Institutional Training Programs (T32s)

Brown University, Providence

Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research

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Contact

Vincent Mor, Ph.D., Program Director
Executive Committee:
   Susan Allen, Ph.D., Professor
   Melissa Clark, Ph.D., Associate Professor
   Peter Friedmann, M.D., Professor
   William Rakowski, Ph.D., Professor
   Joan Teno, M.D., MS., Professor

For information about the postdoctoral training Program:

Audrey Kydd
Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research
Brown University
Box G - S121
Providence, RI 02912
Phone: (401) 863-3211

For information about the predoctoral training program:

Jessi Champion
Department of Community Health
Brown University
Box G - S121
Providence, RI 02912
Phone: (401) 863-3681

Web site: http://www.chcr.brown.edu

Program Description

In 2004, U.S. health care expenditures were nearly $1.9 trillion representing 16% of the gross domestic product. The management and delivery of health care services is near the top of the national agenda, and is likely to remain in this position with the aging of the U.S. population. There is a high demand for well-trained professionals to focus on the study of health care systems, health care reform, organization and financing of medical care, patient-provider relationships, clinical management, deconstruction of utilization patterns, development of health information systems and policy analysis. Employment of professions appropriate for those with health services research specialty training has been estimated to grow between 18-26% through 2014.

The Brown University post- and pre-doctoral training program has specialized in training investigators committed to research in the area of aging and chronic disease management for over 20 years in an inter-disciplinary environment providing both didactic and experiential learning. Our research portfolio spans multiple settings (VA-REAP, affiliated academic hospitals, teaching nursing homes and ambulatory clinics) and topics loosely grouped as:

1. Improving Long Term Care in America.
2. Improving patient safety and quality particularly in geriatric patient-centered care including appropriate medication management and health information technology.
3. Restructuring of Medicaid via Managed Care.
4. Examining quality variation in Medicare Managed Care.
5. Testing Primary Care and Community Prevention Interventions.
6. Quality Improvement programs in Integrated Delivery Systems.

The training programs exist in a rich research environment that includes a $30 million per year externally funded research portfolio. Underscoring the research and training that addresses each of AHRQ's priority areas is Brown's expertise in large-scale database analyses and the cutting-edge analytic techniques required of increasingly complex multilevel conceptual models which demand an understanding of the interaction of biological factors with social and behavioral factors, as well as organizational and market forces. Our competency-based program develops scientists poised to translate research findings into practice and policy. Our program emphasizes the "fit" between the needs of each individual trainee, the interests, available resources and capabilities of a faculty mentors without regard for the discipline of the mentor or trainee. Proposed training faculty come from health services research, epidemiology, biostatistics, economics, sociology, and public policy and include clinician and non-clinician scientists.

Specific trainee goals and experiences vary as a function of their background (clinical vs. non-clinician) and level of training (pre vs. post-doctoral fellow). Post-doctoral fellows who are clinicians often pursue an M.P.H. (requiring 9 formal courses and a thesis). Non-clinician post-doctoral fellows typically tailor their experience by selecting a few methodological courses and major and minor research projects. Pre-doctoral fellows require 16 or 24 courses selected on the basis of prior preparation, goals and emphasis area. The typical pre-doctoral fellow engages in facets of the mentoring team's research projects, in addition to their dissertation research. Our approach of having clinician and non-clinician researchers and pre-and post-doctoral candidates collaborate in an interdisciplinary training program has been quite successful.

Common to all trainees is:

1. Individual, self-directed, experience-based professional learning and developmental process.
2. A training experience derived from a competency-based curriculum which includes explicit competencies in leadership and professional development.
3. An evaluation system that reinforces transformative learning through reflection and provides trainees with the directed feedback with respect to their abilities and necessary action steps to maintain on course.
4. A team mentoring program which stimulates interdisciplinary research and encourages mentoring across the spectrum of trainees.
5. A comprehensive three-tiered training program in the responsible conduct of research as part of an institution-wide focus on ethical concerns in all aspects of teaching and research.

Current as of August 2008

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Internet Citation:

Institutional Training Programs (T32s): Brown University. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/fund/training/T32-3.htm

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