Lisa C. Gary, Ph.D.
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health
Investigator, Quality/Equality
Project Title: Measuring Quality: Understanding the Patient Satisfaction Profiles of Vulnerable Populations
"As a New Connections grantee, I have experienced a rigorous grant review process and received affirmation that my research ideas are relevant, interesting, and fundable. Receiving this grant is a marker of my ability to function as an independent scholar. My new funding track record is especially important for me as a tenure-track faculty person. The salary support is invaluable because I have time to write manuscripts and develop my research, which is critical for academic career success. In addition to these career advances, I have met many great scholars who are conducting innovative research and who are open to collaborating. I am developing a project with a former New Connections grantee on measurement issues for quality benchmarks in hospitals and health plans. I truly appreciate the initiative the RWJF has made to seek out diverse perspectives from junior investigators; this type of effort is definitely needed."
Project Description
Gary is conducting a secondary data analysis of the Healthcare for Communities Wave 2 (HCC2) Study. The HCC2 is a survey of consumer experiences with their mental health care and general medical health care. She examines quality of care from the perspective of vulnerable consumers, including racial minorities, persons with chronic illnesses and persons with mental health needs, using patient satisfaction as the primary outcome variable.
The first aim of her study is to determine if the likelihood of receiving mental health services and satisfaction with mental health services and general medical care services differ between minority and Caucasian patients. The second aim of her study is to assess the effect of having a chronic illness on these relationships. This research builds on her dissertation research, which examined how minority patients react differently from Caucasian patients when they experience problems with their medical care.
Biography
Lisa C. Gary, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S., is an assistant professor of health care organization and policy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Public Health. Gary's research specializations include mental health care access and quality, healthcare consumer empowerment, and patient trust in the African American community and other communities of color.
She also studies health care quality issues for people with chronic illnesses such as osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis. She is particularly interested in examining how 1) patient-level factors such as untreated mental health needs, patient trust, and patient preferences, and 2) organizational factors such as managed care and health workforce diversity influence consumer empowerment and health care quality.
Gary earned her Ph.D. in health policy with a concentration in epidemiologic methods at Yale University. She also has a masters in public health in epidemiology and an M.S. in mathematics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She received her B.S. in mathematics magna cum laude at Spelman College.
