Scholars from Yale Schools of Medicine (YSM) and Nursing presented their work at the National Clinician Scholars Program (NCSP) 2019 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pa. from November 12-14. The NCSP offers unparalleled training for clinicians as change agents driving policy-relevant research and partnerships to improve health and healthcare. This yearly meeting brings together current NCSP scholars, faculty, and staff from their six training sites across the country, YSM, University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, University of Michigan, UCLA, and UCSF. The event allows current NCSP scholars to share their research, and network with the program’s many stakeholders.
This year keynote speakers included Catherine Alicia Georges, EdD, RN, FAAN, national volunteer president, AARP Board of Directors; Rachel Levine, MD, secretary of health for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and Sylvia Trent-Adams, PhD, RN, FAAN, principal deputy assistant secretary for health, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
All second year Yale NCSP scholars presented their research, which addressed diverse topics ranging from health policy (assessing state Medicaid programs), clinical care redesign (feasibility of a hospital-at-home program and evaluating the relation between hospitalist physician workload and patient outcomes) and equity (in studies assessing diversity in residency programs and access to care for children of immigrants as well as older minority patients).
“Our scholars work exemplifies the mission of the program, which is to use rigorously conducted research as a means not only to inform practice and policy, but as a launching point to improve health and health care,” said Cary P. Gross, MD, professor of medicine and director, Yale NCSP.
A highlight of the meeting was a presentation by Yale NCSP alumna Kathleen O'Neill, MD, general surgery resident and PhD candidate for the Yale Investigative Medicine Program. O’Neill, presenting with her community partners, Pepe Vega and Keshia Hodges, screened a community-based film project entitled “Surviving Gun Violence.” The film documents the myriad ways in which the gun violence epidemic in New Haven affects lives. The stories captured on film are filled with grief, anger, and frustration but also highlight the New Haven community's resilience, hope, and determination to make change.
“The National Clinician Scholars Program represents transformative opportunity for talented early career physician and nurse scientists to prepare for careers as leaders in academic and throughout the health care system more broadly,” said Patrick G. O’Connor, MD, MPH, Dan Adams and Amanda Adams Professor of General Medicine and chief of YSM General Internal Medicine.
O’Connor serves as chair of the NCSP National Program Board of Directors which oversees the six NCSP training sites. Over the past two years, the NCSP added two new training site, Duke and UCSF. The program currently provides training for 68 scholars across all six sites. Yale’s program, which was part of the original cohort of Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, has operated continuously since inception in the mid-1970s and has graduated over 200 scholars through 2019.