Preparing a new generation for tomorrow’s healthcare challenges

Putting scholarship into action

Through IHPI’s Clinician Scholars Program (CSP), physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, social workers, and other health professionals come together for an immersive two-year research and leadership training experience focused on putting scholarship into action. In June 2019, eight scholars completed the CSP, while the seven 2018-20 Clinician Scholars are mid-way through their training, and the 2019-21 cohort of nine scholars began their program in July 2019. In the first year of the program, Clinician Scholars earn a Master’s degree in Health and Health Care Research, which is also available as a one-year program to clinician researchers outside the CSP. In 2019, 15 individuals earned this degree, while 20 are currently enrolled in the Master’s program.

Partnering for early career faculty development

For the second year, IHPI partnered with peer healthcare research institutes at the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Pennsylvania to support early career faculty development through the Emerging Scholars Exchange Program, an idea developed through IHPI’s Early Career Faculty Advisory Council.

Growing online learning

Enrollment in the “Understanding and Improving the U.S. Healthcare System” Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) has steadily increased over the past five years. To date, 2,681 U-M students, faculty, and staff have participated in the program, including 521 in the fall term (Oct-Nov) 2019 representing 14 U-M schools and colleges, and 28 IHPI in-person session facilitators. The project team also created a separate course specifically tailored for first-year medical students at U-M.

Helping future clinicians on the path of excellence

The U-M Medical School’s Health Policy Path of Excellence (PoE) prepares students to think broadly about how their work as future clinicians fits within the larger framework of healthcare delivery and the policies that shape it. Four IHPI members serve as lead faculty advisors for the Health Policy PoE, with dozens of other IHPI faculty also supporting the other paths: Ethics; Global Health and Disparities; Patient Safety/Quality Improvement; Medical Humanities; and Scholarship of Learning and Teaching. In spring of 2019, 26 students graduated from the Health Policy path, which has expanded to include 84 students since its launch in 2015.

Pairing students and faculty for summer research experiences

Determining causes for patient wait times. Managing drug shortages across Michigan health systems. Improving computer simulation methods for training surgeons. These are just a few of the 24 projects launched through IHPI’s Interdisciplinary HSR summer program, which pairs graduate-level students with faculty from different academic departments for an interdisciplinary research experience. Student and faculty involvement in the program has grown for the third straight year.

Supporting research grant development

Through mentoring, coaching, and constructive feedback, IHPI supports faculty who are developing proposals for health services research funding from a variety of sources. Career development awards, commonly known as K awards, are designed to support intensive research training over several years to prepare early career faculty for independent research careers. In 2019, six senior faculty mentors provided guidance on proposals to 12 IHPI early career mentees in the Institute’s K Writing Workshop, held in collaboration with the Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR).

Meanwhile, 12 IHPI member reviewers provided K proposal critiques to four early career faculty members as part of the Center for Healthcare Outcomes & Policy’s K Mock Study Section program during September 2018 through May 2019, which are designed to simulate actual proposal review by federal funding decision-makers.

R01 awards are highly competitive and provide funding support for up to five years for defined research projects, which can help establish independent research careers. In 2019, two senior faculty coaches mentored eight early-career faculty members in IHPI’s R01 Boot Camp Program, held in conjunction with the Medical School’s Mentored Research Academy: R01 Boot Camp, to develop their R01 grant applications.