Michael D. Fetters, M.D., M.P.H., M.A.

Address

Department of Family Medicine
University of Michigan Medical School
1018 Fuller St.
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104-1213

Administrative Contact

Biography

Michael D. Fetters, M.D., M.P.H., M.A., was a professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan (U-M) where he directed the Japanese Family Health Education and Research Programs that strives to provide culturally and linguistically competent care for the Japanese population currently residing in Ann Arbor and the Detroit Metropolitan area. Fluent in Japanese, he was also instrumental in the introduction, preparation for, and teaching of, the concepts, skills and mission behind the specialty of family medicine for medical residents in Japan with a grant awarded to the U-M and the Department of Family Medicine titled the Shizuoka-University of Michigan Advanced Residency Training, Education and Research in Family Medicine (SMARTER FM). An international expert in the methodology of Mixed Methods Research, Professor Fetters taught multiple mixed methods workshops domestically and internationally in Canada, Denmark, China, Hong Kong, Qatar, South Africa, and Japan. He helped coordinate the first Mixed Methods Conference in Japan in 2013 by serving on the organizing committee and presenting. With Family Medicine Adjunct Professor John W. Creswell, he co-founded and was former director of the University of Michigan Mixed Methods Program. He served as Co-Editor in Chief with Jose Franciso Molina Azorin for the Journal of Mixed Methods Research.

From September 2016 to January 2017, he served as Fulbright Distinguished Chair of Social Sciences at U of M Global Health Partner Peking University Health Sciences Center, where he taught a graduate course on Mixed Methods Research Design, and conduct research on cancer decision making.

Areas of Interest

Research Interests

Influence of culture on medical decision-making
Mixed methods research
Training Japanese medical students and residents the skills and theory of family medicine
and evaluating the effects of the training
Global Primary Care Development
Cancer Screening and Prevention

Clinical Interests

Care of patients from other cultures, the interface between cultural values and medical outcomes particularly with regard to Japanese patients, ethical issues, prevention, cancer prevention, Japanese health

Japanese Family Health Program (internal link)

Journal of Mixed Methods Research (internal link)

Credentials

Medical School

M.D., Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio, 1989

Residency

University of North Carolina Hospitals, Department of Family Practice, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1992

Fellowship

Graduate Fellow, Jichi Medical University, Department of Community and Family Medicine, Jichi, Japan, Fulbright Fellowship, 1992
Foundation "Japan Today" Fellowship to Study Ethics of End of Life Decision-Making in
Japan, Host Institution, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan, 1992
Graduate Medical Education in Ethics Program, University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Mich., 2002
Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1992-94
Fulbright Distinguished Chair of Social Sciences at Peking University Health Sciences Center, September 2016 to January 2017

Advanced Degrees

M.P.H., University of North Carolina School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1994
M.A., Interdisciplinary Programs in Health and Humanities, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich., 1998

Board Certification

Family Medicine

Grants

Research Projects

Shizuoka-University of Michigan Advanced Residency Training Exchange and Research in Family Medicine (SMARTER Family Medicine) Project, Shizuoka Prefectural Government, Principal Investigator
Understanding and Addressing Variation in Healthcare-Associated Infections After Durable Ventricular Assist Device Therapy, AHRQ, Co-Investigator
Improving Diagnosis in Emergency and Acute Care: A Learning Laboratory (IDEALL), AHRQ, Co-Investigator
Strategies to Innovate EmeRgENcy Care Clinical Trials Network (SIREN) – Clinical Coordinating Center (CCC) – Supplement, NIH/NINDS, Co-Investigator
Integrated Smoking Cessation Treatment for Smokers with Serious Mental Illness. PCORI, Site Principal Investigator

Published Books, Articles and Editorials

Key Publications

Fetters MD. (2019). The Mixed Methods Research Workbook: Activities for Designing, Implementing, and Publishing Projects. Mixed Methods Research Series (Book 7). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. ISBN: 978-1506393599.
Fetters MD, Kaki H. (2021). A Guide to Mixed Methods Research: A Treasure Hunt for Learning Research Design to Writing for Publication. [混合研究法の手引き――トレジャーハントで学ぶ研究デザインから論文の書き方まで]. Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan: Tomi Shobo. ISBN: 978-4866161204.
Haynes-Brown TK, Fetters MD. Using Joint Display as an Analytic Process: An Illustration Using Bar Graphs Joint Displays from a Mixed Methods Study of How Beliefs Shape Secondary School Teachers’ Use of Technology. IJQM, 2021. Doi: 10.1177/1609406921993286.
Takeuchi Y, Otsuka R, Kojima H, Fetters MD. Comparison of self-report and objective measures of male sexual dysfunction in a Japanese primary care setting: a cross-sectional, self-administered mixed methods survey. Fam Med Community Health. 2021;9(1):e000403. Doi: 10.1136/fmch-2020-000403.
Fetters MD and Guetterman TC. (2019) Discovering and doing family medicine and community health research. Fam Med Com Health, 7(2), pp. 1-3. doi: 10.1136/fmch-2018-000084.
Fetters MD and Molina-Azorin JF. (04/2020) Call for Papers for a Special Issue on COVID-19 and Novel Mixed Methods Methodological Approaches During Catastrophic Social Changes. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 14(3), pp. 281-287. doi: 10.1177/1558689820920098.

I chose to become a researcher (or to research a specific topic because)…

Since my childhood, I have admired Thomas Edison, the greatest American inventor. To this day, I have vivid memories of visiting the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village as an elementary school student. In particular, I was moved when walking through his laboratory. I read with great enthusiasm every story board posted about him and his work. I find in myself his passion to innovate by working together in the fringes of overlap between fields, disciplines, and methodologies, areas that can propel forward research about vexing and unsolved problems.