UNC-CH Training Program in Health Services Research

Project Abstract
The Cecil G. Sheps Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill requests a competing renewal for
our pre- and postdoctoral interdisciplinary training program in health services research for the years 2023-28.
Predoctoral trainees will be supported by the program for two years, and will have already completed their
coursework. They will be drawn from multiple disciplines including, but not limited to: health policy,
epidemiology, health behavior, economics, pharmacy, allied health, nursing, and sociology. Postdoctoral
trainees will work with a mentor to develop and complete research related to the delivery of health services in
the currently changing health care system. While some postdoctoral trainees may have had PhD level training,
others will be MD, PharmD, or DDS clinicians who complete a master's degree in public health during the
fellowship. Many trainees will collaborate with investigators at the Sheps Center on projects funded by the
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, National Institutes of Health, Health Resources and Services
Administration, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and others. All trainees participate in a
weekly, two-hour interdisciplinary seminar during which work in progress sessions monitor their development,
as well as participate in discussions of methods issues in health services and patient-centered outcomes
research, as well as career development activities. Mentoring in the fellowship is provided by an
interdisciplinary faculty, led by the program director, Mark Holmes, PhD, director of the Sheps Center and an
economist and health services researcher. He will be supported by seven interdisciplinary faculty who are
accomplished mentors and researchers: Kathleen Thomas, PhD (mental health economics and patient-
centered outcomes), Ronny Bell, PhD, MEd (pharmaceutical outcomes policy and health disparities), Tim
Carey, MD, MPH (general internal medicine and comparative effectiveness research), Katrina Donahue, MD,
MPH (family medicine and practice-based research networks), Larissa Jennings Mayo-Wilson, PhD, MHS
(health behavior and sexual/reproductive health), Til Stürmer, MD, PhD (pharmaco-epidemiology) and Justin
Trogdon, PhD (health economist and cancer care). Fellows will also have access to the facilities and
resources of the Sheps Center for Health Services Research, a pan-university center currently conducting over
60 projects with an annual budget of over $18M per year, as well as the broader resources of the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We are requesting funding for 5 pre-and 4 post-doctoral fellows per year. All
trainees receive training in the responsible conduct of research specific to health services research. We make
particular efforts to attract and train trainees from historically-excluded populations. We will build on our
experience since 1989 of training fellows who advance to highly successful careers; our alumni are
accomplished, highly-published, and well-funded leaders in academic and contract research organizations,
state and local government, health care delivery systems, and the private sector.