The Blueprint: Paradigm Project Updates
This month’s edition of the Blueprint includes upcoming webinars on health equity and engagement science, a two-part blog series that examines imputing race/ethnicity from the perspective of health equity, and more.
In health services research (HSR), academic incentives are increasingly misaligned with the goal of fostering scholarship that improves people’s lives. Rethinking these incentives to realize greater social impact is one key focus of AcademyHealth’s Paradigm Project. In May, AcademyHealth convened a meeting to explore how innovative academic incentives and rewards might empower the HSR field to produce research that both illuminates real-world problems and delivers solutions.
A new report summarizes takeaways from that meeting in which participants critically examined the current system of academic incentives and rewards, explored the role of diversity, equity and inclusion in that system, and articulated options for better aligning research incentives with health outcomes. Issues addressed in the report include:
- Peer review;
- Federal research funding;
- Academic recruitment, promotion, and tenure policies;
- Inequitable access to research funding and tenure, especially for younger, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), and/or women researchers;
- The need for more community-responsive research aimed at solving real-world problems;
- Assessment of research impact; and
- Leverage points in the research ecosystem—such as university accreditation and business models, as well as funder and journal policies.
Additional information can be found at AcademyHealth.org/ParadigmProject.