Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion
Health Equity Fellowship for MD and PhDs
As a cross-VISN, two-site Center of Innovation, CHERP offers distinctive breadth of opportunity for fellows.
New two-site Advanced Fellowship in HSR includes physicians and post-doctoral trainees at CHERP.
The VHA Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA) has approved the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP) as a site for the Advanced Fellowship in Health Services Research and Development. Starting on July 1, 2015 CHERP will have openings for two fellows -- one physician and one associated health professional -- to begin each year. Going forward, CHERP will have up to four fellows at a time.
The new fellowship’s curriculum is designed to produce highly competent junior health services research investigators who generate innovative research that advances the quality and equity of health and health care within and beyond the VA. Focus areas are: (1) improving the quality and equity of health and health care for vulnerable populations; (2) improving the effectiveness, safety, and value of clinical therapeutics; and/or (3) applying behavioral economics to improve health and health care. As a cross-VISN, two-site Center of Innovation, CHERP offers distinctive breadth of opportunity for fellows. While both sites have multiple formal and informal opportunities for fellows to obtain competencies in research focused on quality and equity of health and health care, training specific to clinical therapeutics will be primarily based in Pittsburgh and training in behavioral economics will be primarily based in Philadelphia. Applicants pursuing these focus areas will be given priority although outstanding fellows with other interests will also be considered.
The training program will be co-directed by Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD in Philadelphia and Galen Switzer, PhD in Pittsburgh. They will be supported by Associate Directors Michael Fine, MD, MSc (CHERP Director) and Said Ibrahim, MD, MPH (CHERP Co-Director). All four are national leaders in multidisciplinary HSR and accomplished mentors. Drs. Volpp and Switzer will direct the recruitment and selection of fellows, assignment and coordination of interprofessional mentoring teams, development of personalized curricula for each fellow, facilitation of access to CHERP infrastructure cores and other resources, evaluation of fellows and the training program, coordination with national HSR educational programming, and all administrative issues associated with the program.
Dr. Volpp is a Staff Physician and CHERP investigator at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center (PVAMC) and Professor of Medicine and Health Care Management, Director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, Vice Chair for Health Policy, and Co-Director of the Penn Medicine Center for Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania (UPENN). He is the co-developer of the Way to Health platform (http://www.waytohealth.org/), a NIH-supported infrastructure at UPENN that uses online tools, wireless technology, and other applications to support delivery and evaluation of behavioral interventions to improve health.
Dr. Switzer is Associate Director of CHERP at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System (VAPHS) and Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh (UPITT) where he directs the Multidisciplinary Pre-doctoral and PhD Fellowship Programs in Clinical and Translational Science in the Institute for Clinical Research Education (ICRE). He is a medical sociologist with extensive experience in health equity research and research to understand donor motivation, decision-making, and donation-related experiences in transplantation. With expertise in the development and psychometric validation of survey and other research instruments, he has mentored more than 25 trainees and junior investigators from diverse academic and clinical disciplines.
PVAMC, UPENN, VAPHS, and UPITT share a common goal to develop future generations of HSR investigators who have a solid foundation on which to build their careers. This goal is accomplished through nationally acclaimed educational programs, residency and fellowship training, and career development programs. Our training program leverages the robust academic resources of each VA site and their academic affiliates to immerse fellows in an integrated, interprofessional educational environment with a proven track record of success in developing national leaders in HSR.
A total of 14 VA sites were funded for the OAA Advanced Fellowship in Health Services Research and Development, including Palo Alto, Durham, Greater Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia/Pittsburgh, Tampa/Gainesville, Bedford/Boston, Providence, Houston, Seattle, Ann Arbor, Portland, West Haven and Denver.
For information and details about applying for this OAA Fellowship, please contact VHAPHICHERPFellowship@va.gov
Current CHERP Fellows
OAA Post-doctoral Fellowship in Health Services Research
John Blosnich, PhD, LGBT Health Issues
Audrey L. Jones, PhD, Racial Disparities in Mental Health Services
Clara Wagner, MA, PhD, Women’s Mental Health
OAA Advanced Fellowship in Addictions Treatment
Jeffrey P. Haibach, PhD, MPH
OAA Women’s Health Fellowship
Elian Rosenfeld, PhD
Swati Schroff, MD
Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars (VA Scholars)
Marcus Bachhuber, MD
Whitney Cabey, MD
Jeffrey Hom, MD, MPH
Brandon Maughan, MD, MHS
Pooja Mehta, MD
Anita Ravi, MD, MPH
University of Pittsburgh Clinical Scientist Training Program
Thomas Radomski, MD
