Candidate: Margaret Nusbaum DO, MPH is an associate professor of Family Medicine and co-director of the Family Medicine residency program at the University of North Carolina (UNC). In addition to family medicine, she is board certified in public health and preventive medicine. Research career development plan: The career development plan includes coursework, tutorials, and mentored research activities to provide the candidate with further training in survey and qualitative research methodology; sexual health research; and academic leadership. Immediate career plans: To become a productive and independent investigator who can apply rigorous research methods to the study of factors that influence sexual health. Long-term career goals: To become a professor of family medicine who not only integrates sexual health care into clinical practice but also contributes nationally to the promotion of research and clinical aspects of sexual health. Research projects: Project #1: Test the fit of and refine the candidate's previously developed Sexual Health Model using previously-collected data. Project #2: Conduct a survey of primary care patients to determine (a) the relationship between age, chronic illness, and sexual health; (b) the influence of physician characteristics, practice setting characteristics, and individual characteristics on sexual health care; and (c) the influence of age cohort on the relationship between communication on sexual issues in family of origin and current partnership. Project #3: Conduct a qualitative study of primary care physicians exploring factors affecting comfort and skills in addressing sexual health care needs of their patients. Mentorship: Mentorship will be provided by a multidisciplinary team. Primary mentoring will be done by a highly experienced Family Physician researcher (Philip D. Sloane MD MPH) and a leading social scientist researcher (J. Richard Udry PhD.). Research advisors at UNC will include a social psychologist and expert in measurement development and evaluation (Robert F. DeVellis PhD), an experienced clinician educator sociologist with an academic focus on sexual health care (Catherine Fogel PhD, RN), a sociologist and experienced qualitative researcher in education and health care settings (George W. Noblit PhD), and a statistical advisor (Gall Tudor, PhD). Outside advisors for specific training experiences will include Kinsey Institute at Indiana University-Bloomington director John Bancroft MD and associate director Stephanie Sanders Phi), University of Chicago sociologist Edward O. Laumann PhD, and nationally recognized sexual health researcher Sandra Leiblum PhD. Environment: For project #2, subjects will be identified from an established cohort of patients drawn from a statewide representative sample of 16 family practice offices in North Carolina. For project #3, subjects will be identified from the physicians associated with the statewide patient sample. The completion of the training and projects combined with the multidisciplinary mentorship proposed in this application will supply Dr. Nusbaum with experience crucial to her growth as an independent academic researcher in sexual health care.
