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Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion

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CHERP's Melissa Dichter Appointed to Penn faculty

Melissa Dichter, MSW, PhD

In her new role at Penn, Dr. Dichter will continue as CHERP Core Investigator and PI on VA-funded studies; she will also extend and expand her work in the area of social determinants of health and interventions to support psychosocial well-being.

By Carson Connor Clark
Tuesday, March 1, 2016

CHERP’s Melissa Dichter, MSW, PhD, a VA HSR&D Career Development Awardee (CDA) has accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania.  While taking on this new role in the university, Dr. Dichter will continue to serve as CHERP Core Investigator and PI on VA-funded studies; she will also extend and expand her work in the area of social determinants of health and interventions to support psychosocial well-being.

Dr. Dichter leads research investigations and has published extensively on identifying and responding to the psychosocial needs of women military Veterans, particularly as related to the experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) and associated social health concerns, including reproductive health, parenting, housing, social support, and economic stability.

She was recently awarded three-year merit review funding to study the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) patient population in need of care related to IPV, and services and support most helpful in patients’ safety and well-being following IPV experience.  She is Co-Investigator/Mentor for the VISN4 CHERP Pilot project “Treatment for Depression in Veterans: Identifying Gender Differences in Patterns of Mental Health Service Use and Receipt of Care” (PI: Wagner) and Co-Investigator of the merit review project “Identifying and Measuring Risk for Homelessness among Veterans” (PI: Montgomery).

Dichter serves as the Site Lead in Philadelphia for the VA’s national Women’s Health Practice-Based Research Network, and she is also a member of the VA’s Trauma Research Workgroup, LGBT Research Workgroup, and Steering Committee for the VA’s Domestic Violence/Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Program. Dr. Dichter is also a Fellow with the Penn Medicine Program for LGBT Health, Penn Center for Public Health Initiatives, and Evelyn Jacobs Ortner Center on Family Violence. 

Dr. Dichter earned her Ph.D. in Social Welfare and Masters in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania, and her B.A. in Child Development from Tufts University. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in health services research at the VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion and received a VA Health Services Research and Development Career Development Award to study intimate partner violence assessment and response in the VA healthcare system.

The contents of this article and web site do not reflect the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the US government. 

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