The Gehr Family Center for Health Systems Science and Innovation
Thank you for visiting us!
Our mission is to conduct research and train the next generation to improve health care equity, quality, and outcomes on a local and national scale. Our Center serves as a research and educational bridge across many disciplines at USC and other institutions. We are grateful for the opportunity to conduct this important work thanks to the generosity of Mr. Norbert Gehr, a successful businessman who supported us to start the Center.
Here is a link to our mission and vision statement as well as our 2021-2022 Annual Report. If you are interested in learning more and collaborating with us, please contact us!
Highlights
- Dr. Cameron Kaplan and a team from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), led by Satya Surbhi, PhD, have received a $3.5 million grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) for a study addressing system-level barriers to improve medication adherence among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations in Tennessee.
- Gehr student innovator, Kimberly Su, and her mentor, Dr. Michael Cousineau have co-authored a piece looking at behavioral health care delivered through Street Medicine programs in California. The report shows that Street Medicine could serve as a strategy to expand access to behavioral health care for the unhoused.
- Dr. Cameron Kaplan provided comments on e-cigarettes as medical devices, the effect of legalized marijuana on tobacco use, and the government’s role in encouraging citizens to quit smoking in this article on WalletHub.
- Gehr student innovator, Kristen Park, and her mentor, Dr. Cameron Kaplan have co-authored a piece comparing the financial hardship between high-deductible health plans and non-high-deductible health plans with and without health savings accounts, stratified by enrollees’ number of chronic conditions. The paper, Alleviating Financial Hardships Associated with High-Deductible Health Plans for Adults with Chronic Conditions Through Health Savings Accounts, has been published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
- Gehr team members, Gehr Affiliates, and Partners in Care (a community- based organization that provides social and other resources to medically fragile Californians) developed and delivered a training program to address vaccine hesitancy using the help of Partners in Care case managers. The findings from the program, known as “Partners in Vaccination,” are being shared through California Health Care Foundation.
- Gehr Center affiliate, Dr. Ronan Hallowell, and faculty members, Dr. Sonali Saluja and Dr. Michael Cousineau, shared about their experience with pairing medical students with public policy students to learn about the intersections of health justice and advocacy in a new Teaching and Learning in Medicine article.
- Gehr student innovator, Allie Schmiesing & her mentor, Dr. Barbara Turner have co-authored a piece looking at how low-income minority populations often confront barriers to professional nonpharmacologic management of chronic pain and how this can lead to poorer daily function. The paper has been published in PM&R.
- Congratulations to Dr. Todd Schneberk on receiving the Safety Net Innovation Award through the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute and Southern California Healthcare Delivery Science Center. The grant funding will support a project focused on strengthening the effectiveness of hospital-based violence intervention programs in LA County.
- Join us on July 21st from 9-noon as our Gehr Student Innovators present their mentored implementation science and health services research work-in-progress focused on health equity. For more information and to RSVP.
- Dr. Todd Schneberk, Dr. Susanne Hempel, and Aneesa Motala did a systematic review of quality indicators for high need patients who often are challenging to treat for providers and health systems alike. They found that robust evidence exists in the elderly medically co-morbid populations but some of the most challenging to care for, such as those with psychiatric, behavioral and social needs were neglected in the literature providing quality guideposts for care.
- Dr. Cameron Kaplan wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that legislators have made COVID tests free through insurance but gave insurers no ability to negotiate prices, so we’ll eventually pay for these tests through higher premiums. He argues that the government should provide these tests directly or regulate the prices.