### Health Services Research - [ Research Groups](#research-groups) - [ Faculty](#faculty) - [ General Academic Pediatric Fellowship](#general-academic-pediatric-fellowship) ### *Improving health outcomes for children and families through equity-driven research.* Based in the Department of Pediatrics at Boston Medical Center and BU’s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, the Division of Health Services Research (HSR) brings together faculty, fellows, students, and clinicians dedicated to advancing child and family wellbeing through collaborative, equity-focused research. Our work spans: - Social determinants of health (housing, food insecurity, and economic mobility, etc.) - Maternal and child mental health - Health equity, policy, innovative care and payment models - Health informatics - Substance use, asthma, sickle cell, and breastfeeding - Health impacts of the criminal legal system on families We prioritize patient-centered, community-engaged approaches and collaborate across BMC, BU School of Public Health, and national networks. Our work is funded by NIH, PCORI, AHRQ, MCHB, and leading foundations. ###### Location 801 Albany St. Boston, MA 02119 ###### Contact [**Alison Galbraith, MD, MPH**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Alison.Galbraith) Director, Health Services Research Director, General Academic Pediatrics Fellowship Professor Email: **Naomi Lin, MS, CLHP** Senior Administrative Coordinator Email: ## Research Groups ### BOS Collaborative/PLUS Pediatric Housing Assistance A $5 million philanthropic investment to establish neighborhood-based training strategies for 1,100 residents of color, and fund 250 new and preserved affordable housing units in historically underinvested Boston neighborhoods, including Black and Latinx communities. ### Boston Birth Cohort Initiated in 1998 is a large-scale molecular epidemiological study funded by the National Institute of Health, with a particular focus on environment factors, genetic variants, epigenomic alterations, and their interactions in adverse reproductive outcomes, food allergy and related conditions, and obesity and metabolic syndrome in children. [Learn more about Boston Birth Cohort](http://www.bmc.org/pediatrics/research/ongoing-projects) ### CATALYST A program helps teens and young adults who use alcohol or drugs. [Learn more about CATALYST](https://www.bmc.org/catalyst-clinic) ### CHEER A world class center for maternal child health advocacy, training, and research. [Learn more about CHEER](https://cheerequity.org/) ### Children's Health Watch Formerly known as the Children’s Sentinel Nutrition Assessment Program, monitors the impact of economic conditions and public policies on the health and well-being of very young children. [Learn more about Children's Health Watch](https://www.bmc.org/childrens-healthwatch) ### Project SOLVE Aims to mitigate the impact of mental illness on vulnerable families by developing, testing, and disseminating strategies through novel care delivery systems. [Learn more about Project SOLVE](http://www.bmc.org/pediatrics/research/ongoing-projects) ### StreetCred An innovation hub that envisions nurturing healthy, thriving children and families by leveraging trust in and access to health care to increase economic inclusion and rectify structural racism. [Learn more about StreetCred](https://www.bmc.org/streetcred) ### Vital Village A network of residents and organizations committed to maximizing child, family and community well-being. [Learn more about Vital Village](https://www.vitalvillage.org/) ## Faculty [**William G Adams, MD**](https://profiles.bu.edu/William.Adams) – Director of Child Health Informatics Professor Dr. Adams research focuses on developing and evaluating translational informatics tools designed to improve the health and health equity of special populations like the ones served by Boston Medical Center and our affiliated Community Health Centers. [**Sarah Bagley, MD, MSc**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Sarah.Bagley) – Medical Director, CATALYST Associate Professor Dr. Bagley’s research focuses on addressing youth opioid use. [**Renee Boynton-Jarrett, MD, ScD**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Renee.BoyntonJarrett) – Founding Director, Vital Village Community Engagement Network Associate Professor Dr. Boynton-Jarrett’s research focuses on the role of early-life adversities as life course social determinants of health. [**Jeff Campbell, MD, MPH**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Jeffrey.Campbell) – Assistant Professor Dr. Campbell’s research focuses on health services delivery and access to care for children with tuberculosis infection. [**Robyn Cohen, MD, MPH**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Robyn.Cohen) – Associate Professor Dr. Cohen’s research focuses on pulmonary complications of sickle cell anemia; asthma health disparities, pediatric asthma clinical research; asthma in Latino communities; social determinants of health. [**Gaby Cordova Ramos, MD**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Erika.CordovaRamos) – Assistant Professor Dr. Ramos’s research focus is on adapting evidence-based interventions to be more culturally and linguistically appropriate for diverse populations. [**Kelsey Egan, MD, MSc**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Kelsey.Egan) – Assistant Professor Dr. Egan's research interests focus on improving clinical-community integration in order to decrease inequities in health outcomes for children and families. She is particularly interested in developing and implementing interventions to prevent food insecurity in early childhood, a critical time period of rapid growth and development that forms the foundation for future health and well-being. She is interested in the use of health information technology to improve clinical-community integration. [**Mei Elansary, MD, MPhil**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Mei.Elansary) – Assistant Professor Dr. Elansary’s research focuses on maternal mental health and child development. [**Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, PhD, MPH**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Stephanie.EttingerDeCuba) - Executive Director, Children’s HealthWatch Research Associate Professor Dr. Ettinger de Cuba’s research focuses on children and families, health, the intersections of race/ethnicity and nativity, and the structural and policy factors underpinning these relationships. In particular, her expertise is in health inequities experienced by families with very young children and immigrant families and their children. [**Emily Feinberg, ScD, MSc**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Emily.Feinberg) – Adjunct Professor Dr. Feinberg’s research focuses on addressing disparities in behavioral health outcomes experienced by low income children. [**Alison Galbraith, MD, MPH**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Alison.Galbraith) – Director, Division of Health Services Research Director, General Academic Pediatrics Fellowship Professor Dr. Galbraith conducts health services research focused on how health insurance policy affects health care access and affordability for families with children. [**Heather Hsu, MD, MPH**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Heather.Hsu) – Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Dr. Hsu conducts health services research focused on examining the impact of value-based care implementation on quality of care, health equity, and the financial well-being of the healthcare safety-net. [**Patricia Kavanagh, MD**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Patricia.Kavanagh) – Associate Professor Dr. Kavanagh’s research focuses on the impact of screening and referring families with unmet basic needs on health on outcomes for children with sickle cell disease, and serving as a subject matter expert in a multisite randomized trial comparing individualized pain plans with weight-based protocols. [**Lucy Marcil, MD, MPH**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Lucy.Marcil) – Executive Director, StreetCred Associate Director, Economic Mobility, Center for the Urban Child and Healthy Family Interim Director, Urban Health and Advocacy Track (UHAT), Boston Combined Residency program Assistant Professor Dr. Marcil’s work focuses on redesigning pediatric care to include economic justice and to create a culture of anti-poverty medicine. [**Neena McConnico, PhD**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Neena.Mcconnico) – Executive Director, Child Witness to Violence Project Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Assistant Professor Dr. McConnico’s work focuses on how the impacts of trauma interface with children’s academic and social development. [**Anne Merewood, PhD, MPH**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Anne.Merewood) – Director, CHEER (Center for Health Equity, Education and Research) Associate Professor Dr. Merewood’s research focuses on Implementation science, QI, maternal child health, humanitarian, public health and equity work. [**Ana Poblacion, PhD, MSC**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Ana.Poblacion) – Assistant Professor Dr. Poblacion's research focuses on pediatric nutrition and ending food insecurity in households with children through the increase in access to healthy foods. [**Megan Sandel, MD, MPH**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Megan.Sandel) – Professor Dr. Sandel’s research focuses on housing and child health. **Richard Sheward, MPP** - Director of System Implementation Strategies, Children's HealthWatch Assistant Professor Dr. Sheward’s research focuses on the association between health-related social needs (i.e., unstable housing and food insecurity) and young children and caregivers’ health. His research has since expanded to understand which health-related social needs measures are most effective and for whom. [**Colin Sox, MD**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Colin.Sox) – Clinical Associate Professor Dr. Sox conducts medical education research, including multi-center randomized controlled trials. [**Michelle Stransky, PhD**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Michelle.Stransky) – Assistant Professor Dr. Stransky’s research focuses on recommending improvements to policy and clinical practice that will reduce disparities. [**Destiny Tolliver, MD**](https://profiles.bu.edu/Destiny.Tolliver) - Assistant Professor Dr. Tolliver’s research focuses on how criminal legal system involvement impacts children and families, and what policies and practices work to improve health outcomes for these children. [**Back to Top** ](#top) ## General Academic Pediatric Fellowship The Health Service Research Division is home to the General Academic Pediatrics (GAP) Fellowship. This fellowship **part of the larger** **Academic Primary Care Fellowship** at BMC/BU in collaboration with the Division of General Internal Medicine (including Addiction Medicine), Department of Family Medicine, Department of Surgery, the Preventive Medicine Training program, and the BU School of Public Health. Our trainees have gone on to hold leadership positions in **academia** and **government**. The mission of the fellowship is to train highly motivated investigators with a **focus** on topics relevant to **medically under-served communities**. We have an exciting mix of educational curricular choices in epidemiology and health services research, and experiential learning opportunities in public health. ### Learn More: [**General Academic Pediatrics Fellowship** ](https://www.bmc.org/general-academic-pediatrics-fellowship-program)