faculty mentors at both institutions to ensure that fellows attain the knowledge, skills, and experiences required to transition into careers that sustain innovative, independently-funded health services research. Our program will invite applications from a diverse pool of candidates who have completed a PhD or clinical doctoral training and residency or fellowship (e.g., MD, DPT), and it will support the training of four positions per year (two at UC, two at NU). Fellows will have their primary home at the institution that best fits their needs for faculty mentorship and training, including access to graduate degree programs. Fellows may earn a Master of Science in Public Health Sciences for Clinical Professionals at UC or a Master of Science in Health Services and Outcomes Research at NU. An advisory board will oversee all training along with a Postdoctoral HSR Program Steering Committee that intentionally includes leadership and faculty mentors from both NU and UC to optimize coordination and collaboration between the two sites. Over the next five years, we will leverage the vast, remarkable strengths of our combined universities to train and prepare the next generation of diverse scientists whose careers will employ the power of rigorous and innovative HSR to improve healthcare delivery and access, increase implementation of evidence, maximize health outcomes, and eliminate health disparities.