AcademyHealth Announces 2016 Interest Group Award Recipients

AcademyHealth Announces 2016 Interest Group Award Recipients

Washington, D.C. (6/17/2016)—Today, AcademyHealth announced its 2016 Interest Group Award winners. The three awards recognize individuals who have made significant contributions in the health care workforce, gender-based research, and mentorship in health care and health policy. AcademyHealth will honor these recipients at the 2016 Annual Interest Group Meetings on June 25 in Boston.

Interdisciplinary Research Group on Nursing Issues (IRGNI) New Investigator Award

Ulrike Muenche, Ph.D., R.N., University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Muenche, Ph.D., R.N., is a nurse and health care economist with a program of research focused on the health care workforce. Her research has been published in leading health care journals, including JAMA, NEJM, and Health Affairs. Her work on the male-female pay gap in nursing has received widespread media attention. She has expertise working with big data such as health insurance claims data and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. She examines practice differences between nurse practitioners and primary care physicians in Medicare data, evaluates outcomes of independent scope of practice laws for nurse practitioners, and studies earnings differences in nursing in an international context. Dr. Muenche completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University. She holds degrees from Yale University and the University of Cambridge.

The IRGNI New Investigator Award recognizes the scientific work of emerging scholars in the field of health services research relevant to nursing practice, workforce and education.

IRGNI Research Mentorship Award

Joanne Spetz, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Joanne Spetz, Ph.D., is the associate director of research at the Healthforce Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Spetz is also a professor at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, Department of Family and Community Medicine, and the School of Nursing at UCSF. Dr. Spetz’s research focuses on the economics of the health care workforce.

Dr. Spetz was a member of the Institute of Medicine Standing Committee on Credentialing Research in Nursing, a consultant to the Institute of Medicine Committee on the Future of Nursing and a member of the National Commission on Veterans Affairs Nursing. She is an honorary fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and frequently provides testimony and technical assistance to state and federal agencies and policymakers. She teaches health economics, quantitative research methods, health care financial management and health economics and is involved in the Global Health Workforce Economics Network. Dr. Spetz received her Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University after studying economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The IRGNI Research Mentorship Award, recognizes the contributions of a senior scientist to the career development of young investigators who are engaged in research focused on interdisciplinary health services research on nursing issues.

The Carol Weisman and Gary Chase Gender-Based Research Awards

Jill E. Darling, M.S.H.S., Veterans Health Administration Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

Jill Darling, M.S.H.S.,is a research health scientist at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Health Services Research and Development Center for Healthcare Innovation, Implementation, and Policy (CSHIIP) and a survey director at the University of Southern California Dornsife’s Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR). Prior to joining CESR, Jill served as CSHIIP’s Survey Director. Her research has recently focused on using survey methods in context of implementation science research, particularly in the area of women’s health services. Prior to her work at the VHA, Jill was associate director of the Los Angeles Times Poll (LAT). Jill obtained her B.A. in mathematics from Sonoma State University in California and left UCLA without finishing her dissertation to go to work for the Los Angeles Times. She completed a M.S.H.S. degree from George Washington University in 2010. Jill completed her research in conjunction with, Jillian Shipherd, Ph.D., VHA LGBT Program.

The Carol Weisman & Gary Chase Gender-Based Research Awards recognize excellence in gender-based research presented each year as part of the Gender and Health Interest Group Meeting.

About AcademyHealth

AcademyHealth is a leading national organization serving the fields of health services and policy research and the professionals who produce and use this important work. Together with our members, we offer programs and services that support the development and use of rigorous, relevant and timely evidence to increase the quality, accessibility, and value of health care, to reduce disparities, and to improve health. A trusted broker of information, AcademyHealth brings stakeholders together to address the current and future needs of an evolving health system, inform health policy, and translate evidence into action. Learn more atwww.academyhealth.org and follow us on Twitter @AcademyHealth.