Archive
December
New Book Shares and Shows How to Recognize and Eliminate Racist and Sexist Microaggressions in Health Care Workplaces
Ifeolorunbode (Bode) Adebambo, MD and Adam Perzynski, PhD have published an edited collection of real experiences and strategies for promoting health equity. “Racism, Microaggressions, and Allyship in Health Care: A Narrative Approach to Learning” provides students and health care professionals an opportunity to hear from doctors, nurses, health care administrators about how they can create a healthier more egalitarian workplace.
Each of the cases in the book sheds light on how even small negative interactions can be opportunities for learning, growth and improvement. The book also includes a chapter full of lessons and reflections from the lifelong experiences of a group of racial and ethnic minoritized health care executives.
Everyone in health care can read this book and learn about how to be a better ally and coworker. Contributors, including MetroHealth CEO, Dr. Christine Alexander-Rager, and dozens of doctors, nurses, trainees and other health care workers, locally and nationally, have written about deeply personal experiences with the hope that by listening to one another we can all be better advocates for equity.
The case narratives look closely at how people interact and feel and do not shy away from hard topics and difficult interactions. Many of the authors highlight how they themselves could have handled situations differently. The book maintains a hopeful outlook on how we can all act to build a more kind and equitable care environment. Chapters on “Discrimination”; “Silent Suffering”; “Pronouns”; “Identity”; Patriarchal “Culture”; and “Team Dynamics” give voice to adverse experiences and the chapters include thoughtful questions for reflection from Dr. Adebambo and Dr. Perzynski. Discussions written by Dr. Adebambo and several contributors after each narrative are springboards to begin exploring individual reactions and effective local solutions.
“Racism, Microaggressions, and Allyship in Health Care: A Narrative Approach to Learning”, will be an important resource for teachers, undergraduates, graduate students, residents, fellows and postgraduate trainees in medicine, nursing, population health, related fields such as sociology and social work. The diversity of perspectives and interactions shared makes it useful on its own as a textbook or for selected chapters as a complement to small training sessions and seminars.
The editors are associated with The MetroHealth System in Cleveland, OH. Ifeolorunbode (Bode) Adebambo, MD, is the Interim Chair of MetroHealth’s Department of Family Medicine and is an Associate Professor at the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine. Adam Perzynski, PhD, a sociologist, is at MetroHealth’s Population Health Equity Research Institute, the Center for Health Care Research and Policy and is a tenured Professor of Medicine and Sociology at CWRU.
“Racism, Microaggressions, and Allyship in Health Care: A Narrative Approach to Learning,” was published by Springer Nature Switzerland AG, Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland. It is available wherever books are sold, including:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-68070-0
https://www.amazon.com/Racism-Microaggressions-Allyship-Health-Care/dp/3031680693/
November
Dr. Shari Bolen Named Better Health Partnership Collaborative Champion
Dr. Shari Bolen was recognized as Better Health Partnership’s 2024 Collaborative Champion for advancing regional health improvement for adults with chronic disease – specifically those with diabetes and hypertension.
The instrumental role Dr. Bolen has played in securing multi-year funding to support multi-stakeholder collaboration, her innovative thinking, and unwavering partnership and support of Better Health Partnership's vision and mission were elevated.
September
Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) faculty, Dr. Susan De Luca, and USC colleague, Dr. John Blosnich, awarded new grant to study the roles of parental mental health on suicide prevention for sexual minority youth
Before leaving high school, approximately 25% of sexual minority adolescents will attempt to end their own life (nearly four times higher than their heterosexual peers). Despite progress in social acceptance of sexual minorities, roughly 40% of parents reported they would be upset or somewhat upset if their child came out as sexual minority. Parental acceptance is a crucial upstream determinant for sexual minority adolescents’ wellness, but remarkably scant research has focused on how parents get to acceptance; a vital unanswered question impeding intervention development. “The stall in research is partially due to the hard-to-reach nature of the hidden population of parents of sexual minorities”, Dr. Susan De Luca, associate professor of psychiatry, and PHRI faculty at MetroHealth. The goals of this R21 study is to explore parents’ mental health and help-seeking behaviors after their child comes out as sexual minority by 1) learning the most effective ways to recruit parents of sexual minorities, 2) describe parents’ mental health after their child’s coming out and the help-seeking resources parents sought for their mental health to navigate their child’s coming out, and 3) explore pathways, facilitators, and barriers to parents’ help-seeking for individual-level and family- level health needs after their child came out, including resources they wished they had and suggestions to improve help-seeking resources. “Our mixed-methods study uses a family systems perspective to explore the help-seeking needs of parents of sexual minorities. We hope that this will open new avenues for upstream prevention and implementation studies to address health disparities for sexual minorities”, Dr. John Blosnich, associate professor of Social Work at the University of Southern California.
The grant for $269,438 is funded through the National Institute on Minority Health And Health Disparities (NIMHD) and will last from 8/20/2024 – 8/19/2026.
NIH Awards $3.5 Million to Dr. Daryl Thornton for Sleep Apnea Research
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a five-year, $3.5 million grant to support the sleep apnea research of J. Daryl Thornton, MD, MPH, Director of the Center for Health Equity, Engagement, Education, and Research (CHEEER) at MetroHealth. Along with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, they have launched the "Improving Sleep in African American Couples" (ISAAC) study.
Obstructive sleep apnea, a condition when breathing stops or becomes shallow during sleep, affects over 25% of adults in the U.S. over age 30, Dr. Thornton said. Worldwide, close to 1 billion people have the condition. Untreated, the condition can lead to excessive sleepiness, motor vehicle accidents, high blood pressure and heart disease.
"Providers who care for patients with sleep apnea often find that the patients are say there's no problem. Instead, it's the bed partner who makes them seek help," he said.
The bed partner may be kept awake at night by the patient's snoring, or may worry that the patient will stop breathing in their sleep. And the bed partner may be more concerned about the excessive sleepiness of the patient, who may brush off their tiredness as what happens after a big meal or while watching TV.
"There can be a lack of awareness that something more serious could going on with their sleepiness, and also a lack of appreciation of the side effects and other conditions that are associated with sleepiness," Dr. Thornton said.
The results of interviews with people with sleep apnea and their bed partners led the researchers to develop an intervention – focusing on the couple, not just the patient – that boosts the use of the most common and effective treatment for sleep apnea: continuous positive airway pressure or CPAP.
Black Americans tend to develop a more severe form of sleep apnea and it may appear at a younger age, Dr. Thornton said. Sleep apnea in Black Americans is under-recognized and under-diagnosed, and clinical trials in that population are very rare. Hence the focus of the research to looked at interventions to improve the care that is delivered.
"We wanted to make the interventions very specific and tailored to that group," he said. "Not to say that those interventions aren't going to work in other groups, but once we prove they work we will be able to replicate it in other groups and see how they respond."
Those tested through MetroHealth or the University of Pittsburgh who are diagnosed with moderate to severe sleep apnea will get a letter in the mail within 48 hours of the test inviting them to join the research project. Starting in early 2025, the trial will enroll a total of 220 couples – patients and their bed partners.
CPAP machines are costly which may be a barrier to optimal treatment. All participants in the study will receive a free CPAP machine and mask that use the same technology as cell phones to help the study team understand how often they are being used. For couples who receive the intervention, the team will provide feedback via text messages to the couple to encourage the patient to use the machine. Intervention couples will also undergo cognitive behavioral (talk) therapy with a trained psychologist to help them overcome barriers to using CPAP. The third part of the intervention will include meetings with peers couples who have had long standing sleep apnea to discuss effective ways to care and cope with it.
"For those that do not participate in the study I hope this study increases their awareness about sleep apnea and encourages them to get checked out to see if they have it," Dr. Thornton said.
August
Susan De Luca, Darerian Schueller, Kari O’Donnell and team Publish New Article on Exploring Adolescent Suicide Trajectories
Dr. De Luca’s team recently had an article published in the Journal of Adolescence that looked at adolescent suicidal trajectories to try to understand the intersection of race/ethnicity, gender, and social connectedness. They found that those most at-risk disclosed suicidal ideation and some attempt risk in early adolescence and mostly identified as female. As the United States becomes more diverse, understanding the unique ideation and attempt disparities are crucial.
Dr. Ashwini Sehgal Awarded Grant for Improving Air Quality in Homes of People With Asthma
Dr. Ashwini Sehgal, CHEEER and PHRI faculty member, has been awarded $17.2 million by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for MetroHealth and multiple community partners to lead a program aimed at improving air quality in the homes of people with asthma in Greater Cleveland. Dr. Ther Aung, also CHEEER faculty, will be a Co-Investigator on the project. Knowing the connection between asthma complications and the use of gas ranges, MetroHealth will work with community partners to replace gas ranges with electric ones in 1,200 homes where at least one resident has the respiratory condition. The work also will include upgrades to improve homes' electrical systems and ventilation and the installation of electric vehicle chargers. Seven community partners, led by Community Housing Solutions, will partner in the outreach to residents.
In Cleveland, one in five people have asthma. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America ranks Cleveland as one of the most challenging places to live with the condition because of high levels of air pollution as well as inadequate access to healthcare.
MetroHealth's "Asthma, Indoor Pollution and Greenhouse Gases" project, among the first round of 21 projects throughout the nation to be funded through the federal Community Change Grant, is one of the largest of the $325 million allocation.
Ashwini Sehgal, MD, said the grant award is an acknowledgement of MetroHealth's role as a leader in addressing the impact of the environment and climate change on public health, particularly in disadvantaged communities.
June
Dr. Anne Gaglioti and other experts examine link between loneliness and diabetes
Loneliness and social isolation are related but different. Anne Gaglioti, MD, MS, FAAFP, and other panelists discussed loneliness, its link to diabetes, and the psychological toll it takes on patients living with diabetes at the Symposium “Loneliness Is a Real Heartbreaker” on Sunday, June 23.
“Older adults tend to have higher rates of social isolation, while younger adults tend to have much higher rates of loneliness,” Dr. Gaglioti said. “As far as how people perceive the experiences of loneliness and social isolation, only about 20 percent of people with these conditions actually view them as a problem.”
May
Dr. Anna Rybinska-Campbell Publishes Article on the Relation Between Short Birth Spacing and Child Maltreatment
Dr. Anna Rybinska-Campbell recently published an article in the journal Child Abuse Review titled “Understanding the Relation between Short Birth Spacing and Child Maltreatment: Are Associations Due to Parental History of Childhood Abuse and Neglect?”
Child maltreatment is a serious public health problem of common incidence. Understanding the predecessors of maltreatment constitute a pressing research topic because such studies can improve maltreatment prevention efforts.
In an observational study recently published in Child Abuse Review, Anna RybiÅ„ska-Campbell, a Research Data Scientist at the Population Health Research Institute, and her colleagues use longitudinal data for a cohort of infants born in two hospitals in a Southeastern city to examine connections between parental history of child maltreatment, their child’s birth spacing, and their child’s risk of abuse and neglect. The authors demonstrate that maternal history of childhood maltreatment and short birth spacing are independent predictors of a child’s abuse and neglect.
April
Dr. Susan De Luca of PHRI Discusses Black Suicide Rates With the Columbus Dispatch
Dr. Susan De Luca, Associate Professor in the Population Health Research Institute at MetroHealth, was featured in the Columbus Dispatch discussing increase in black suicide rates in Cleveland. Dr. De Luca points out, “Men tend to use firearms, but we are seeing more and more females using guns as well. But what we have found recently is that since 2022, Latina females have been the highest for 30 years, and now Black females have actually superseded them in terms of attempts.”
March
PHRI Grant Awardee team led by Dr. Del Rincon publishes paper examining quality of life in transmasculine and transfeminine individuals receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy
Saloni Lad, Dr. Juan P. Del Rincon, Dr. Brian Khong, Jacob Sinopoli, Dr. Britt Conroy, and Dr. Adam Perzynski have published their paper on quality of life and other indicators in a prospective cohort study of transmasculine and transfeminine patients receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy The paper is published in Social Science and Medicine, which is among the most prestigious publications in the field of population health.
The study aims to better understand the impact of depressive symptoms and quality of life among transmasculine and transfeminine by examining social and clinical characteristics. This paper is notable for being one of the largest-ever prospective cohort studies of social drivers of health among transgender individuals. Saloni Lad, a medical student at CCLCOM, programmed and conducted the statistical analysis, which included in-depth and impressive data visualizations.
The results from this study can be used by healthcare workers and policymakers to enhance clinical and social practices to better health equity for gender-diverse folks.
February
MetroHealth's Christina Randolph, DO, Creates Book Club for High School Students
Population Health Research Institute's Christina Randolph, DO, a population health research fellow and trained pediatrician, promotes literacy every day in clinical practice. Now, she's combining her love for reading into her research by creating a book club with students at Garrett Morgan High School. She received funding from the American Academy of Pediatrics and MetroHealth's Brittingham Memorial Library to study how a weekly book club with doctors could inspire students to pursue careers in medicine.
She's recruited fellow doctors, Toluwalope Odukoya, MD, and Amma Boakye, DO, along with aspiring medical student Ifey Mbanefo to join her in reading, "The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream," with students each week.
"If we want a more diverse workforce, then we need novel, creative ways to do it," Dr. Randolph said.
Dr. Randolph is looking for a diverse group of healthcare workers from various fields to help with this project. In particular, she's interested in recruiting people to help with future iterations of the book club or caregivers who can share short videos about their careers. She's also seeking individuals to serve on a panel when students visit MetroHealth. If interested, you can contact Dr. Randolph at crandolph2@metrohealth.org.
December
STRIDES Team Featured on WKYC Good Company
Jasmine Johnson, MSN, RN, and Renae Sabella, RDN, LD, recently joined the program to talk about the importance of healthy eating during the holiday season. They also promoted MetroHealth's STRIDES program, a one-year, individually tailored program that helps people with prediabetes lower their risk of developing diabetes or even prevent diabetes altogether.
Dr. Douglas Gunzler Appointed to Serve on Ohio Parkinson’s Disease Registry Advisory Committee
Douglas Gunzler, PhD was appointed to serve on Ohio Parkinson’s Disease Registry Advisory Committee (PDRAC) under the role of Researcher. His appointment was made in accordance with Ohio Revised Code 3701.252, which provides for an advisory committee to assist the Ohio Department of Health in the development and implementation of the Ohio Parkinson’s Disease Registry and to advise the director of health on maintaining and improving the registry. The committee will meet at least biannually.
November
Dr. Eileen Seeholzer publishes on educating medical students on obesity as a preclinical elective
Dr. Eileen Seeholzer and team had their research published in the International Journal of Obesity. Main findings present a feasible model for providing medical students with meaningful experiences and education related to obesity, including elective reflection structure and evaluation method.
Newly Published Editorial Urges Actions Towards Eliminating Pulmonary Health Disparities by Addressing Social Determinants of Health
Adam Perzynski and team were recently published in Annals of the American Thoracic Society for their editorial titled, Place and Pulmonary Health Inequality.
The publication focuses on contextualizing health disparities in pulmonary health while also pushing investigators and clinical leaders towards actions like large-scale observational studies, programming, and policy changes that act on the social determinants of health.
September
The Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) announces two MetroHealth faculty researchers for the 2023 Pilot Grant Award.
The Pilot Grant Program provides one year of seed funding for MetroHealth faculty investigators to conduct research projects in population health.
Sarah Sweeney, MD
"A Pilot Study to Identify Key Research Priorities and Areas of Inquiry for the Impacts of Gun Violence on Survivors and Families – The “Centering Families and Survivors Project”
Developed collaboratively between Dr. Sarah Sweeney, a MetroHealth Family Physician, The Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance, the MetroHealth Trauma Recovery center and directly impacted community members, this interview-based project aims to center survivors and families who are directly impacted by gun violence. It brings focus to the devastating and broad range of impacts that the ongoing epidemic of gun violence has on a growing proportion of MetroHealth patients and the NEO community.
The information gained from this pilot study will help to bolster the care provided to families and survivors in both the immediate and long-term aftermath of firearm injuries and deaths and to develop research and program priorities that center this population. This project also aims to provide a practical set of resources and a framework for conducting research with survivors and family members in a way that provides rather than extracts resources.
Dr. Sweeney would like to thank the dedicated collaboration of Ms. Myesha Watkins and Ms. Mar’Yum Patterson of the Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance, Ms. Shanell Harris of the MH Trauma Recovery Center, Faith leader Dr. Tony Minor and community partner Ms. Kimberley King."
Shahdi Malakooti MD
Role of Vitamin D in Neuropsychiatric and Cognitive Post-Acute Sequelae of Covid-19
Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) include emergence, persistence, and worsening of neuropsychiatric and cognitive deficits. In the general population, Vitamin D deficiency correlates with neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric disease. In addition, several social determinants of health associate with Vitamin D deficiency.
This project will fill a critical knowledge gap through understanding the relative contribution of disparities in Vitamin D status to neuropsychiatric and cognitive symptoms of post-COVID syndrome and in identifying barriers perpetuated by existing infrastructure, aligning directly with the MetroHealth mission to develop a healthier community and promote accountability and racial equity.
March
CHEEER Director Receives 5 year NIH Grant to Increase Diversity in Scientific Workforce
Dr. Daryl Thornton, Director of the Center for Health Equity, Engagement, Education, and Research (CHEEER) and Director of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine and Dr. Ronald Hickman, Associate Dean for Research at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing were awarded a 5-year, $540,000 R25 Research Education Grant from NIH to increase the diversity of the scientific workforce.
Entitled “An Intensive Summer Education Program in Translational Research for Underrepresented Students (INSPIRE-US)”, the grant complements the 7-year Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative (CTSC) grant recently awarded to Case Western Reserve University.
The INSPIRE-US program will support 25 undergraduate students from 9 historically Black colleges and universities to spend 10 weeks at Case and its affiliated teaching hospitals including MetroHealth where they will receive hands on research experiences in a lab under the direction of a mentor, training in research methods, and professional career coaching.
February
Questions of Faith: Suicidality Among Sexual Minority Adolescents & Young Adults
Dr. Susan De Luca gave a presentation for CWRU’s Special Topics in Social Justice and Public Health around her work with LGBQ adolescents and how religious affiliation and levels of religiosity are related to suicidal ideation and attempts this population.
Religion is a protective factor for suicide, yet Dr. De Luca and her team’s research finds repeatedly that it does not function as such for sexual minorities. Her research also found that if these same adolescents are part of an affirming religious affiliation, they enjoy the same protective factors as heterosexual and cisgender adolescents.
Food Insecurity Trajectories in the US During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Doug Gunzler and Adam Perzynski’s work with Dr. Jin Kim-Mozeleski was recently featured in the CWRU Daily. Their publication in Preventing Chronic Disease looked at the trajectory of food insecurity during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The team found food insecurity was highly variable with one-third of the US population experiencing some form of food insecurity risk. Check out the article in the daily here: CWRU Daily or the full publication here: Food Insecurity Trajectories
January
Redlining Article in Cleveland Scene Magazine
Congratulations to Dr. Adam Perzynski and Dr. Kristen Berg for their published work on Redlining being featured in Cleveland Scene Magazine in an article titled Case Western Reserve Study Confirms Racism as ‘Overriding Factor’ in Redlining Neighborhoods. The Scene article highlights research from Adam and Kristen’s manuscript in the Du Bois Review and explains how Black residents were 40 times more likely to be redlined in the 1930s.
“When we look at redlining, we have to think about the consequences of racist policies,” Perzynski said. “Community gardens are a good thing and managing blood pressure is never a bad idea, but they don’t correct 100 years of discrimination and institutionalized racism.”
“We’ve created these neighborhoods,” said co-author and assistant professor at the school of medicine Kristen Berg. “These are the consequences of deeply intentional policy decisions. There needs to be intentional work, then, to transform neighborhoods and invest in families whose generations have been harmed by redlining.”
Check out the full article from Scene here: CLE Scene Redlining Article
Their work was also featured in the CWRU Daily: CWRU Daily Redlining
November 2022
PHRI Collaborating Faculty, Katie Davis, named to Crain’s Forty under 40
Congratulations to Katie Davis, MSN, RN, PHNA-BC, for just been named to Crain’s Forty under 40.
Katie is a recent addition to the PHRI collaborating faculty and this fall received a HRSA grant focused on Community Health Workers along with Aleece Caron. The Crain's profile of Davis described her dedication:
“Davis' passion, combined with her professional competence and expertise, makes her a dynamic leader and a great peer,” said Susan Fuehrer, president of MetroHealth's Institute for H.O.P.E., which houses the school health program. "Immediately anyone that meets her, you just immediately know she's a superstar," she said. "She is 1,000% committed to helping kids and families of kids get easy access to health care."
Read more about the Crain’s "Forty Under 40" for 2022.
October 2022
Dr. Neal Dawson given the Distinguished Service Award from the Society for Medical Decision Making
Dr. Neal Dawson, longtime faculty member of the Center for Healthcare Research and Policy, was recently awarded the 2022 Distinguished Service Award from the Society for Medical Decision Making.
The SMDM Award for Distinguished Service recognizes service to SMDM in terms of leadership, role in the operations of the Society, and contributions to the scientific and educational activities of the Society. Dr. Dawson has been a member of the SMDM since 1987 and has held several roles within the society throughout his career including coordinator and subcommittee member for teaching, outreach health care outcomes & cost effectiveness and mentorship. He has been an Emeritus member since 2014 as he continues to remain involved and active within the SMDM and CHRP.
Founded in 1979, the Society for Medical Decision Making is an international, interdisciplinary society dedicated to the study and improvement of all aspects of medical decision making. SMDM’s mission is to improve health outcomes through the advancement of proactive systematic approaches to clinical decision making and policy-formation in health care by providing a scholarly forum that connects and educates researchers, providers, policy-makers, and the public.
Previous recipients of the SMDM Award for Distinguished Service include:
Lee Lusted, MD; Stephen Pauker, MD; Dennis Fryback, PhD; J. Robert Beck, MD; Robert Wigton, MD; Robert Centor, MD; Milton Weinstein, PhD; John Clarke, MD; Michael J. Barry, MD; Margaret Holmes-Rovner, PhD; David Rovner, MD; Sankey Williams, MD; Roy Poses, MD; Arthur Elstein, PhD; Frank A. Sonnenberg, MD; John C. Hershey, PhD; Joel Tsevat, MD; Bruce E. Hillner, MD; Myriam Hunink, M.D., Ph.D., Kathryn McDonald. MM.; Michael Kattan, PhD; John Wong, MD, Mark Helfand, MD, MPH, David Sugano, PhD, Scott Cantor, PhD, Mark Eckman, MD, Karen Kuntz, ScD, Anne Stiggelbout, PhD, Marilyn Schapira, MD, MPH, Uwe Siebert, MD, MPH, MSc, ScD, Murray Krahn, MD, MSc, FRCPC, Alan Schwartz, PhD, Ahmed Bayoumi, MD, MSc; Angie Fagerlin, PhD and Robert Hamm, PhD
10/20/2022
New Techniques for Modeling Health Inequalities Published by PHRI Researchers and Collaborators
A team of researchers in the Population Health Research Institute (Drs. Kristen Berg, Douglas Gunzler, Douglas Einstadter and Adam Perzynski) recently collaborated with our Cleveland Clinic colleagues (as part of the NEOCARE project) to publish a paper (PDF attached) on methods for analyzing neighborhood health inequality using electronic health records. Our paper describes new techniques for modeling health inequalities with several examples drawing from combined data covering more than 3 million patients at our two institutions.
We state, "Ongoing improvements in the quality, scale, and accessibility of EHR data and corresponding methodological advances provide an unprecedented opportunity for high-resolution insights into the mechanisms of social and neighborhood-level health disparities." Our work provides practical solutions to some of the challenges encountered in this type of analysis.
The paper is part of a special issue on EHR research published by Medical Decision Making and can be viewed here.
10/10/2022
MetroHealth is Lead Partner on a $2 Million NIA Study for a Device that Recognizes the Need to Intake Water (Code Name: D.R.INK Band)
Mary Joan Roach (MetroHealth Population Health Research Institute and Dept. of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation), Joseph Piktel (MetroHealth Department of Emergency Medicine) and Mr. Eamon Johnson (CEO of TritonX ) are Multiple PIs for a STTR (R42) Award from the National Institute on Aging, "Clinical Effectiveness of a Wearable Hydration Device." This is a $2 million project for which MetroHealth is the lead academic partner in a clinical trial and commercialization project for a Device that Recognizes the Need to Intake Water (currently code named the D.R.INK band). The project has two phases; in Phase 1, we will conduct a comparative study of the device among acutely ill dehydrated older adults being cared for in the emergency department and in Phase 2, we will conduct a clinical trial of continuous home monitoring of fluid levels among patients returning home after an acute care episode for dehydration.
The PIs are joined by Adam Perzynski from the MetroHealth Population Health Research Institute, Lance Wilson from the MetroHealth Department of Emergency Medicine, and Nathan Makowski from the MetroHealth Center for Rehabilitation Research as Co-Investigators on the project.
9/28/2022
Teaching Students to Teach About Stroke
Inadequate stroke prevention and stroke symptom identification delays contribute to higher stroke incidence and worse outcome in African American patients and those living in disadvantaged communities.
Dr. Agnieszka Ardelt, Chair of Neurology at MetroHealth, and her team were funded by the Population Health Research Institute’s Pilot Grant Program to investigate whether high school students make good teachers. Sophomore Lincoln West High School students (Student Teachers) were taught to teach Junior and Senior students (Student Learners) about stroke.
The project goal to increase awareness of stroke risk factors and stroke signs/symptoms/call 911 in an urban high school was met. Thirty-three Student Learners showed significant improvement on post-tests as well as retention tests one-month later.
Dr. Ardelt will continue this stroke education program with Lincoln West High School next year with a plan to roll it out to additional Cleveland-area high schools subsequently.
Pictured above from left to right are individuals who contributed to the project: Robynn Cox, Manager of the MetroHealth Stroke Program; Julie Fisher, Lead for Coverdell Stroke Program; Steve Lewis, Statistician; Dr. Ardelt, Principal Investigator; Alice Liskay, Project Coordinator and Jacqueline Bucci, Physical Therapist.
9/28/2022
Virtual Care Adoption—Challenges and Opportunities From the Lens of Academic Primary Care Practitioners
New research article co-authored by Dr. Aleece Caron.
Telehealth and virtual care have quickly become important tools in caring for patients while the COVID-19 pandemic evolves. Telehealth implementation can increase affordability for patients, eliminate access barriers, and improve patient satisfaction. Multiple challenges to successful telehealth implementation have been documented in the literature and are generally categorized as structural barriers of the health system, clinical barriers of the provider, and patient-centered barriers.
In this study, we sought to collect themes and observations about this rapid transition to telehealth from practicing primary care clinicians, with the goal of identifying opportunities to improve adoption of telehealth. Participants identified 5 major themes that affected telehealth delivery in an academic medical system: Reimbursement and productivity, Social determinants of health (SDOH), Privacy, Environment of care concerns, and Teaching and communication skills.
The publication link can be found here.
9/9/2022
An Epic day for Dr. David Kaelber
David Kaelber, MD, PhD, MPH, is one of the fiercest champions of the Epic electronic health record at The MetroHealth System and, perhaps, even the world.
So, to be invited on stage at Epic's recent Users Group Meeting (UGM) at the company's headquarters in Wisconsin was certainly the thrill of a lifetime.
"This was an amazing opportunity for me and MetroHealth to be the first healthcare system to do a live demonstration connecting two Epic systems during Epic's annual UGM," said Dr. Kaelber, MetroHealth's Chief Medical Informatics Officer and Vice President of Health Informatics and Patient Engagement Technologies. "MetroHealth was chosen to participate in this live demonstration because of our over 20-year relationship with Epic and over 10-year involvement in using the Epic electronic health record for ground-breaking research."
Epic's UGM is the electronic health record software provider's major annual conference in Verona, Wisc., attended by thousands of healthcare and information technology professionals from around the globe.
Dr. Kaelber was invited on stage by Phil Lindemann, Epic's Vice President of Business Intelligence, to demonstrate a new feature coming soon to Cosmos – the largest set of de-identified electronic health record data ever assembled.
Under Dr. Kaelber's leadership, MetroHealth was the first health system to sign-up for Epic's Cosmos project, the first to contribute data and first to publish research using Cosmos. Today, Cosmos contains data for more than 160 million patients worldwide.
Traditionally, only Epic executives take the stage during the main-stage presentation, which kicks off with an address from Epic's CEO, Judy Faulkner. But with Lindemann, Dr. Kaelber demonstrated a new feature in Cosmos that will make it significantly easier for health systems like MetroHealth to connect patients with multi-site clinical trials. This will enable patients at MetroHealth and beyond to access groundbreaking medical treatments more quickly.
Traditionally, a clinical trial's organizer, for example, would manually query individual health systems that would then have to sort through their own data to identify qualifying patients – a process that could take weeks. With Cosmos, identifying possible patients for a trial would take only seconds.
"Few people have the excitement and passion to change the world for the better like David does," said Lindemann. "He is an excellent ambassador for how both MetroHealth and the Cosmos research community are working to improve health care."
Under Dr. Kaelber's watch, MetroHealth has become one of Epic's most advanced users. Having earned HIMSS' Stage 7 validation and the prestigious Davies Award, MetroHealth ranks among the top 1% of health systems in terms of electronic health record implementation and use. In fact, MetroHealth was one of the first public health systems to install the Epic electronic health record.
Dr. Kaelber has also led the team that has empowered hundreds of thousands of patients to take control of their health. To date, more than 325,000 MetroHealth patients (top 10% of all Epic public/safety-net healthcare systems) have signed up for MyChart, MetroHealth's electronic personal health record. With MyChart, patients can communicate with their providers, self-schedule appointments, refill medications, view their test results and more.
8/9/2022
Population Health Research Institute Pilot Grants Awarded to Dr. Juan Pablo del Rincon Jarero and Dr. Michael Kelly
The Population Health Research Institute Pilot Grant Program for the 2022-2013 cycle has been awarded to two MetroHealth faculty researchers. This cycle’s awardees are Juan P. del Rincon Jarero, MD; Biopsychosocial vulnerability in a gender diverse population: Understanding lower urinary tract symptoms and social needs, and Michael Kelly, MD; Reconciling Cardiovascular and Trauma Risk Among Older Adults.
Dr. del Rincon Jarero’s project will look at the relationships between hormone treatment and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), and additional biological, behavioral, psychological, and socioeconomic factors. We will also investigate key variables involved in the well-being of transgender populations, including social determinants of health and quality of life. Dr. Kelly’s project will develop a risk model that includes multiple characteristics of pre-injury patient reported health status to estimate the risk of trauma events among people taking anticoagulation therapy.
6/2022
Dr. Kaelber Awarded NIH Grant to Focus on Oral Health Disparities
David Kaelber, MD, PhD and collaborators, Greg Heintschel, DDS of MetroHealth and Suchitra Nelson, PhD (PI) at the CWRU School of Dental medicine have been awarded a 2-year NIH-NIDCR grant for $695,000. The project, titled “Multi-Level Interventions to Reduce Oral Health Disparities Among Adults in Primary Care Settings” which will test innovative interventions at the practice and provider levels to increase dental attendance and improve overall health and quality of life for adults aged ≥ 55 years attending primary care visits at MetroHealth and 10 diverse regional practices. If successful, there is potential for the 2-year pilot to transition to a 5-year $6.4 million dollar project to reduce oral health disparities.
6/2022
Dr. Gaglioti Presents at National Academy of Medicine Workshop
Anne Gaglioti spoke at a National Academy of Medicine workshop on June 17, 2022, aimed at speaking to AHRQ-PCORI-ASPE about how they should use their funds to advance health equity. Anne’s talk was focused on patient engaged work centered at National Center for Primary Care at the Morehouse School of Medicine.
The link to the workshop can be found here.
6/14/2022
Dr. Sajatovic Receives AHA Grant
Long-time collaborator, Martha Sajatovic, MD and her colleagues Jennifer Levin, PhD and Danette Conklin, PhD have received a new one-year grant from the American Heart Association (AHA). The project titled “RCT of a Remote Self-management Program (TEAM-Red) for Young Depressed African American Women at Risk for Hypertension” looks to evaluate the role of health-related social needs (HRSN) in hypertension outcomes in women at risk.
5/2022
Final Round of CRHD Pilot Grants Awarded
The Center for Reducing Health Disparities have awarded five early-stage investigators $50,000 for projects utilizing community engaged approaches to reduce health disparities. This investigator development program is part of the center’s U54 grant through the NIMHD and has awarded 3-5 pilots annually since 2018 to help provide both funding and mentorship to young investigators affiliated with Case Western Reserve University. The awardees include Dr. Kirsten Eom (PHRI); Dr. Elliane Irani (CWRU- Nursing); Dr. Erika Kelley (University Hospitals); Dr. Maeve Macmurdo (Cleveland Clinic – Respiratory Institute) and Dr. Brittany Meyers (MetroHealth - Psychiatry). More details about each investigator, project and partner can be found here: Round 5.
4/22/2022
Congratulations to Thomas Love, PhD, and Douglas Gunzler, PhD, both elected to ASA leadership roles
Thomas E. Love, PhD, was elected as the 2023 Chair-Elect of the American Statistical Association’s Council of Sections Governing Board. He will serve as Chair of this Board in 2024.
Douglas Gunzler, PhD, MA, was elected 2023 Chair-Elect of the Mental Health Statistics Section and will serve as its Chair in 2024.
The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the world’s largest community of statisticians, the “Big Tent for Statistics.” It is the second oldest, continuously operating professional association in the country. Since it was founded in Boston in 1839, the ASA has supported excellence in the development, application, and dissemination of statistical science.
The Council of Sections facilitates exchange and coordination across multiple association sections representing a wide range of professions from biomedical research to defense and economics.
Learn more about the Council of Sections
Learn more about the Mental Health Statistics Section
3/31/2022
Dr. Aleece Caron Presented Workshop at the Central Group on Education Affairs (CGEA)
Aleece Caron, PhD was selected and presented a virtual workshop entitled: “Something for Everyone: How Continuing Professional Development Can Advance Your Educational Goals” at the Central Group on Educational Affairs annual meeting on March 31, 2022.
3/28/2022
Welcome Ms. Jacqueline Dolata!
We would like to welcome Ms. Jacqueline Dolata into her new role as the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) Manager beginning Monday March 28th, 2022. Ms. Dolata has been working in research for over 15 years at MetroHealth and has been serving as Manager for the Center for Reducing Health Disparities for over 5 years.
Ms. Dolata received her MBA from Baldwin Wallace University and brings a wealth of passion and commitment toward population health research, staff development, and leadership. She will be modifying her time and effort on current grants over the next 6-12 months to ensure a smooth transition and we look forward to having even stronger cohesion and leadership support across our Centers.
3/17/2022
Dr. David Kaelber was Site Lead for Recently Published Asthma Study in New England Journal of Medicine
Dr. David Kaelber, CCIRE Director, was a site lead for MetroHealth in a recently published study in The New England Journal of Medicine entitled Reliever-Triggered Inhaled Glucocorticoid in Black and Latinx Adults with Asthma - PubMed (nih.gov). In this study, African American and Hispanic patients with asthma received one-time instruction to use inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) when they used their asthma reliever (in addition to whatever medications they were taking for asthma). This new use of ICS, not commonly studied in minority populations, decreased the risk of severe asthma exacerbations by 15%, reduced asthma symptoms, days of work missed and hospitalizations. MetroHealth participated as one of the top recruitment sites in the multi-centered population trial, providing more than 100 patients for the study with substantial benefits to our patient population.
3/11/2022
Dr. Aleece Caron has New Publications Out
Dr. Aleece Caron and Stephanie Kanuch were co-authors on one publication to assess the impact of patient education and shared decision making on influenza vaccination rates in outpatient care clinic (Beachwood) titled Improving Influenza Vaccination Rates in an Underserved Primary Care Clinic Using a Simple Educational Tool. It was recently published in Quality Management in Health Care.
Another of her publications titled “Virtual Care Adoption - Challenges and Opportunities from the Lens of Academic Primary Care Practitioners” was just accepted by the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. It explores the use and challenges of implementing virtual visits during COVID-19 in primary care and identifying opportunities to improve virtual care.
3/11/2022
Dr. Kristen Berg Publishes Manuscript Examining Consequences of Witnessing Intimate Partner Violence for Children's Physiological Functioning
Dr. Kristen Berg recently published a systematic literature review in collaboration with colleagues at Case Western Reserve University’s Center on Trauma and Adversity and Department of Psychological Sciences. This manuscript examined how witnessing intimate partner violence (i.e., domestic violence) affects children’s physiological functioning and is one in a series published as a special section in the Journal of Family Violence.
Findings suggest that exposure to intimate partner violence may have a deleterious effect on children’s endocrine, nervous, cardiovascular, and immune functioning, and that those physiological effects may render children more vulnerable to behavioral or physical health problems in the context of violence exposure. The publication link can be found here.
3/11/2022
Dr. Kristen Berg to Participate in Northwest University’s Summer Institute on Biological Approaches in the Social Sciences (SIBASS)
Kristen Berg, PhD was selected by the Russell Sage Foundation (RSF) to participate in their 2022 week-long Summer Institute on Biological Approaches in the Social Sciences (SIBASS) to be held this upcoming June at Northwestern University. RSF's interest in her application was partly based upon her PHRI pilot award and the biosocial work among young MetroHealth patients it has supported.
3/11/2022
World Kidney Day Podcast
The Center for Reducing Health Disparities’ Erika Hood M.Ed. sat down on World Kidney Day with Ann Huml, MD and Marquisha Marbury to talk about kidney health and organ donation, on this month's Point Blank Podcast.
3/11/2022
Center for Reducing Health Disparities hosted 3rd annual Research Collaboration Occasion (RCO)
On Thursday, March 10th, the Center for Reducing Health Disparities (CRHD) hosted its 3rd annual Research Collaboration Occasion (RCO). The RCO is an opportunity for all the passionate partners of the Center to meet with our pilot awardees, and their study teams, to talk all things dissemination! The goal of this event is to create impactful and novel ways to disseminate study findings and resources to the broader community. Our network of community experts and stakeholders helped to guide dissemination ideas for our 8 current pilot projects. Special guest, Chris Benninger, who is the founder and CEO of Your Story on Film, spoke to participants about innovative ways that his company has created to speak to various audiences.
3/10/2022
Dr. Adam Perzynski Selected as Google Cloud Research Innovator
Congratulations to Center for Health Care Research and Policy faculty, Adam Perzynski, PhD, who was recently selected as a Google Cloud Research Innovator. This is a global community of researchers using cloud-based big data resources to drive scientific breakthroughs.
3/7/2022
Dr. Mary Jo Roach Served on Expert Panel for Spine Injury
Mary Jo Roach, PhD served on the expert panel for the newly released Practice Guidelines for Spine Injury by The American College of Surgeons, Trauma Quality Program. This updated information is critical to health care professionals as they make treatment decisions with their patients.
3/7/2022
The MetroHealth School Health Program
The MetroHealth System will be able to increase its comprehensive school-based health services with two school district partners, expand health clinics in Cleveland schools and begin to offer dental care in some schools thanks to a new state grant of nearly $4.5 million. The MetroHealth School Health Program – part of the Institute for H.O.P.E.™ – was the largest single recipient among the $25.9 million awarded for 136 new or expanded School-Based Health Centers throughout Ohio. The MetroHealth School Health Program was developed to make sure all children get the health care they need, including children who may not have access to a health care provider. It brings the power of MetroHealth to a very convenient place: a child's school.
3/1/2022
Annual PHRI Awards
This year, we started a new tradition of faculty and staff awards in the categories listed below. Please help congratulate them with us. Congratulations to all our PHRI award winners!!!
- Above and Beyond Staff Award – Ms. Maria Zebrowski went above and beyond in so many ways that we could not count them all. Our place would crash and burn without you! Thank you!!!
- Community Partnership Award - Aleece Caron PhD; Adam Perzynski PhD; Doug Einstadter MD, MPH; Eileen Seeholzer MD, MS; Stephanie Kanuch MEd. Nominated by: Neighborhood Family Practice, Care Alliance and Signature Health for the team’s dedication to changing their curriculum to meet their community of practices’ needs during COVID. The work by participants has led to improved care practices among many primary care sites throughout the community. To learn more about the Training Primary Care Champions grant, visit Current Research Projects | The MetroHealth System.
- Dissemination Award (highest cited PHRI paper published in the last 5 years using SCOPUS) – Perzynski AT, Roach MJ, Shick S, Callahan B, Gunzler D, Cebul R, Kaelber DC, Huml A, Thornton JD, Einstadter D. Patient portals and broadband internet inequality. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2017 Sep 1;24(5):927-932. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocx020.
2/4/2022
Dr. Ash Sehgal Discusses How Climate Change Impacts Health
Dr. Sehgal, co-Director of the Center for Reducing Health Disparities, was quoted in the Plain Dealer discussing how climate change impacts health. If you are interested in learning more, you can register for the Case Western Reserve University course on Climate Change which is offered annually.
2/2/22
The National Clinical Care Commission (NCCC) Announces Recommendations for Improving Federal Diabetes Prevention and Treatment Programs
Dr. Bolen, Director of the Population Health Research Institute, recently completed a 3-year term on The National Clinical Care Commission (NCCC). She was selected as one of 14 non-governmental employees along with 13 governmental employees to outline evidence-based, actionable recommendations to improve federal diabetes awareness, prevention and treatment programs. The National Clinical Care Commission, a federal advisory committee, has released its final report to Congress outlining these recommendations.
The Commission’s report — the first of its kind since 1975 — calls for additional federal efforts to improve access to health care, address the social determinants of health, and improve collaboration among different federal agencies.
Download and read the full report: National Clinical Care Commission Issues Final Report on Improving Diabetes Prevention and Treatment - News & Events | health.gov
12/21/21
Dr. Thomas Love Co-authors a Publication on an Epilepsy Study
Dr. Thomas Love has an important paper just published that he collaborated on with others at the Cleveland Clinic and the International League Against Epilepsy.
The aim was to compare the outcomes of subdural electrode (SDE) implantations versus stereotactic electroencephalography (SEEG), the 2 predominant methods of intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) performed in difficult-to-localize drug-resistant focal epilepsy.
In comparison to SEEG, SDE evaluations are more likely to lead to brain surgery in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy but have more surgical complications and lower probability of seizure freedom. This comparative-effectiveness study provides the highest feasible evidence level to guide decisions on iEEG.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ana.26238
12/3/2021
AHA Plenary Talk Given by Dr. Jarrod Dalton
Dr. Jarrod Dalton, collaborating faculty at the Cleveland Clinic, gave an invited plenary talk, titled "Digital Disparities: Disproportionate Tech Savviness and Impact on Health Equity and Health Literacy", at the 2021 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in November.
12/2/2021
MHS and OHSU Collaborate on Maternal Safety Tool for Postpartum RHIG Administration
Dr. Gabriel Labbad and Dr. David Bar-Shain have co-authored a report in collaboration with others from Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU). "Missed RHIG administration to postpartum patients in two health systems: an unrecognized patient safety risk" is the first report in the literature of the postpartum Rh Immune Globulin (RHIG) administration rate.
In addition, it describes electronic health record (EHR) tools built at MetroHealth (MHS) which help improve upon the baseline excellent performance on this metric. The EHR tools improved performance to zero missed administrations at MHS.
This project showcases judicious use of Clinical Decision Support (CDS) hard-stops, tools to decrease documentation burden, and collaboration between the Clinical Informatics and Obstetrics departments at two institutions using the Epic EHR (Epic Systems Corp., Verona, WI).
12/2/2021
Newly funded CDC grant for Drs. David Kaelber and David Bar-Shain
CCIRE faculty Drs. Kaelber and Bar-Shain are participating in a newly funded CDC grant entitled, “Safety and Healthcare Epidemiology Prevention Research Development (SHEPheRD), Program2021 Domain 1-A012, Electronic Support for Public Health-VAERS (ESPVAERS) for COVID-19” (PI Klompas).
CCIRE faculty will be updating and revising a computer algorithm to assist in better detecting vaccine adverse events, including COVID-19, and reporting them to the CDC.
11/22/2021
Translating Clinical Narrative in Obstetrics to Computerized Decision Support
Dr. Brittany Sanford and Dr. Gabriel Labbad and collaborators have a research article just published on a methodology for translating American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG) clinical narrative into a semi-structured format that can be more easily applied as computerized decision support (CDS) within the electronic health record (EHR) systems at point-of-care (POC). They believe this work can contribute to developing a library of information within ACOG that can be continually updated and disseminated to EHR systems for optimal decision support. View article.
11/19/2021
Dr. Jill Miracle Co-Authors Paper on COVID-19 Disease in Pregnancy
Population Health Research Institute Fellow Dr. Jill Miracle co-authored a paper “COVID-19 in Pregnancy: Occupations with Higher Density Population Exposure Associated with More Severe Disease” published in a recent issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. This retrospective cohort study, which was conducted in collaboration with the Cuyahoga County Board of Health using public surveillance data, described the symptomatology and sociodemographic characteristics of pregnant women diagnosed with COVID-19 disease. 163 women were included, most of which were Cuyahoga County residents. The major finding of the study was an association between occupations with higher density of exposure to the public and more severe COVID-19 disease in pregnancy. These high population density occupations included positions in the food service and healthcare sectors. The study highlights the need for protective workplace measures and policies for this vulnerable population.
11/18/2021
Dr. Perzynski's Patient Centered Media Lab receives a Northeast Ohio Renal Research Innovation Award
A team in Dr. Perzynski's Patient Centered Media Lab here at MetroHealth has received a Northeast Ohio Renal Research Innovation Award in the amount of $62,500 to conduct a feasibility study of a new wearable device designed to help patients on home kidney dialysis by monitoring their fluid levels in real time. The wrist worn band is currently being tested in a validation trial among healthy adults, and the newly funded study will be the first of its kind to measure body fluid levels at home continuously in dialysis patients. Collaborating investigators on the study include Dr. Nathan Makowski (MetroHealth, PM&R) and Dr. Anne Huml (Cleveland Clinic Nephrology).
11/5/2021
Drs. Douglas Gunzler and Adam Perzynski Teaching Series of Short Courses on SEM for the ASA.
Population Health Research Institute and Center for Health Care Research and Policy Drs. Douglas D. Gunzler and Adam T. Perzynski along with their colleague Dr. Adam C. Carle (Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center) are virtually teaching a series of seven half-day courses (May-November 2021) on structural equation modeling (SEM) across the nation to local chapters of the American Statistical Association (ASA) as part of an ASA Council of Chapters Traveling Course. The course titled “Introduction to Structural Equation Modeling with Health-related Outcome Measures” includes topics and material from the first ever textbook on SEM for scientists in health and medicine written by Drs. Gunzler, Perzynski and Carle and published as part of the Chapman & Hall/CRC Biostatistics Series (publication date: March 30, 2021).
SEM is a very general and flexible multivariate technique that allows relationships among variables to be examined. SEM is often used in practice to model and test hypothesized causal relationships among observed and latent (unobserved) variables, including in analysis across time and groups.
The roots of SEM are in the social sciences. In writing the textbook and presenting the short course, Drs. Gunzler, Perzynski and Carle look to make SEM accessible to a wider audience of researchers across many disciplines, addressing issues unique to health and medicine.
Find more information about the book
10/11/2021
Dr. David Bar-Shain is Recipient of American Association of Pediatrics Award
Dr. Bar-Shain is a primary care pediatrician, Director of Informatics for Clinical Decision Support for The MetroHealth System, and an Assistant Program Director of the Case Western Reserve University/MetroHealth Clinical Informatics Fellowship. "These three roles allow me to pursue my combined passions of clinical pediatrics, technical innovation and mentoring the next generation," Dr. Bar-Shain says.
Dr. Bar-Shain has focused a major portion of his informatics career on increasing immunization rates among children and adults. Among his accomplishments, he's developed and continuously works to improve the decision support which helps MetroHealth clinicians recognize immunization care gaps. Dr. Bar-Shain has also worked to improve the integrity of patients' immunization data by configuring our records to promote compatibility with our state immunization registry, and by advocating for changes in the ways that we exchange the data. He's also worked to empower patients by configuring a system that allows them to recognize their own immunization care gaps and enter their own adult immunization data directly into their electronic health records.
The AAP is an organization of 67,000 pediatricians committed to the physical, mental, and social health and well-being of all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. Dr. Bar-Shain was honored with the Byron Oberst Award on October 10 during the AAP's 2021 Virtual National Conference and Exhibition. His acceptance speech entitled, "Curating, Celebrating and Championing Your Failures," is available here.
9/23/2021
Dr. Richard McCormick Co-authors paper on Alcohol Misuse Among National Guard Members
Dr. Richard McCormick co-authored an article recently published in JMIR Mental Health. A supplementary analysis of a successful large randomized controlled trial of a web based intervention for hazardous drinking among National Guard members, which included three boosters sessions following a brief intervention four that delivering the boosters by a veteran peer led to higher engagement than a web-based delivery system. Demographic and psychological variables were also identified that were predictive of booster engagement for both of the booster delivery formats. The findings have implications for the successful engagement of subjects in an inexpensive intervention for alcohol misuse which was found to be a problem for the 30.7% of subjects screened who met criteria for hazardous alcohol use.
A link to the article can be found at https://mental.jmir.org/2021/10/e29397/PDF
9/19/2021
The Population Health Research Institute would like to congratulate Drs. Kristen Berg and Agnieszka Ardelt for being the Institute’s first Pilot Grant Awardees. This program provides one year of seed monies for MetroHealth investigators to fund research projects in population health.
Teaching Students to Teach About Stroke - PI: Dr. Agnieszka Ardelt, MD
The MetroHealth Stroke Research Team is embarking on a new partnership with area high schools to “Teach Students to Teach About Stroke”, funded by a pilot grant from Population Health Research Institute at MetroHealth. Together with the students, we will develop, deploy, and compare two different teaching methods; one a standard teaching method, and one a student-created method, to teach stroke signs and symptoms and the need to call 911. The results from this pilot grant will inform future strategies for students teaching other students in high schools and in their communities.
Investigating socioeconomic disparities in slow and fast aging: Exploiting residual blood samples to examine sociomedical risk and resilience in a pediatric analytic cohort - PI: Kristen Berg, PhD
This pilot project investigates how young people’s biological aging may unfold at different rates across different neighborhood socioeconomic environments. Research suggests that individuals who live in more socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods tend to show worse health and faster biological aging over time when compared to individuals of the same chronological age who live in neighborhoods that are more socioeconomically advantaged. Findings will aid in developing longer-term intervention that focus on engaging youth in thinking critically about the significance of their environmental and social conditions.
8/25/2021
Dr. Douglas Gunzler receives $297.3 thousand grant to study symptom patterns and phenotypic clusters in persons with multiple sclerosis
Douglas Gunzler, PhD, along with Drs. Farren Briggs (Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University) and Alessandro De Nadai (Department of Psychology, Texas State University), were awarded a $297.3 thousand NIH R56 grant to study symptom patterns and phenotypic clusters in persons with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). Some of these symptoms, with varied severity in PwMS, include optic nerve dysfunction and vision problems, bladder/bowel dysfunction, cognitive and emotional problems, tremors, muscle weakness and incoordination. The long-term goal of the research is to facilitate decision making for clinicians and patients. Innovative features of the proposed project include the use of advanced statistical techniques to identify clinically meaningful phenotypic clusters of PwMS and generate new knowledge of mobility impairment in MS based on the patient’s perspective. Dr. Gunzler is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Population and Quantitative Health Sciences.
8/31/2021
Population Health Research Institute Welcomes New Faculty, Researchers and Fellows into PHRI this Summer
- Anne Gaglioti, MD, MS, is a family medicine physician researcher and joint faculty hire within the MetroHealth and Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) Center for Health Care Research and Policy within PHRI and the CWRU Center for Community Health Integration (CHI).She applies diverse methods including patient and community engagement, practice based research, qualitative methods, geo-spatial methods, big data, and advanced modeling techniques to study the intersection of primary care, population health, and health equity. Here’s a link to her publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1zec-ffPh2HQp/bibliography/public/.
- Kristen Berg, PhD, has joined the Center for Health Care Research and Policy within PHRI transitioning from a post-doc fellow to a Population Health Researcher position.She employs a variety of qualitative methods and advanced quantitative modeling approaches to studying neighborhood social determinants of individual and family health across the life course. Here’s a link to her publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/kristen.berg.1/bibliography/public/
- Kirsten Eom, PhD, begins a 3-year post-doc fellowship with The Center for Health Care Research and Policy within PHRI this summer to catalyze population health focused cancer research at The MetroHealth System.
- Jill Miracle, MD, MPH, an infectious disease physician, begins a 2-year population health research fellowship this summer led by Drs. Caron and Thornton. Her research seeks to address upstream factors associated with prevention of infectious diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C.
- Eric Kim, MD, PhD, a family medicine physician who recently graduated from the University of Colorado family medicine residency program, is beginning a 2-year ACGME accredited clinical informatics fellowship within the Center for Clinical Informatics Research and Education.
- Devereaux Sellers, MD, MBA, a pathologist who recently completed his pathology residency at MetroHealth, is beginning a 2-year ACGME accredited clinical informatics fellowship within the Center for Clinical Informatics Research and Education.
8/25/2021
Center for Clinical Informatics Research and Education Becomes A Primary Implementation Site for NIH Grant
The Center for Clinical Informatics Research and Education (CCIRE) recently became a primary implementation site for a 5-year NIH R01 grant to reduce second-hand smoke exposure in children by focusing on adult smoker interventions at pediatric visits (site PI Kaelber and other CCIRE collaborators include Nicholas Riley and Janeen Leon). The lead investigators for this study are from Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University. Participating in this grant will results in more than $1 million in research funding to MetroHealth.
7/18/2021
Dr. Douglas Gunzler Collaborates on Parkinson’s Disease Study Funded by Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research
MetroHealth faculty Dr. Gunzler in collaboration with CWRU Population and Quantitative Health Sciences faculty Dr. Briggs received a 1-year $100,000 grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. The project aims to advance our understanding of the pathological mechanisms underlying disability in Parkinson’s disease, with a focus on important patient quality of life outcomes of pain and mobility.
7/16/2021
Article Published on How Racialized Experiences Differentiate Food Security Among African American Adults
CWRU faculty Dr. Chisolm in conjunction with PHRI collaborating CWRU faculty Dr. Freedman (and other collaborators) recently published an article which describes how racialized experiences differentiate food security among African American adults. Findings highlight potential root cause targets such as wages, education, home ownership, and employment that may be modulated to mitigate the effects of racism on food insecurity.
7/15/2021
Center for Reducing Health Disparities Announces Pilot Grant Awardees for 2021
Congratulations to The Center for Reducing Health Disparities (CRHD) pilot grant awardees for 2021. Dr. Mintz, one of the awardees is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at CWRU and an Internal Medicine-Pediatrics physician at MetroHealth. Her project aims to understand the effects of stigma on the experiences of LGBTQ+ persons that have chronic pain conditions. Dr. Pope, another pilot grant awardee, is a gynecologist at University Hospitals. She aims to work with the community to identify barriers to gender affirming medical and surgical care. The third awardee, Dr. Owusua Yamoah, is a post-doctoral scholar at the CWRU Mary Ann Swetland Center for Environmental Health. Her project explores spatial and temporal patterns in the use of food pantries in selected neighborhoods in Cleveland, and explores food needs and the value of food pantries to clients as well as barriers that affect the utilization and efficiency of food pantries.
7/15/2021
Vanessa Maier, MD, MPH has been chosen as the Regional Leader for the ABC Science Collaborative
Vanessa Maier, MD, MPH has been chosen as the Regional Leader for the ABC Science Collaborative, a National Institutes of Health funded initiative coordinated through Duke School of Medicine to assist school and community leaders in understanding the most current and relevant data regarding COVID-19 transmission in schools. The MetroHealth School Health Program is a Regional Leader for this initiative through Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in collaboration with our school partners: Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District, The Intergenerational Schools and Breakthrough Schools. These schools will have access to the ABC Science Collaborative’s evidence-based resources, including the app-based pandemic management tool, to assist them in providing safe in-school instruction. Dr. Maier will work with national partners on a variety of research initiatives, contributing data and supporting efforts to improve the quality of data available to guide mitigation strategies in schools. The latest ABC Science Collaborative report COVID-19 and Schools: The Year in Review and a Path Forward provides guidance for schools and policymakers to support safe in-person learning and limit the transmission of COVID-19 in K-12 schools.
7/14/2021
Dr. Brook Watts Receives $1M HRSA Grant for MetroHealth Mobile Health Outreach Program
Dr. Brook Watts, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Community and Public Health at The MetroHealth System with Dr. Nagel CEO of MetroHealth Community Health Centers received a HRSA grant for $500,000 per year for 2 years for implementation and expansion of the MetroHealth mobile health outreach program.
7/14/2021
PHRI Researchers Publish Study on COVID Vaccination Rates Among Health Care Professionals
Dr. J. Daryl Thornton along with other PHRI and MetroHealth faculty including Drs. Dixon-Williams, Huml, Gunzler, Perzynski, and Einstadter recently published a recent Annals of Internal Medicine paper investigating the differences in COVID vaccination rates among health care professionals. They identified disparities in vaccination rates by race/ethnicity and occupational category highlighting the need for future research on effective interventions to reduce disparities in vaccine uptake among this high risk group.
7/2/2021
Congratulations on Recent Promotions and New Titles!
Congratulations to Dr. Peter Greco on his recent promotion to Professor and Dr. Glen Taksler on his promotion to Associate Professor of Medicine!
3/22/21
Linking Individual Data From the Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems Center and Local Trauma Registry: Development and Validation of Probabilistic Matching Algorithm
YuYing Chen, MD, MPH, Huacong Wen, Russel Griffin, Mary Joan Roach, Michael Kelly.
A recently published article by Population Health Research Institute and other MetroHealth investigators used trauma registry data from 5 SCI Model Systems and the corresponding SCI National Database to develop a probabilistic matching algorithm. The value in matching patient data from different data sources is that these datasets provide population health researchers the ability to better understand the determinants of health outcomes.
Insights gained from these datasets can drive interventions to reduce health disparities. We identified a probabilistic algorithm that identified 65 of the 91 true-match records (sensitivity, 71.4%) with a positive predictive value (PPV) of 80.2%. The algorithm was validated with over 282 SCIMS-trauma pairs across 127 clusters and had a sensitivity of 73.7% and PPV of 81.1%.
Post hoc analysis shows the addition of injury date and zip code improved the specificity from 57.9% to 94.7%. 746 facilities with valid trauma diagnosis with an overall mortality rate of 4.31.123
03/21/21
Ethanol Level and Neurologic Outcomes in Persons with Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury
Josephine Volovetz, Michael Kelly, Greg Nemunaitis, Argyrios Stampas and Mary Joan Roach.
Dr. Roach and other Population Health Research Institute and MetroHealth investigators recently published an article describing the characteristics of the traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) population who received their injury due to falls, and the re-occurrence of falls over time after the initial SCI.
Our key findings were that Blood Alcohol Level had a positive association with neurologic recovery in patients with spinal cord injury as measured by the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury exam’s Motor Score Gain during acute rehabilitation.
03/17/21
Drs. Gunzler, Perzynski and Carle Author Textbook on SEM for Scientists in Health and Medicine
Population Health Research Institute and Center for Health Care Research and Policy Drs. Douglas D. Gunzler and Adam T. Perzynski along with their colleague Dr. Adam C. Carle (Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center) have authored the first ever textbook on structural equation modeling (SEM) for scientists in health and medicine. The textbook has been published as part of the Chapman & Hall/CRC Biostatistics Series (publication date: March 30, 2021).
SEM is a very general and flexible multivariate technique that allows relationships among variables to be examined. SEM is often used in practice to model and test hypothesized causal relationships among observed and latent (unobserved) variables, including in analysis across time and groups.
The roots of SEM are in the social sciences. In writing this textbook, the authors look to make SEM accessible to a wider audience of researchers across many disciplines, addressing issues unique to health and medicine.
Find more information about the book
03/15/21
CHRP Collaboration with Better Health Partnership
Center for Health Care Research and Policy investigators (Bolen, Love, Einstadter, Caron, Fiegl, Lewis, and Cebul) collaborated on a project with Better Health Partnership and their member clinics demonstrating substantial improvement in blood pressure control and reductions in disparities in blood pressure control across the Northeast Ohio region in over 20 primary care practices from over 5 health systems.
Practice coaching or expert consultation in the setting of a regional health improvement collaborative both were effective in improving outcomes and reducing disparities. Find out more in the Journal of General Internal Medicine which recently published this success in January 2021 (Improving Regional Blood Pressure Control: a Positive Deviance Tiered Intensity Approach)
03/03/21
Telehealth Care of COVID-19
Dr. Dave Margolius and colleagues at MetroHealth published a paper on telehealth care of COVID-19. The article is featured in a Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine special issue on Primary Care and COVID-19. The paper describes symptoms, visit disposition and the novel care process approaches utilized in the hotline.
The study concluded that, "Robust, physician-directed telehealth services can meet a wide range of clinical and social needs during the acute phase of a pandemic, conserving scarce resources such as personal protective equipment and testing supplies and preventing the spread of infections to patients and health care workers."
The collaborative work included two CWRU medical students (Mary Hennekes and Jimmy Yao) as well as Drs. Einstadter, Gunzler, Chehade, Sehgal, Tarabachi and Perzynski.
Margolius, D., Hennekes, M., Yao, J., Einstadter, D., Gunzler, D., Chehade, N., Sehgal, A.R., Tarabichi, Y. and Perzynski, A.T., 2021. On the front (phone) lines: results of a COVID-19 hotline. The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 34(Supplement), pp.S95-S102.
01/29/21
Drs. Bolen and Caron Receive $4.1 Million Award to Expand Ohio Cardiovascular Heart Collaborative
Shari Bolen, MD, Director of the MetroHealth Population Health Research Institute (PHRI), and Aleece Caron, PhD, Co-Director of Education for the MetroHealth PHRI were awarded a 4-year, $4.1 million grant from The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) entitled "Achieving Outstanding Cardiovascular Health for All Ohioans: a Statewide Cardiovascular Health Collaborative (Cardio-OH).
The goal of the grant is to improve cardiovascular health and reduce cardiovascular health disparities for all Ohioans. They will work with primary care teams, patients and families, and statewide partners to develop a heart-healthy intervention program that primary care clinics in Ohio can use to improve care and reduce disparities for patients with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and who smoke.
Drs. Bolen and Caron are Associate Professors of Medicine at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
01/29/21
Adoption of Health System Innovations: Evidence of Urban-Rural Disparities from the Ohio Primary Care Marketplace
Three major developments in health care delivery and payment generated particular attention during the last decade: accountable care organizations (ACOs), patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs), and the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs). Translating these reforms into meaningful increases in population health depends on improving the quality and clinical integration of primary care providers (PCPs).
However, if these innovations spread more quickly among PCPs in urban and wealthier areas, then they could potentially worsen existing geographic disparities in health outcomes. Population Health Research Institute investigators and collaborators Drs. Tanenbaum, Love, Einstadter, Cebul and Votruba published a study which assessed the primary care market penetration of Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) ACOs, PCMHs, and the meaningful use of EHRs among PCPs across urban and rural counties in Ohio.
We found that although the market penetration of PCMHs and ACOs increased faster in urban markets compared to rural markets, the adoption of EHRs increased faster in rural markets. The results are a cause for optimism as well as a call to action: although recent efforts to increase PCMH and ACO adoption were less effective among the rural population in Ohio, federal programs to accelerate adoption of EHRs were overwhelmingly successful in rural areas.
Future health care reform efforts should consider this successful model when designing implementation strategies for delivery and payment innovations in rural areas.
1/26/21
Ash Sehgal inaugural Director of Research and Evaluation for I4HOPE
Dr. Ashwini (Ash) Sehgal will be the inaugural Director of Research and Evaluation for the Institute for H.O.P.E.™ in the Population Health Innovation Institute (PHII) at The MetroHealth System.
The mission of the Institute for H.O.P.E.™ is to identify and help eliminate barriers to optimal individual and community health and well-being through improving social influencers of health and addressing the root causes of health disparities in the Northeast Ohio region.
In this new role, Dr. Sehgal will foster the missions of the PHII and the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) to generate new knowledge, inform and target health and health care improvement initiatives, and conduct program evaluation to improve the health and health equity of the communities we serve.
He will continue to serve as co-director with Dr. Daryl Thornton for the Center for Reducing Health Disparities within PHRI while supporting enhanced collaboration between PHRI and PHII.
1/18/21
MetroHealth Part of One of Eight Multi-center Sites Funded by NIH to Uncover Risk Factors for COVID-19 Related Inflammatory Syndromes in Children
The MetroHealth System’s Population Health Research Institute’s Center for Clinical Informatics Research and Education is part of one of eight multi-center NIH R61 grants awarded to investigate COVID-19 in the pediatric population.
David Kaelber, MD, is site PI for MetroHealth on the grant entitled “COVID-19 Network of Networks Expanding Clinical and Translational approaches to Predict Severe Illness in Children (CONNECT to Predict Sick Children)”.
The primary goal of the grant is to develop robust predictive models in pediatric patients to predict who is likely and not likely to develop severe COVID-19 illness (short-term and long-term).
Because COVID-19 appears relatively rare in children and severe short-term and long-term COVID-19 related illnesses are even rarer in children, large databases will be needed to develop these robust predictive models.
MetroHealth’s primary role will be in providing access to and consultative expertise in using large electronic health record derived data sets including: Cosmos, IBM Watson Health Explorys, and TriNetX.
Each of these large data sets now contains data on over 70 million patients, of which 10-20 million are pediatric patients.
1/12/21
PHRI Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine faculty Awarded Three-Year $4.1 Million Grant
In January 2021, the PHRI Center for Health Care Research and Policy and Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine faculty were awarded a three-year $4.1 million grant from The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality led by Drs. Shari Bolen and Aleece Caron to expand a statewide Ohio cardiovascular health collaborative (Cardi-OH).
This grant brings together leaders at The MetroHealth System, University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati, and three regional health improvement collaboratives (The Health Collaborative, The Healthcare Collaborative of Greater Columbus, and Better Health Partnership) across the state along with many other state professional organizations, payers, community organizations, and other partners to improve cardiovascular health and reduce cardiovascular health disparities for all Ohioans.
To do this, they will work with primary care teams, patients and families to develop a heart healthy intervention that primary care clinics in Ohio can use to improve care and reduce disparities for patients with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and who smoke.
1/12/21
Dr. Aleece Caron Awarded $450,000 Grant
In November 2020, PHRI faculty member Dr. Aleece Caron was awarded a $450,000 grant from Project ECHO via the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) ECHO National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network.
This grant will provide training to 118 congregant living facilities in Ohio on critical and timely topics to decrease the risk of nursing home prevalence and spread of COVID-19. To do this, we assembled a team of clinicians and local experts in nursing home administration, infectious disease, geriatrics, and quality improvement to provide a 16-week training program.
We are currently offering four 90-minute sessions each week led by MetroHealth faculty including Drs. James Campbell, Eileen Seeholzer, Ann Avery, Patricia Campbell, Lorella Luezas Shamakian, and Tiffany Leake, APRN. In addition, this grant creates a rapid response framework to provide urgent, immediate technical assistance, resources, and guidance to nursing homes that experience outbreaks and other emergencies.
10/09/20 First Responders Are at Low Risk of Contracting COVID-19 With PPE Use
A new study from researchers at The MetroHealth System shows masks and personal protective equipment appear to be highly effective in reducing risk when EMS medics care for people infected with COVID-19.
MetroHealth researchers Yasir Tarabichi, MD, and Adam Perzynski, Ph.D., conducted COVID-19 surveillance over a seven-week period with 300 first responders from Cleveland EMS and fire services.
The results showed that while about 70% of first responders had contact with patients who had COVID-19, only around 5% tested positive for the virus. Half of those who tested positive reported having no symptoms. Only one needed to seek healthcare for symptoms.For consistent results, first responders were tested twice, with both nasal swabs and bloodwork three weeks apart to look for new infections.
"Among the more remarkable findings of our study was that despite the challenges of day-to-day work caring for, at times, very sick COVID-19 patients, first responders demonstrated a low infection rate. This suggests that our first responders are well-trained professionals committed to keeping their patients and coworkers safe,” said Dr. Perzynski, Associate Professor of Medicine at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
MetroHealth physicians say this study supports evidence that masks and PPE work in reducing the risk of contracting the virus. At times, first responders were in enclosed spaces with COVID-19 patients and still didn’t have an increased risk when they wore appropriate protective supplies.
“Recognizing the threat of the pandemic, the first responder community rapidly adopted aggressive personal protective measures and enhanced sanitation of equipment and vehicles,” said Thomas Collins, MD, FACEP, Emergency Medicine physician at MetroHealth.
When asked, most first responders reported adequate PPE supplies and training.
“Cleveland first responders place themselves at great personal risk for the patients they serve and this study highlights the importance of ensuring adequate PPE supplies and training for these essential workers,” said Dr. Tarabichi.
“They also face the same day-to-day risks at home as the rest of us and precautions like wearing a mask, avoiding large gatherings and washing your hands apply to everyone,” added Dr. Perzynski.
The results of this peer-reviewed study are published online in the journal of Pre-Hospital Emergency Care.
10/01/20 Dr. Sossey-Alaoui Awarded $483,000 to Study Aggressive Form of Breast Cancer that Disproportionately Affects African American Women
Khalid Sossey-Alaoui, PhD, staff scientist in the Division of Cancer Biology of the Department of Medicine, was awarded a $483,000 supplement from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study an aggressive form of breast cancer that disproportionately affects African American women. These "triple-negative breast cancers" or TNBCs, are an unusually aggressive and metastatic subtype of breast cancer that also exhibit rapid rates of recurrence. Because of this, TNBC patients have a poor prognosis as compared to individuals harboring non-TNBC tumors.
The supplement funding will be used to investigate the genetic and socioeconomic factors that conspire to create cancer disparities for African American women with TNBC. Specifically, the funding will determine whether there are differences in genetic expressions within TNBC tumors among African American versus Caucasian women. The study will also investigate the association between neighborhood social disadvantage and genetic markers as possible explanation for breast cancer disparity.
This work is an example of a collaborative, transdisciplinary initiative within the MetroHealth System that leverages our expertise in the basic sciences in the Division of Cancer Biology, population health research in the Population Health Research Institute, and clinical sciences in the Cancer Care Center. Dr. Sossey-Alaoui is Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Collaborators include Natalie Joseph, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery, Adam Perzynski, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, and Vinay Varadan, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology.
08/06/20 Adam Perzynski, PhD, Receives NIH Awards to Study Neighborhood Influences on Disease among Older Adults
A research team co-directed by Dr. Adam Perzynski, a sociologist and researcher in the MetroHealth Population Health Research Institute, was awarded two grants with combined value of $500,000 from the National Institute on Aging. Dr. Perzynski co-directs the studies with Dr. Jarrod Dalton of the Cleveland Clinic Department of Quantitative Health Sciences.
The first grant is entitled “Mechanisms of Cognitive Decline Across Socioeconomic and Clinical Contexts.” Current forecasts suggest that the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease will exceed 15 million individuals by the year 2050. The researchers will conduct predictive modeling using a 20-year, 3-million-person Northeast Ohio clinic care registry to understand how a wide array of factors (e.g. environmental, socioeconomic, cardiovascular) and therapies (e.g. antihypertensive treatment) combine to shape cognitive status and decline among older persons.
Co-investigators of the study include, Dr. Lorella Luezas Shamakian, a MetroHealth specialist in geriatrics; Dr. Douglas Gunzler, a MetroHealth biostatistician; Dr. Eva Kahana, Director of the Elderly Care Research Center at CWRU; and Dr. Elizabeth Pfoh, a Cleveland Clinic health services researcher.
The second grant is entitled “Cardiovascular Risk among Transgender Persons in a Regional Electronic Record ‘Registry’.” Using the same research registry as the first study, the researchers will focus on understanding the complexity of how neighborhood, economic and clinical factors combine to determine heart disease risk in a large regional cohort of transgender adults. Too little is understood about the heart health of sexual and gender minority groups, and this work addresses a critically important research gap. Dr. Laura Mintz from the MetroHealth LGBTQI+ Pride Network and Dr. Scott Moore from the CWRU School of Nursing will collaborate with Dr. Dalton and Dr. Perzynski.
Adam Perzynski, PhD, is Associate Professor of Medicine at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
07/22/20 Drs. Aleece Caron and Daryl Thornton, appointed Co-Directors of Education for the Population Health Research Institute
Please join me in welcoming Associate Professors of Medicine, Aleece Caron, PhD, and Daryl Thornton, MD, MPH, as the new Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) co-Directors of Education. Aleece and Daryl have served as outstanding research faculty within The MetroHealth System for over a decade, and both have received the Case Western Reserve University Scholarship in Teaching Award several times.
Both Drs. Caron and Thornton’s deep understanding of the MetroHealth mission and organization along with their prior faculty development and mentoring experience will serve PHRI and MetroHealth well as they work to develop and implement a cohesive education program within PHRI, including a new population health research fellowship. This fellowship will create a strong base of MetroHealth investigators interested in better understanding and improving the health of the communities we serve. Please congratulate them on this critical leadership role within PHRI.
Dr. Caron received her PhD in Health Services Research in 2000 from Case Western Reserve University, received a VA Career Development Award in Implementation Science, and has been on faculty at MetroHealth since 2008 where she has been integral to training residents and faculty in quality improvement. Nationally, she served as Chair of the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) graduate medical education committee 2015-2018 and chairs the quality improvement committee for our region. She leads 2 large HRSA training grants focused on training primary care faculty to improve the health outcomes of underserved patient populations.
Dr. Thornton received his MD from Washington University in Saint Louis and MPH in 2001 from University of Washington where he completed fellowships in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine and in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program. He has been in clinical practice at MetroHealth as a pulmonary and critical care physician since 2005 and has co-directed the Center for Reducing Health Disparity (CRHD) within PHRI since 2014. Dr. Thornton was awarded the nationally recognized Kaiser Permanente Excellence in Teaching Award by Case Western Reserve University and has received the MetroHealth Department of Medicine Teaching Excellence award 5 times. Nationally, he served on the Education and Publication Committee for the American College of Physicians (ACP) which oversaw the educational initiatives of the organization. He has served in various leadership positions for the American Thoracic Society (ATS) including being a member of the ATS Board of Directors.
Shari Bolen, MD, MPH
Director, Population Health Research Institute
Director, Center for Health Care Research & Policy
The MetroHealth System
Associate Professor of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University