: The objective of this training program is to produce highly skilled health services researchers who have a strong interdisciplinary foundation in applied research settings, systems and quality improvement, and quantitative evaluation methods. Although our students may each eventually conduct detailed research only in one of the AHRQ priority areas, it is our desire to see that they have interdisciplinary exposures and analytic tools allowing them to understand the interlinkages between clinical policy, organizational policy, and public policy. They should understand and be responsive to the realities of applied intervention and evaluation research as well as be skilled in general analytic methods for health services research and quality improvement from a systems perspective. Finally, they should also understand the fundamentals of partnering with community-based organizations. Our T32 program is based in the Department of Population Health Sciences (PHS). We have continued our previous partnership with Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) and the RWJ Health and Society Scholars Program. We have also developed a formal partnership with four UW schools and colleges (Nursing, Pharmacy, Engineering, and Public Affairs) through the new NIH-funded Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR). The intersection of these four venues provides an ideal place for a training program. We propose a pre-doctoral training program with 5 predoctoral training positions and 2 postdoctoral training positions. Predoctoral training positions will be distributed roughly 2/3 to students pursuing the PhD degree in PHS and 1/3 to students pursuing the PhD degree in ISyE (affiliated with the Systems Engineering Initiative in Patient Safety). Students share core population health courses (determinants of health, epidemiology, health services research, quality in healthcare, and statistical methods) as well as courses in human factors engineering, health systems engineering, or industrial applications of modern quality improvement methods. The formal partnerships with the RWJ Scholars Program and the new NIH-funded Institute will also allow our trainees to take advantage of a wide variety of seminars, workshops, and training opportunities. These partnerships will also facilitate direct access to faculty with broad expertise relevant to the proposed program in areas such as community-based participatory research. Seventeen highly interdisciplinary faculty mentors offer research opportunities in all the AHRQ priority areas.
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