The Masters of Science Program in Health Policy Research

Spotlights

Faculty Spotlight

The MSHP program is happy to announce the appointment of Marilyn Schapira, MD, MPH as the new HPR-track Director and MSHP Executive Committee member. Dr. Schapira is a clinician-investigator in the area of risk communication and medical decision-making.She has conducted original research in the development and evaluation of decision-aids for prostate cancer treatment and postmenopausal hormone therapy. Dr. Schapira has focused her area of investigation on how patients understand and use quantitative information in the context of clinical decision-making and doctor-patient communication.She has expertise in the measurement of risk perceptions, patient preferences, and quality of life. Dr. Schapira’s research in judgment and decision making also addresses how to effectively communicate risk and uncertainty regarding medical outcomes to patients, physicians, the public, and policy makers. Her current work involves the development of a construct of health numeracy and the evaluation of numeracy as a potential link between formal education and improved health.Dr. Schapira is the immediate past president of the Society for Medical Decision Making, serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Medical Decision Making and currently reviews for the Journal of General Internal Medicine and the Journal of Health Communication. She is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a graduate of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) class of 2011.

In addition to her work with the MSHP program, Dr. Schapira is a member of the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion at the Philadelphia VA medical center and Co-Director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania. A few of her most recent selected publications include:

Schapira MM, Walker CM, Cappaert KJ, Ganschow PS, Fletcher KE, McGinley EL, Del Pozo S, Schauer C, Tarima S, Jacobs EA: The Numeracy Understanding in Medicine Instrument(NUMi): A Measure of Health Numeracy Developed Using Item Response Theory. Medical Decision Making 2012 Notes: In Press.

Lamba AR, Schapira MM, Singh S, Fletcher KE.: Defining and measuring the effort needed for inpatient medicine work. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2012 Notes: In Press.

Schapira MM, Fletcher KE, Eastwood D, Hayes A, Patterson L, Ertl K, Whittle J: The Development and Validation of the Hypertension Evaluation of Lifestyle and Management (HELM) Knowledge Scale. The Journal of Clinical Hypertension 2012 Notes: In Press.

Schapira MM: How Individual Genetic Test Disclosure May Affect Population Health. Medical Decision Making 2012 Notes: In Press.

 

Course Spotlight

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HPR 610: Achieving Evidence-Based Health Policy is offered in the spring semester and examines how research can influence health policy. Individual sessions are devoted to topics such as health insurance, obesity, immigrant health, early childhood mental health, and the Nurse-Family Partnership program. Sessions examine: how selection of research methods may influence results; the dialectical relationship between research and policy; and the role of various stakeholders (the media, foundations, government, advocates) in both research and policy debates. Didactic topical research presentations are followed by interactive discussions examining how research findings translate (or, as the case may be, do not translate) into policy. Guest speakers include research and policy experts from the public and private sectors.

More information about this class can be found in the Penn Course Register and more information about the instructors, Sarah Zlotnik, MSW, MSPH and Marsha Gerdes PhD, can be found here.

 

Student Spotlight

Caroline Reinke, MD, MSPH is a 2^nd-Year Masters of Science in Health Policy Research student who plans to practice medicine in an academic setting where she can devote time to research issues involving patient safety and surgical education. Currently, Caroline is a PGY5 resident in general surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), with an interest in general abdominal surgery. She is also a fellow in the Center for Health Improvement and Patient Safety (CHIPS), where she participates in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives within the healthcare system.

During her time on the MSHP program, Dr. Reinke’s leadership positions have included Co-chair of the Housestaff Quality and Safety Council (2012-2013), Medical Student Clerkship Coordinator (2011-2012), Resident Education Task Force member (2011), Resident Executive Committee member (class representative, 2010-present), and Mortality Committee member (2010-present). She was also the recipient of the ASCRS General Surgery Resident Research Initiation Grant Award (2011-2012). The following is a selected list of Dr. Reinke’s most recent presentations:

Reinke CE, Showalter S, Mahmoud NN, Kelz RR. Anastomotic leak and databases: Improving Quality by Identifying Factors that Improve Predictive Value. Poster presentation. American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons Annual Meeting. June 2012, San Antonio, TX.

Reinke CE, Kelz RR, Pray L, Williams N, Bleier J, Murayama K, Morris JB. Trimming the Fat: Optimizing Overall Educational Value by Defining Factors Associated with Overall Educational Value and Service to Education Ratio. Oral presentation, Association of Program Directors in Surgery. March 2012, San Diego, CA.

Yang, R, Lin C, Newman A, Reinke CE, Karakousis G, Czerniecki B, Wu L, Kelz RR. State and Federal Health Policy and its Effects on Racial Disparities in Breast Cancer Reconstruction. Poster presentation, Society of Surgical Oncology’s Annual Cancer Symposium. March 2012

Reinke CE, Karakousis GC, Hadler RA, Drebin JA, Fraker DL, Kelz RR. Diagnosis of Venous Thromboembolism as an Outpatient in Patients Undergoing Surgical Treatment for Malignancy: An Analysis of ACS NSQIP Data 2005-2008. Oral presentation, Academic Surgical Congress.• Las Vegas, NV.• February 2012.