Research

The major focus of the Research Division of the Department of Family Medicine is to develop and provide physicians with the best information available to optimize the care of the patients and communities they serve. This includes conducting research, refining research into usable information products for practicing clinicians, finding the best available tools for disseminating information, and providing a broad array of support services to faculty, residents, students, and practicing clinicians.

One of our major focuses has been to develop the clinical techniques of Information Mastery, a methodology for providing clinicians with the best possible information to assist in caring for their patients. Information Mastery allows physicians to maximize the value of their services by applying the best information to the care of their patients balancing effectiveness, cost, and the quality of their interventions as they relate to the patient, the patient's family, and the entire community.

The Department established a  Center for Information Mastery under the direction of Dr. David Slawson, B. Lewis Barnett, Jr. Professor of Family Medicine, and co-directed by Dr. Fern R. Hauck, Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Director of Research. The Center for Information Mastery and Research supports a wide range of scholarly work including original research, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, as well as innovative clinical and educational methods. Dr. Slawson is responsible for coordinating all Center activities and will focus on the area of information refinement through systematic reviews and development of educational and clinical methods. He supports scholarly activities by faculty focusing in this area. Working with Dr. Lisa Rollins, a grant was submitted to HHS to support a fellowship program for graduate physicians to develop their skill as information masters and to serve as teachers of other physicians.

Dr. Fern Hauck joined the Department in 2000 as the Director of Research. Dr. Hauck is an experienced family physician researcher who served as the founding chair of Family Medicine at Loyola University in Chicago. Her research has been instrumental in defining the risk factors for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), with particular attention to understanding the disparity in incidence between black and white infants. Dr. Hauck assists other faculty in developing their research focus and skill. We anticipate continued growth and evolution of our scholarly work under her direction.

Research in the Department focusus on three major themes: 1) disease prevention and health promotion in primary care settings, 2) eliminating health disparities, and 3) clinical quality enhancement. Drs. Steven Heim and M. Norman Oliver are faculty members serving as part of the research team. Marie Craver, an experienced administrative assistant, supports them in their work. A primary task was to develop the Department's infrastructure to support research and a grant was submitted to HHS in December to assist in this development.

In 2000, Dr. Norm Oliver organized the Center for Improving Minority Health at the University of Virginia. He serves as the director and works with an interdisciplinary team of clinicians, clinical scientists, social scientists, ethicists, epidemiologists, anthropologists, and community leaders. A Center focus is to evaluate health care, identify existing problems and inequities, and through understanding the needs, values, and culture of minority populations, design solutions that will lead to improved health.

Dr. Steven Heim serves as Director of the University Practice Support and Research Network (PSRN). The network consists of seven academic practices representing more than forty physicians. All practices provide primary care services to their patients and include family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics. The purpose of the newly established network is to provide sites for both identifying important research questions for primary care practice and locations, and for conducting research studies in settings where illness is diagnosed and treated.

Our major goal is to further develop the Center for Information Mastery and Research as a means of organizing the entire scholarly work of our Department. Our plans include developing high-quality research, sharing our innovations through publication of quality of research and review, and further preparing faculty for excellence as scholars. Collaborative efforts will continue with the School of Nursing, the Department of Health Evaluation Sciences, and other areas within the University.