Research and Scholarship Annual Report
Judy Arnetz, PhD, MPH, PT, Associate Chair for Research
The Department of Family Medicine has made solid progress toward the goal of expanding faculty research and scholarly activity.
Grants
The department currently has 21 active grants totally almost $14 million dollars. Grant awards have been funded by NIH, HRSA, AHRQ, Mercy Health Saint Mary’s Hospital, Midland Area Community Foundation, Clare Area Community Foundation, Trinity Health, Dignity Health, Thorek Memorial Foundation, and the U.S. Department of the Army. These projects cover all 3 aspects of our high reliability healthcare research framework, aiming to improve healthcare systems, patient health, and the health, safety, and education of the healthcare workforce. Projects cover a wide range of topics, including environmental exposures and respiratory health, effects of cannabinoids on disease, patient-to-staff violence, the neuroscience of Alzheimer’s disease, adverse drug events among older adults, and educational curricula to improve primary care of rural and underserved patients. Additional faculty funding comes from sponsored research on implementation science and health policy. Faculty submitted 15 new grant applications in 2018; thus far, 2 NIH R01s have been scored at fundable levels.
Publications and Presentations
To date, DFM faculty have published 23 peer-reviewed papers in 2018, with an additional 5 in press. In 2018, faculty disseminated their research findings at 20 national and international conferences.
New faculty
This year we strengthened our research capacity with the recruitment of Omayma Alshaarawy, PhD, who is studying the effects of cannabinoids on health through work funded by NIH. We extend a very warm welcome to Dr. Alshaarawy!
New Directions
Going forward, the department is developing projects to operationalize population health research; improve access to opioid addiction care in rural Michigan; examine determinants of antiviral medication adherence among HIV/AIDS patients; and better understand the mechanisms by which work stress impacts the quality of patient care.
