Description of Research Expertise

Karin Rhodes, MD, MS (Health Studies) is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Center of Emergency Care Policy Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine, with secondary appointments in Psychiatry and the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. A former Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, her research focuses on developing effective patient-centered clinical responses to intimate partner violence and other psychosocial issues impacting individual and public health, Rhodes has been principal investigator on a number of federally-funded studies assessing the quality of emergency care (including mixed method studies of doctor-patient communication and the quality of ED discharge instructions) and broad system-level interventions designed to improve the value of a health care visit. Her interest in assuring linkage of vulnerable patients to appropriate social and medical resources has resulted in several high profile audit studies assessing the impact of insurance status on access to needed care. Current work involves assessing the impact of behavioral health integration in the medical home, testing the effectiveness of an ED-based brief motivational intervention on rates of heavy drinking and partner violence and a new project designed to measure and track access to primary care before and after health care reform. Dr. Rhodes thrives on working with multi-disciplinary teams and enjoys mentoring medical and public health students, RWJ clinical scholars, residents, junior faculty, and doctoral students in the areas of health, mental health, and social policy.