eHealth and preventive medicine researcher Lorraine Buis, Ph.D., was among the six University of Michigan researchers selected to the Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation's (CHRT) 2018 cohort of Health Policy Fellows. Buis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, with a joint appointment at the University of Michigan School of Information. Her research focuses on the use of communication technologies for health promotion and chronic disease self-management.
Read More: New mobile health app launches with pilot research study
Since 2012, 72 fellows have graduated from the CHRT Health Policy Fellowship program. All fellows receive an introduction to the history of health policy, as well as instruction in contemporary health policy challenges and debates. Then research fellows focus on the legislative process, working with the media, and writing effective op-eds, while policy fellows learn about the research process and the state of scientific evidence in their areas of interest. at the conclusion of the fellowship, research fellows produce op-eds for publication and one-pagers for legislators, then go on to participate in policy-relevant research projects such as updating child passenger safety legislation in Michigan, expanding the Healthy Kids Dental Program, and more.
“Health researchers want their work to have impact at the community, state, and national level. And policymakers and decision leaders want to make evidence-informed choices in real time,” says Marianne Udow Phillips, executive director of the Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation (CHRT). “Our fellowship program engages both researchers and policymakers to help them learn to speak the same language while exploring pressing health policy challenges, the political and policymaking environment, and more.”
For more information on the Health Policy Fellowship program, visit the Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation (CHRT)'s website: https://www.chrt.org/