The George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) Center for Population Health Sciences and Health Equity (CPHSHE) announced the inaugural cohort of Population Health and Health Services Research Scholars. The seven-member group of junior and mid-career faculty members was selected from a from a pool of 19 applicants, featuring proposals exploring cancer prevention and treatment, behavioral health, telehealth and digital health, pregnancy-related care, and food as medicine.
The Health Services Research Scholars Program seeks to support the research careers of GW’s early career investigators and build on the SMHS Strategic Plan goals to “identify and build clinical and research programs to improve population health and health equity for the communities served by the GW academic medical enterprise,” according to Hannah Williams, senior administrator for CPHSHE.
Relying on community feedback from a series of focus groups, as well as data from a community health needs assessments conducted by DC Health, CPHSHE identified the intersecting areas between community needs and the city’s health care assessment to select six areas of emphasis — pregnancy related care, behavioral community health models, hospital violence intervention programs, cancer prevention and treatment service medicine, and digital health and telehealth — for research investment.
Faculty members submitted proposals focusing on one of the concentrations, prioritizing those served by the GW Medical Faculty Associates who are also District residents living in the primary service area for the Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center-GW Health.
“I think [the Cedar Hill catchment area] is a unique environment. You can extrapolate the findings of the research we expect to support in the Program and apply them across the country, particularly if you’re talking about pregnancy related care or maternal health outcomes,” said Williams. “Having the population that we have, and researchers whose interests align with patient need, it creates real opportunities for foundational research across the board.”
The program is geared toward faculty members who either have little or no experience conducting health services research. It serves as a research opportunity as well as a learning environment for the scholars, offering courses and mentoring to ensure scholars have the information and connections they need to benefit their research. Each of the scholars is paired with at least one seasoned health services researcher-as-mentor to offer guidance during the year-long award.
For some of the scholars, Williams explained, the hope is that they can gather the necessary data about the underlying causes of health outcomes in their focus area, develop health interventions, and successfully apply for external funding to continue their research. For others, she added, the goal might be to use their research findings to implement a program or craft procedural guidelines for implementation at the MFA.
2024 Population Health and Health Services Research Scholars Cohort
Ameer Abutaleb, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Transplant Division
Project Title: An Electronic Medical Record Algorithm to Enhance Liver Cancer Screening in Patients with Cirrhosis
Mentor: Y. Tony Yang, ScD, LLM, MPH
Sora Ely, MD, Assistant Professor of Thoracic Surgery
Project Title: Eliminating Racial Disparities in Lung Cancer Screening through Community-Based Provider Education
Mentors: Irene Dankwa-Mullan, MD, MPH, and Niharika Khanna, MBBS, MD, DGO
Laure Experton, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health
Project Title: Community Resilience Initiative: Implementing PM+ for Mental Health Support in Washington, D.C.
Mentor: Brandon Kohrt, MD, PhD
Emmeline Ha, MD, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine
Project Title: Behavioral Health Integration in Primary Care: Improving Access to Mental Health Services at GW MFA
Mentor: Mary Warner, DBH, PA-C
Sumitha Raman, MD, Assistant Professor of General Internal Medicine
Project Title: Implementing an inpatient clinical practice guideline for MOUD initiation at GW Hospital and Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center, GW Health
Mentor: Jillian Catalanotti, MD, MPH
Leah Steckler, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
Project Title: Assessment, Implementation, and Analysis of Efficacy of Telehealth Interventions to Reduce Fall-related Morbidity and Mortality in Washington, DC Among Older Adult Patients Presenting for Emergency Care
Mentors: Neal Sikka, MD, and Andrew Meltzer, MD
Catherine “Annie” Varnum, MD, Assistant Professor of General Internal Medicine
Project Title: Assessing and Addressing Food Insecurity in a Patient Population with Uncontrolled Type 2 Diabetes
Mentor: LaQuandra Nesbitt, MD, MPH
