Assistant Professor Melinda Rushing, Ph.D. LMSW has been selected as an inaugural scholar of the Rutgers Learning Health System Scholars Program: Learning Health System Scientist Training and Research in New Jersey (LHS STAR NJ) program.
The program is supported by a grant from a joint initiative of the Agency for Healthcare and Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The program supports protected time for research scholars to receive a well-rounded training experience through a carefully curated program of research, didactic, experiential, and professional development training and expert tailored mentorship in LHS research to promote the mastery of LHS competencies.
Dr. Rushing’s project will focus on developing a systematic method of measuring and tracking value-based care delivery to individuals with sickle cell disease. Overall, her project aims to identify hospital systems’ priorities and challenges related to emergency department revisits in order to develop and validate added-value metrics that can help reduce emergency department revisits among individuals with sickle cell disease.