JMC Named National Center for Medical Education Research

Jefferson Medical College (JMC) was recently awarded two grants, totaling nearly $450,000, for medical education research and policy. These grants reflect "statewide and national recognition of Jefferson's excellence and leadership in the field," according to J. Jon Veloski, MS, and Howard K. Rabinowitz, MD, co-principal investigators on the two major projects.

Jefferson Medical College was one of only three institutions in the country to receive federal funding to establish a national center for medical education research and policy. The University of Washington and University of North Carolina were the other schools selected. The three-year $248,000 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration has made possible the establishment of the Center for Medical Education Research and Policy at JMC.

Center to develop policy-relevant research

Mr. Veloski, director of the Center, says the goal is to develop policy-relevant research in collaboration with the federal government. Resources and support staff will be drawn from Jefferson's Center for Research in Medical Education and Health Care, the Greenfield Research Center of the department of family medicine, and the undergraduate medical education division of the American Medical Association.

The grant will cover infrastructure start-up costs for creating the center, as well as development of three research projects. The new research being initiated includes:

1) estimating the cost of medical education,

2) evaluating the feasibility of educating medical students in IPA-type HMO settings, and

3) developing core competencies of primary-care physicians regarding dental and oral problems of HIV disease.

"The grant was awarded on the basis of Jefferson's long history of involvement in medical education research which Dean Gonnella is responsible for establishing, in addition to our recent activities in policy-relevant educational research," says Dr. Rabinowitz, professor of family medicine and director of policy research at the Center.

Tracking Pennsylvania medical school career outcomes

In addition, a two-year grant of $198,466 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will enable Jefferson to track the career outcomes of students in Pennsylvania's eight medical schools, says Dr. Rabinowitz, who is directing the project. "Working collaboratively with the state, we will develop a uniform, standardized tracking system of graduates. Once the data base is set up, the tracking can continue indefinitely." Preliminary data will be available later this year, he says.

The ongoing data analysis will help medical schools to assess whether their generalist initiative programs have promoted an increase in general internists, family physicians and pediatricians. The state is also interested in determining where phyicians have chosen to practice to measure whether previously underserved urban and rural areas are attracting more physicians.

"Jefferson has been following its own graduates for 25 years and has technical expertise in the statistics and methodology involved," says Mr. Veloski, director of medical education research. "This is a significant and unusual project because all the medical schools are working together, along with the state."