UTMB Health Services Research Training Program

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PROJECT ABSTRACT/SUMMARY This new T32 program for Heath Service Research at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) seeks funds for 5 years to support 3 predoctoral trainees per year. The program aims to increase and improve the pool of health service researchers with clinical background to help address complex issues in health care delivery in the US. Given our strengths in the areas of health service research, we focus on using cutting edge methodology to study the patterns and trends of health care delivery, to assess the impact of health policy, and to examine the effectiveness of various care models. The trainees are PhD or MD-PhD students in the Population Health Science program, Clinical Science program, or Rehabilitation Science program of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. UTMB has an excellent record in conducting health service research. We were funded by an R24 on Health Service Research in Underserved Population between 2001 and 2006 from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Since then, we have continuously developed health service research with two R01s and an R24 on Patient Centered Outcomes Research in the Elderly, currently funded by AHRQ. Besides funding from AHRQ and several additional health service research R01s from the NIH, we also have a P2C grant for the Center for Large Data Research and Data Sharing in Rehabilitation funded by the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development and another Multi-Investigator Research Award on Comparative Effectiveness Research on Cancer in Texas funded by the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas. The current faculty in the affiliated departments have strengths in biostatistics, epidemiology, economics, computer science, sociology, medicine, health policy, and rehabilitation. We plan to build on our strengths and train health care professionals in health service research in different populations. As is the case in our other programs, special efforts will be made to recruit students from diverse clinical backgrounds, and all our trainees will focus their health service research in their clinical field. The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Provost's Office have made significant commitments in the past 5 years to enhance the excellence of graduate education at UTMB. These commitments include the President's Scholars Program to recruit outstanding graduate students and the establishment of an Office of Postdoctoral Affairs that includes organized training and opportunities in career development and mentoring. We have developed a formal structure and related activities to enhance recruitment and facilitate the placement of our trainees regionally and nationally. We believe that our health care profession trainees will be competitive for leadership positions among the next generation of health service researchers in their clinical area.