Overview


Since 2017, AcademyHealth and the National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR) of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) has hosted the annual HSRProj Research Competition for undergraduate and graduate students. This competition invited students to use data from the Health Services Research Projects in Progress (HSRProj) database in conjunction with other sources to identify research priorities in health services and systems research. The last competition was held in 2020. 

Goals of the HSRProj Research Competition

Students participating in the HSRProj Research Competition examined the current scope of health services and systems research that investigates topics in population health and social determinants of health.  

Using the HSRProj database as a starting point, augmented by other data sources of their own choosing, students had to analyze and identify significant research priorities in the field of health services and systems research.  

2020 Winner


The Direction of Diabetes Research: Lessons Since 2013 and Opportunities After 2020

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Presenter

Gavin Arneson

Student - New York University

Gavin Arneson is an undergraduate student of nursing and global public health at New York University. Read Bio

View the presentation here.

Runners-Up (in alphabetical order by 1st author)


Prescription opioid overdose and misuse in developed nations: Systematic review of current research

Adetoun Asala, Shelia Malone
Jackson State University, School of Public Health

View the presentation here.

Suicide Risk: Project Selection, Thematic Analysis, and Funding Sources

Carrie Kanzinger 
Thomas Jefferson University, College of Population Health

View the presentation here.

Changing Health Services Research Priorities in Breast Cancer

Xuanzi Qin
University of Minnesota, School of Public Health

View the presentation here.

Current research priorities for diabetes in health services and systems research

Natalie Smith, Katherine Miller, Bryan Blette
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gillings School of Global Public Health

View the presentation here.

Judges


casey balio headshot
Presenter

Casey Balio

Doctoral Candidate - Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health

Casey Balio is a PhD Candidate in Health Policy and Management at the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks ... Read Bio

Jeff Corkran headshot
Presenter

Jeff Corkran

Founder - Takka

Jeff Corkran, founder of Takka, is a strategist, designer, creator, and entrepreneur. Read Bio

Sarah Greene
Member, Presenter

Sarah Greene, M.P.H.

Consultant and Senior Advisor - the National Academy of Medicine

Sarah Greene, MPH, is the Executive Director of the Health Care Systems Research Network (HCSRN, formerly the ... Read Bio

Selene Mak photo
Presenter

Selene Mak, Ph.D.

Program Manager - VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

Dr. Mak is a Program Manager in the Evidence Synthesis Program at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. Read Bio

Abbey Meltzer headshot
Presenter

Abbey Meltzer, M.P.S.

Vice President of Communications and Events - Foundation for the National Institutes of Health

Abbey Meltzer is the Vice President of Communications and Events at the Foundation for the NIH (FNIH). Read Bio

Abdul_Shaikh_headshot
Committee Member

Abdul Shaikh, Ph.D., M.H.Sc.

Global Leader for Population Health - Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Dr. Abdul Shaikh is the Global Leader for Population Health for Worldwide Public Sector at Amazon Web Services... Read Bio

Past Winners, Runner-Ups, and Judges


2019 Winner

Do We Really Know the Economic Burden of Multimorbidity?: A View from an Indirect Cost Perspective

Jayesh Patel headshot
Member

Jayesh Patel, M.S.

Doctoral Candidate - West Virginia University School of Pharmacy

Jayesh Patel is a graduate student currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program in Health Services and Outcomes Resea... Read Bio

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Member

Nazneen Fatima Shaikh

Doctoral Candidate - West Virginia University School of Pharmacy

Nazneen Fatima Shaikh is a current Ph.D. student in Health Services and Outcomes Research program at School of... Read Bio

Rowida Mohamed headshot
Member

Rowida Mohamed, M.S.

Doctoral Candidate - West Virginia University School of Pharmacy

Rowida Mohamed is a Ph.D. student in Health Services and Outcomes Research at School of Pharmacy, West Virgini... Read Bio

View the PowerPoint presentation here.


Runners-Up (in alphabetical order by 1st author)

Identifying Gaps in Patient-Centered Research of Justice Involved Populations

T
aylor Bucy, Rebecca Brookes 
Oregon Health & Science University-Portland State University, School of Public Health

View the PowerPoint presentation here. 

 

Dental Caries: An Underappreciated, Preventable Infection

Kevin Flores, Joseph Geiger 
New York University, School of Dentistry 

View the PowerPoint presentation here. 


Measuring Price Transparency in Hospital Settings: A Systematic Review

Chibuzo Iloabuchi, Mona Nili, Yves Paul Mbous 
West Virginia University, School of Pharmacy

View the PowerPoint presentation here. 

 

A Gap Analysis in the Use of Synthetic Controls in HSRProj Research Database

Brendan Jackson-Fowl, Ranjodh Singh, Eric Basile 
Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine 

View the PowerPoint presentation here. 

Judges

margo headshot
Staff

Margo Edmunds, Ph.D.

Vice President, Evidence Generation and Translation - AcademyHealth

As Vice President for Evidence Generation and Translation, Dr. Margo Edmunds leads AcademyHealth's portfolios ... Read Bio

Edward L. Hunter

Edward L. Hunter

Public Health and Public Policy Consultant

Edward L. Hunter is a public health and public policy consultant, working with clients and partners on strateg... Read Bio

Jennifer McGehee headshot
Presenter

Jennifer McGehee, M.Sc., M.A.

Public Health Informatician - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Jennifer McGehee is a Public Health Informatician at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read Bio

2018 Winner

Validating Population-Level Data Sources for Social Determinants of Health: A Three-Part Research Gap Analysis

Julia Burgdorf, Sarah Gensheimer, and Zachary Predmore
Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health

Students investigated projects in the HSRProj database that validate population-level data sources against patient-reported data sources for predicting patient-level outcomes.

View the PowerPoint presentation here. 
 

Runners-Up (in alphabetical order by 1st author)

Bridging the Gap in the Most Fragmented Part of Healthcare Using HIE

Sajjad Abedian
Weill Cornell Medicine, Department of Healthcare Policy and Research

This project explores the existing research gap in rural medicine regarding Health Information Technology and IT and Health Information Exchange in rural communities.

View the PowerPoint presentation here.

 

Where are the Health Services Research Opportunities? A Big Data Analysis with HSRProj

Yuegi Hu, Riyi Qiu, Yunpeng Zhao
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the University of Florida, respectively

This project investigates unmet medical needs and indientifies future research opportunities as indicated by HSRProj holdings via a Research Opportunity Index (ROI).

View the PowerPoint presentation here.

 

Gaps in Health Services Research on Genetic Testing Applications

Hadley Stevens Smith
The University Of Texas School Of Public Health

This project aims to identify potential gaps in HSR related to genetics through comparison of HSR evaluation of genetic test and service implementation to the availability of clinical genetic tests.

View the PowerPoint presentation here.

 

Identify potential research gaps related to trauma in aged/geriatric participants

Abdul Tawab Kawa Saljuqi, M.D., M.P.H., Karen Lutrick, M.S., Patrick Rivers, M.P.P.
The University of Arizona, Mel and Enid Zuckerman School of Public Health

Students identify potential research gaps related to trauma in aged/geriatric participants.

View the PowerPoint presentation here.

 

2017 Winner

Underrepresentation of Health Information Technology Studies in the Context of Accountable Care Organizations: An Exploration of HSRProj

Robin Danek, Nate Apathy, and Casey Balio

Robin Danek, Nate Apathy, and Casey Balio from Indiana University’s Fairbanks School of Public Health present findings on research projects studying accountable care organizations (ACOs). Using the HSRProj April 2017 file, the team found a gap in ACO-related projects focusing on empirical evaluation of health information technology (IT) within ACOs. Health IT has been widely cited as important to the success of ACOs in terms of quality improvement, population health outcomes, and cost containment. The team proposes the creation of a novel data set to fill this gap in the study of health IT in the context of ACOs.


Runners-Up (in alphabetical order by 1st author)

Absence of Studies on Retail Clinic Chronic Disease Care

Elizabeth Danielson

Since 2015 retail health clinics have been expanding their services to include the treatment of chronic conditions. Despite calls to action, including one from the American College of Physicians in 2015, to investigate the safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of chronic disease management, these questions remain unanswered (1).

1. Daniel, Hilary, and Shari Erickson. "Retail Health Clinics: A Policy Position Paper from the American College of PhysiciansACP Policy Position Paper on Retail Health Clinics." Annals of internal medicine 163, no. 11 (2015): 869-870.

Emergent Trends in Research to Increase Participation in Cancer Clinical Trials by Underrepresented Populations: A Qualitative Analysis of the HSRProj Database

Lynette Hammond Gerido

Lynette Hammond Gerido, a doctoral student at Florida State University's iSchool, presents a qualitative analysis of the HSRProj database for disparities in cancer clinical trials participation research.

A Review of the HSRProj Database to Identify Gaps in Research on Patients Experiencing Homelessness

Elizabeth Golembiewski

Elizabeth Golembiewski, a doctoral student at Indiana University, presents a review of past and present funded health services research to identify temporal, geographical, and topical trends and areas for further study in research on patients experiencing homelessness.

Effect of Integrating Pharmacogenetic Testing in Buprenorphine Management on Treatment Outcomes for African American Patients

Adaku Ofoegbu, Kevin Nguyen, and Iman Ahmed

Adaku Ofoegbu, Ph.D student, Kevin Nguyen, and Iman Ahmed, doctoral students at Howard University, present findings on their research on whether there is a gap in funded projects that integrate pharmacogenetic testing into buprenorphine management. The team proposes that the gaps in this research be addressed by conducting a cohort study in African American patients comparing buprenorphine management standard of care versus guided by pharmacogenetic testing.

If there are any questions, contact AcademyHealth HSRProj staff at hsrproj@academyhealth.org.

 

About HSRProj

HSRProj is an openly accessible, searchable database of information on ongoing and recently completed health services, systems, and policy research projects. HSRProj provides a snapshot of who is funding and conducting cutting-edge research, highlighting newly funded projects long before their final results are published. HSRProj reflects investments in HSR from the 1990s to the present. Its full-data download feature readily supports qualitative and quantitative analysis of trends and gaps in the focus, funders, and infrastructure of U.S. health services and systems research. 

To learn more about NLM's resources for health services research and technology assessment, visit the National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology web site or call the NLM Customer Service team at 1-888-346-3636.

HSRProj is a joint effort of AcademyHealth and the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. It is funded by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.