Today, AcademyHealth announced the winners of its 2013 awards, each of which recognizes researchers who have made significant contributions to the fields of health services research and health policy.
AcademyHealth honors the recipients of these prestigious awards by recognizing them at the Annual Research Meeting (ARM), June 23-25, in Baltimore. The following individuals will be recognized at this year's conference:
DISTINGUISHED INVESTIGATOR AWARD
Donald M. Steinwachs, Ph.D.
Donald M. Steinwachs, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. He currently serves as Interim Director of the Institute for Policy Studies, The Johns Hopkins University. He is active in the Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research, previously named the Health Services Research and Development Center where he served as director for many years.
Dr. Steinwachs' research interests are improving medical effectiveness and patient outcomes, use of management information systems to monitor quality of care, examining the impact of financing alternatives on cost and quality, and health system performance. His current research seeks to understand effective methods for increasing adherence to evidence-based practice and the impact of payment incentives on patterns of care and outcomes for chronic diseases. Dr. Steinwachs was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1993. He is past President of the Association for Health Services Research (renamed AcademyHealth).
The Distinguished Investigator Award recognizes investigators who have made significant and lasting contributions to the field of health services research through scholarship, teaching, advancement of science and methods, and leadership.
ALICE S. HERSH NEW INVESTIGATOR AWARD
Ateev Mehrotra, M.D., M.P.H
Dr. Mehrotra is an Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a Policy Analyst at RAND. His research has focused on innovations in health care delivery, primary care access, cost and quality profiling, and consumerism in health care.
Dr. Mehrotra is board certified in both internal medicine and pediatrics. He received his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco and completed his residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Children's Hospital of Boston. His clinical work has been both as a primary care physician and as an adult and pediatric hospitalist. He also has received formal research training with a Masters of Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley and a Masters of Science in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health.
The Alice S. Hersh New Investigator Award recognizes scholars early in their careers as health services researchers who show exceptional promise for future contributions to the field.
ARTICLE-OF-THE-YEAR AWARD
Zirui Song, Ph.D.
Zirui Song is a fourth year medical student at Harvard Medical School. He is a recent graduate of the Ph.D. Program in Health Policy (Economics track) at Harvard University. His research has focused on health care spending and quality in global payment contracts in Massachusetts, Medicare physician fee policy, and competitive bidding in Medicare. During graduate school, he was a member of the Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in Aging and Health Economics at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society Task Force on Health Care Reform. He currently co-chairs the Student Leadership Committee at the Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care and serves on the Boston Advisory Board of the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. He received his B.A. in Public Health Studies from Johns Hopkins University.
The Article-of-the-Year Award recognizes the best scientific work that the fields of health services research and health policy have produced and published during the previous calendar year. The award-winning article provides new insights into the delivery of health care and advances the knowledge of the field.
OUTSTANDING DISSERTATION AWARD
Alicia Cooper, M.P.H., Ph.D.
Dr. Cooper is an investigator in the Health Services Research & Development (HSR&D) division at the Providence VA Medical Center. She recently completed her doctoral degree in Health Services Research from Brown University's Department of Health Services, Policy, and Practice. Prior to her graduate training, Alicia received her B.S. in biology and anthropology from the University of Notre Dame. She was awarded a Fulbright fellowship for research and study in Bangladesh, where she completed her M.P.H. at the James P. Grant School of Public Health of BRAC University. Her research interests relate to patient safety and quality prescribing, and the effect of enrollment in multiple health systems on the use of prescription drug benefits.
The Outstanding Dissertation Award honors an outstanding scientific contribution from a doctoral thesis in health services research.
AcademyHealth represents a broad community of people with an interest in and commitment to using health services research to improve health care. We promote interaction across the health research and policy arenas by bringing together a broad spectrum of players to share their perspectives, learn from each other, and strengthen their working relationships.