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I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health (DFMCH) at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) with additional training in mixed methods, biostatistics, and qualitative research. I have a methodological focus on integrated research methods, and am currently Associate Director of the Mixed Methods Research Lab, a service center within Penn Medicine that facilitates a variety of inter- and multi-disciplinary research projects. Since 2019, I have served as a Research Fellow with Penn Medicine’s Center for Health Equity Advancement (CHEA). As a CHEA fellow, I have worked as a consultant, collaborator, and mentor on a variety of research projects that use mixed methods to evaluate disparities in care quality and workforce inclusion. I am also currently a Senior Fellow with UPenn’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics and have an appointment as a Research Specialist at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia.
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At Penn my scholarship is focused on three specific areas: 1) program evaluation, 2) health promotion through community-engaged research, and 3) social media surveillance and evaluation. Since joining UPenn’s faculty in 2021, I have had the privilege of serving as evaluator on multiple federally-funded projects through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). As evaluator, I have employed my skills in mixed methods research to explore program implementation barriers and facilitators, solicit participant and broader community input, and identify factors associated with program success.
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My research interests include identifying innovative strategies to investigate, evaluate, and address health behaviors and other phenomena within the digital environment of social media, as well as in clinical settings at Penn Medicine. I am particularly curious about the impact of social media health misinformation in unique social contexts and communities. As a doctoral candidate at Drexel University, my training focused on identifying and implementing novel approaches to explore health behaviors and communications on social media. At the University of Pennsylvania my scholarship is focused on three specific areas: 1) mixed methods research, 2) social media surveillance and evaluation, and 3) health promotion through community-engaged research. Based on my experience as a qualitative researcher studying misinformation’s impact on social media platforms including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, I am deeply interested in understanding the role of misinformation in healthcare consumers’ decision making processes, in particular as it relates to vaccination.
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Selected Publications
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Kearney MD, O’Brien CS, Emms SA, et al. : Perspectives from Caregivers of Kidney Transplant Recipients from Donors with Hepatitis C Virus Infection
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Kidney Medicine. Elsevier, May 2026.
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May S, Knight EM, Boyer N, Calderwood AH, Biddle KM, Marks AR, Badalov JM, Jensen CD, Levin TR, Robertson DJ, Cronholm PF, Kearney MD, Barg FK, Jones L, Edwards WD, Henley C, O’Shea E, Geddes J, Schifferdecker, KE : Mixed-Methods Development and Validation of PRO/PREM Items for Patients Undergoing Colon Polyp Surveillance. Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology Lippincott Williams, April 2026.
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den Braven TE, Nichol AA, Kearney MD, Cho MK, Sankar PL
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: Machine learning for precision medicine: Promoting value considerations through hypothetical group design exercises. AI and Ethics
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Springer, 6(1), February 2026.
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Reddy YNV, O’Brien CS, Burke RE, O’Hare AM, Grabill M, Gebru H, Pelcher L, Benson JA, Peeples AD, Kearney MD: Understanding Barriers to Home Dialysis Within an Integrated Healthcare System: A National Qualitative Study Within the VA Healthcare System. Kidney Medicine. Published online Accepted 2026.
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Kidney Medicine January (Accepted) 2026.
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Ashok, V. A.; Vervilles, J.; Kellom, K.; Chatterjee, A.; Ntigbu, I.; Boms, O.; Szabo, A.; Fein, J.; Richmond, T. S.; Purtle, J.; Kearney, M. D.; Meisel, Z.
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: Firearm Violence and Health in Policymaker Discourse: Mixed Methods Social Media Analysis. JMIR Formative Research December 2025.
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Hickson MR, Matula ST, Tshiamo WB, Cronholm PF, Kearney MD, et al. : Implementing and Evaluating a Pediatric Early Warning System (PEWS) at a National Referral Hospital in Botswana. BMJ Paediatrics Open October 2025.
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Kearney MD, O’Brien CS, Donze ML, et al. : Assessing family medicine obstetrics training needs to strengthen maternal health in underserved and rural US communities. Journal of Primary Care & Community Health
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SAGE Publications Inc, 16, October 2025.
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Howard SD, Gabriel E, Singh S, Cajigas I, Aamodt W, Farrar J, Kearney MD. Perception of neurosurgery among surgical patients with essential tremor: A qualitative mixed methods study. . 2025 Oct 1;28:100504.
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: Perception of neurosurgery among surgical patients with essential tremor: A qualitative mixed methods study. World Neurosurgery: X. Elsevier, 28, August 2025.
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Hinkle, S. N.; Okeh, C. C.; Ulloa-Pérez, E.; Mani, A.; Higginbotham, E. J.; Thomas, R.; Kearney, M. D.; Fahl, C.; Schisterman, E. F.; Verma, S. S.; Hamilton, R.; Mumford, S. L.: Perceptions of Institutional Engagement and Inclusion by Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. JAMA Network Open 8(6): e2513772, June 2025.
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Eberly, L.; Tennison, A.; Morgan, L.; Smith, M.; Gray, L.; Kearney, M.; Feliciano, B.; Lindsey, E.; Manche, J.; Detsoi-Smiley, P.; Shin, S.; Merino, M.: Centering Diné (Navajo) Voices: Barriers, Facilitators, and Perceptions of Cardiac Care among Patients with Heart Failure in Rural Navajo Nation. Circulation March 2025.
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Last updated: 05/26/2026
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The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
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