The Application process is closed for 2023, as all projects are filled.
Application Process: Apply online »
Stipend: $3200
Duration: 8-10 weeks starting May 15 (through July 10 to July 24, 2023)
The Department of Family Medicine and Community Health (DFMCH) has numerous faculty who are eager to have UWSMPH medical students come join them on people-oriented, clinically relevant, hands-on research and quality improvement projects. Students have ample opportunities to see patients in a variety of settings (office, hospital, others), learn important research concepts and skills, and participate in social events with other faculty and students.
Schedule: This is a tentative schedule:
- May 22 – 24 — Work with faculty
- May 25/26 — Orientation seminar (at DFMCH or virtual)
- May 29 – June 22 — Work with faculty
- June 23 — Mid-point seminar (at DFMCH or virtual)
- June 26 – July 16 — Work with faculty
- July 17 — Final presentations (at DFMCH or virtual)
- July 18 – July 31 — Complete work with faculty (for those opting for 10-week assistantship)
Locations: Madison area, Milwaukee
Director: Sean Duffy, MD
Stipends/Housing/Travel: We have funding available to support ten students at $450 per week for the 8-10week session.
Apply online » Thank you for your interest.
Please complete the online application, including your cover letter described at the bottom. As soon as your application is received, copies of your application will be circulated to the faculty with whom you are interested in collaborating. The faculty members will contact you to set up interviews either in person or remotely. These interviews will allow faculty and students to determine whether there is mutual interest. Faculty and student matches should be considered binding on both parties unless dire, unforeseen circumstances occur. Since agreements between faculty and students may be made at any time, students who submit their applications early are more likely to have their choice of projects. For additional information, please contact Nicole Watson at:
Phone: (608) 263-1334
E-mail: nicole.watson@fammed.wisc.edu
2023 Research Projects
The project has matched.
Investigator: Sarah Hohl, OCH Lead Research Scientist
Collaborators: Shelly Shaw, OCH Director; Hazel Behling, OCH Health Equity Coordinator; Jillian Landeck; Jennifer Edgoose, MD, MPH, Vice Chair of Community Health, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Location of study: Madison
Background information: Rurality is a fundamental social determinant of health. Those living in rural areas are more likely to die prematurely from preventable conditions (e.g., cancer, heart disease, lower respiratory disease, stroke, unintentional injury), outcomes are caused by multiple intersecting socio-structural disparities (e.g. poverty, limited access to healthcare, low education levels, unemployment, food insecurity, housing instability). Community-engaged approaches that center local needs and integrate expertise of researchers, clinicians, and community groups are promising for addressing multiple levels of influence on disparities. Engaging communities as partners in research can ensure that evidence evaluated is actionable for communities. The DFMCH OCH
identified 5 priority rural counties in southwestern WI (Sauk, Lafayette, Green, Grant, Iowa) for community outreach and engagement. This research will 1) assess partnerships among clinic, academic, and community groups addressing health and its determinants in these counties and 2) identify alignment across clinical, academic, and community groups to inform an evidence-based, community-engaged initiative to promote equity in rural WI.
What is the potential student role in the project, including clinical time?
The student will learn about the priority health issues confronting rural Wisconsinites today and how family physicians and community organizations build trusting partnerships. The student will help with data collection (i.e., conducting site observations and semi-structured interviews with clinical, academic, and/or community partners working in rural Wisconsin) and analysis, and will have the opportunity to contribute to academic products (i.e., presentations, publications). The student will receive training in qualitative methods. Opportunities to see patients in family medicine clinics one half day per week will be part of the summer experience.
The project has matched.
Primary Investigator: Brian Arndt, MD
Collaborators: Mark Micek, MD; Adam Rule, PhD; Jeff Baltus, MS
Location of study: Madison
Background information: There is growing evidence that primary care physicians (PCPs) are spending more time in the EHR which contributes to increased burnout. Much of the added EHR time is due to increased volumes of InBasket work – MyChart messages, telephone calls, prescription refill management, form completion, and more. Objective: To directly observe PCPs interacting with their EHR InBasket during conventional clinic hours Monday through Friday. The time-motion study data collected will be compared to data generated by the EHR which will provide insight into how PCP InBasket tasks are typically handled. This has implications for physician wellness, reimbursement models, redesign of primary care teams, panel size expectations, policy, and future EHR workload research.
What is the potential student role in the project, including clinical time?
The student will be doing direct observation of both internal medicine and family medicine physicians in both residency clinic- and community clinic- based settings. The WorkStudy+ application on an iPad will be used to track InBasket activities. These activities will be compared to EHR system access logs to evaluate PCP time spent on various non-face-to-face patient care tasks associated with InBasket management. The student and faculty will collaborate throughout the summer with Epic researchers (John O’Bryan), research partners from both Stanford (Paul Tang) and the American Medical Association (Christine Sinsky), and UW Health’s physician wellness team based on the implications related to physician wellness.
Additional comments: This is an exciting opportunity to engage with a research team with a lot of past success who collaborates with other UW Health specialties as well as across the UW-Madison campus with the iSchool, College of Engineering, and more. Several presentations and manuscripts are likely as a result of engagement with this research team. Examples of past manuscripts include Tethered to the EHR, the benefits of scribes on physician wellness, and differences in EHR workload by PCP gender (females spend more time in the EHR across most metrics evaluated).
The project has matched.
Primary Investigator: Jon Temte, MD, PhD
Location of study: Madison
Background information: Moral injury–in the context of medicine—describes the challenge of simultaneously knowing what care patients need but being unable to provide it due to constraints that are beyond the clinician’s control. It occurs when we perpetrate, bear witness to, or fail to prevent an act that transgresses our deeply held moral beliefs. In addition, moral injury locates the source of distress in a broken system, not a broken individual, thus allowing solutions at the causes of distress. Assessment of moral injury, however, has not been applied to clinicians in the context of climate change. This study will explore the level to which moral injury is experienced by family medicine physicians relating to climate change and planetary health.
What is the potential student role in the project, including clinical time?
The student will become familiar with the Moral Injury Symptom Score (MISS)—an 11-item questionnaire—used in clinical settings and work with Dr. Temte to adapt this to issues of climate change and planetary health. They will also perform a thorough literature search on the topic of moral injury in primary care. The revised MISS-CC inventory will then be presented to a sample of primary care physicians using Qualtrics (survey methodology), delivered via email. The student will be responsible for survey operations, data collection and analysis, and drafting a final report.
Additional comments: This project will serve as an opportunity to learn about primary care research, survey methodology, and climate change and health in primary care settings.
The project has matched.
Primary Investigator: Sarina Schrager, MD
Collaborators: Yohualli Anaya, MD, MPH
Location of study: Madison
Background information: Shared decision making (SDM) is a communication strategy whereby the clinician tells the patient about the potential risks and benefits of an intervention or test and the patient tells the clinician what is important to them regarding their health care. The decision about the intervention or screening test is then made jointly by the clinician and patient. SDM is recommended for health care decisions where there is no clear, “right” answer. The patient can make a choice. When performed correctly, SDM leads to treatment plans better reflecting patients’ preferences and goals, and to patients having less decisional regret. This model of communication has the potential to be better tailored for culturally diverse populations. Previous work has explored the issues of lack of trust in the healthcare system, poor communication, and lack of cultural competence as barriers to effective SDM in diverse populations. This study will aim to determine factors that lead to success in SDM as well as barriers.
What is the potential student role in the project, including clinical time?
As the first step in a bigger project, the student will participate in a scoping of the literature about adapting SDM for diverse populations, and will work with the larger team to develop strategies for future research. The student will also be able to experience patient care with both Dr. Anaya (at Wingra clinic) and Dr. Schrager (at Northport Drive Clinic).
The project has matched.
Primary Investigator: Allison Couture, DO, MPA
Collaborators: Katheryn Christy, PhD
Location of study: Madison
Background information: Research shows that consuming more fruits and vegetables in childhood can reduce the risk of chronic disease in adulthood. Our project sees an opportunity to promote fruit and vegetable consumption at the individual level by studying evidence- based health communications strategies. The ChopChopFamily platform contains simple recipes, basic cooking information, educational activities, and interactive games all centered around healthful food choices. The field of health communication has posited multiple theories that can explain and predict the success individual health behavior changes. Three theories will be studied in our research: Social Cognitive Theory, Theory of Planned Behavior, and Integrated Behavioral Model. The goal of this research is to evaluate 1.) how the use of ChopChopFamily recipes and educational curriculum during in-person cooking classes impacts a child’s nutrition-based behaviors and 2.) how a child’s interactions with print media (magazines) impacts a child’s nutrition-based behaviors.
What is the potential student role in the project, including clinical time?
The student would be primarily involved in the second phase of the project – evaluating a child’s interaction with a ChopChop magazine. An anticipated 105 participants will be patients aged 7-11 who present to one of two family medicine clinics, Verona and Northport or Sun Prairie, for routine well child checks or scheduled office visits. These will be patients from the community in which the family medicine clinic serves. Inclusion criteria are: Age 7-11 years old, Attending a Well Child Visit or Office Visit appointment, Parental or guardian consent obtained, English or Spanish speaking. The participant will be given a pre-survey assessing their intention to increase fruit and vegetable consumption, then the participant will interact with the magazine for 10 minutes, and to conclude the participant will be given a post-survey again assessing the intention to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. Regarding clinical opportunities, I routinely have 5 sessions a week in clinic that a student could choose from to work with me me as often as they would like.
Additional comments:This project would benefit greatly from a bilingual, English- and Spanish-speaking student, however it is not an absolute requirement, so if interested, I encourage you to apply!
The project has matched.
Primary Investigator: Elizabeth Fleming, MD
Location of study: Cottage Grove (15 miles east of Madison)
Background information: The aim of this project is to better understand what patients want their primary care team to know about them as a person as they are establishing care and the best questions to use to elicit that information. The patient physician relationship is key to primary care, but building rapport takes time. In our current system, where office visits typically need to address multiple medical concerns, it is difficult to find the time needed to get to know a patient’s person or social history, even though understanding this context can be crucial to providing the best care possible and can also improve clinician satisfaction. This project will use structured interviews to explore what types of information patients want to share with their primary care teams. These interviews will also seek to understand how the electronic medical record could best be utilized to integrate patient narratives into the medical record and establish care visits.
What is the potential student role in the project, including clinical time?
The role of the student will be to delve into the literature around narrative medicine, establishing care and relationship building in the clinical encounter, what types of information patients want their healthcare team to know about them, and patient narratives embedded into the medical record. They will reach out to patients who qualify for the study, complete structured interviews, compile and code these results and have the opportunity to participate in future publication or presentations related to the project. The student would have the opportunity to work in clinic 1-2 days per week.
The project has matched.
Primary Investigator: KJ Hansmann, MD, MPH
Collaborators: Jeff Baltus, MS; Jennifer Edgoose, MD, MPH; Jon Temte, MD, PhD; Jeff Huebner, MD
Location of study: Madison
Background information: Racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities have persisted in rates of COVID-19 vaccination, infection, and mortality. Structural barriers including unequal access to the time, technology, and trust needed to access the COVID-19 vaccine drive these inequities. While UW Health began offering COVID-19 vaccines to patients at primary care clinics in June 2021, vaccine administration shifted to a few consolidated locations in October 2021, moving all COVID-19 vaccinations outside of primary care clinics. While consolidating sites may have been necessary given limited resources, we hypothesize patients already facing structural disadvantage were less likely to receive COVID-19 vaccines when vaccines were not available in primary care clinics. The objective of this study is to assess the change in rates of COVID-19 vaccination associated with the availability of vaccines at primary care clinics. Our findings have the potential to characterize the relationship between this one-size-fits-all approach, structural disadvantage, and health inequities. This will help guide future policies that can alleviate, rather than exacerbate, structural barriers to health.
What is the potential student role in the project, including clinical time?
This project will involve a retrospective study of data from the UW Health Electronic Health Record and the Wisconsin Immunization Registry. Our analysis will involve comparing vaccination rates based on patient’s race/ethnicity, neighborhood-level disadvantage, insurance status, and preferred language. The summer student would be responsible for: 1) conducting chart review and data preparation (including confirming vaccination status in Wisconsin Immunization Registry) 2) participating in data analysis 3) participating in manuscript writing The student would also have the opportunity to prepare their findings as a poster for regional or national conferences such as North American Primary Care Research Group and Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. Clinical opportunities: The student would have the opportunity to see patients with Dr. Hansmann and Dr. Edgoose at UW Health Northport Drive Clinic – a clinic that serves one of the highest proportion of non-Hispanic Black patients. Northport Drive Clinic is also located in a residential area with many patients living in the surrounding neighborhoods, making transportation to other sites a barrier for some.
The project has matched.
Primary Investigator: Mark Wirtz, MD
Collaborators: Brian Arndt, MD
Location of study: Verona, WI
Background information: Elementary age children struggle to reach national guidelines for fruit/vegetable consumption and physical activity. Children who are active in gardening, whether at home, community or school, report more positive associations with fruits/vegetables and increased consumption when engaged in gardening. Local gardening has been proposed as a way to combat racial and economic disparities regarding access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Gardening is considered moderate physical activity. Verona Area School District represents a diverse population relative to the surrounding area and is a suburban center adjacent to Madison, WI. Our project aim is to review the evidence supporting public school based gardening programs, identify barriers to implementation locally and propose a plan to establish a school based garden.
What is the potential student role in the project, including clinical time?
Research: – risks and benefits of gardening for elementary students, impacts of garden programs on attitudes around fruits/vegetables, consumption of fruits/vegetables and physical activity – racial and economic disparities of fruit/vegetable access, gardening access and impact of local gardening opportunities on said disparities Advocacy: – seek out and engage with local communities/families regarding their perceptions of current access to gardens, fresh fruits/vegetables – promoting evidence based nutrition, activity, equity driven programming via a school garden in the district by presenting information to school leadership and school board Logistics: – meeting with local school officials and gardening experts to determine barriers and solutions to implementing such a garden Gardening: – participate in local community garden efforts – plant, water, fertilize, weed, harvest! Desired Product: – School board support and approval – Selection of a location – Breaking ground and preparing a garden plot for planting in 2023-2024 school year Clinical Roles: – 2-3 half days per week working with family physician at the local UW Verona Family Medicine Clinic
The project has matched.
Primary Investigator: Jensena Carlson, MD
Collaborators: Lee Dresang, MD; Kara Hoppe, DO
Location of study: Madison
Background information: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) occur in 10% of pregnancies and there is a 2.4-fold increased risk of developing chronic hypertension 10 years after HDP occur. The number one cause of death among women is due to heart disease. Hypertension disorders of pregnancy is associated with a 4-fold increase in future incidence of heart failure and a 2-fold increased risk in coronary heart disease, stroke, and death because of coronary heart or cardiovascular disease. The STAC-My HEARTp trial is a randomized, single center study for postpartum patients to determine if health coaching can increase 6 and 12- month postpartum care attendance, hypertension control and hypertension self-management behavior compared to usual clinical care in patients with persistent or chronic hypertension postpartum. We have proposed that this has the potential to make a significant difference in patient outcomes, however are in the early stages of gathering background data. This summer project will focus on the foundational work for this study including analyzing current clinical data regarding the patient population in our system who have hypertensive disorders in pregnancy including age, race, ethnicity, type of pregnancy care provider (fm, ob, cnm), and our current rate of postpartum follow up. There is an opportunity to continue to participate in this study on an ongoing basis based on interest.
What is the potential student role in the project, including clinical time?
The summer student will primarily be involved in assisting to use Slicer-dicer to pull and then analyze the background data from the UW health clinics. We anticipate that this will lead to a presentation at either a regional level at Family Medicine Midwest or national level through STFM.
There are a variety of clincial experiences that can be tailored to the student’s interest including 2 family medicine residency clinics (Wingra, an FQHC in Madison, and Belleville, a rural clinic 20 minutes south of Madison). At both clinics there will be opportuinities for general family medicine experience, FM obstetrical experiences including deliveries if desired, and prenatal ultrasound. There is also an opportuinity to work with Kara Hoppe, DO in the Maternal Fetal Medicine clinics at Meriter hospital.
The project has matched.
Primary Investigator: Andrea Ildiko Martonffy, MD
Collaborators: Ann H. Allen, MD
Location of study: Madison
Background information: Gender stereotypes have been documented in medicine. It is known that there are differences in the language used in letters of recommendation to describe men versus women (Trix, F & Psenka, C. Exploring the color of glass: Letters of recommendation for female and male medical faculty. Discourse & Society, 2003; and Madera, JM, Hebl, MR, & Martin, RC. Gender and letters of Recommendation for Academia: Agentic and Communal Differences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2009.) Faculty have observed gender-biased language used in clinical teaching evaluations. This project will examine language used in faculty evaluations completed by residents to identify and compare stereotypic gender-based linguistic differences in evaluations throughout primary care departments across UWSMPH.
What is the potential student role in the project, including clinical time?
The student who selects this project will help determine the scope of the project, as well as their role regarding what they wish to accomplish this summer. We envision that the project will continue past the time period of the SSRCA program, and the student is welcome to continue to participate in the project should they choose. We anticipate they will begin by engaging in a literature review on the topic. They will also help gather deidentified evaluations from participating departments and work in concert with team members in the Department of Pediatrics to use software that analyses the narrative feedback for type of language used and types of qualities mentioned. The student will have the opportunity to work with Dr. Martonffy at the Access- Wingra Family Medical Center as their primary clinical site. If interested, they may also work with Dr. Allen and the family medicine resident team on the inpatient pediatrics service at St. Mary’s Hospital or American Family Children’s Hospital.
The project has matched.
Primary Investigator: Caitlin Regner, MD
Collaborators: Angela Marchant, DO
Location of study: Madison
Background information: There are Access Community Health Centers’ provides care for many underserved pregnant patients and their families. There are many underlying medical and social factors that impact pregnancy care and maternal and infant health. Our clinics have several programs that help meet patients’ needs and improve the quality of care that patients are receiving. Some recent areas of focus for our patents’ prenatal and postpartum care include: 1) funding doula support for patients at risk, 2) providing more support for pregnancies with more identified risks through the OB Medical Home program and ConnectRX, 3) advancing lactation education and support. There are other areas of expansion and improvement in both prenatal and child health that the student would learn more about during their time in the clinic. The student would have the opportunity to work with the prenatal team, prenatal care providers, and prenatal manager to identify an area of health of interest to them and the patient population to assess impact of interventions on health and perceived care, and identify further needs for this vulnerable patient population.
What is the potential student role in the project, including clinical time?
Interested students would meet the prenatal care team and learn about existing needs and programs that have been implemented to meet patient needs. Students would work with their mentors to identify an area of interest to study the impact of one of these programs and/or perform a needs assessment for future growth and expansion. Students would have opportunities to shadow prenatal providers and see a high diversity of patients for obstetric care, newborn care, pediatric care, lactation medicine, ultrasounds, procedures, and other general medical care in the clinic. They would also have opportunities to work with prenatal nurses, prenatal management and social work, lactation consultants and nutrition educators as interested.
Additional comments: This clinic sees many Spanish-speaking patients. While not required, the ability to understand and speak some Spanish could be very beneficial.
The project has matched.
Primary Investigator: William Michael, MD
Collaborators: Julie Nielsen, MD
Location of study: Madison
Background information: This project aims to increase the knowledge and comfort of primary care physicians (PCPs; as evaluated by surveys) with prescribing medications (including atypical antipsychotics, lithium and other later-line interventions) for frequently encountered mental health conditions such as major depressive disorder, anxiety, PTSD, and bipolar disorder. There is a significant need for PCPs to be able to assist with these disease states as the demand for mental health providers far exceeds the demand in many areas of the country: PCPs need to develop expertise at treating these conditions to reduce the burden on mental health staff such that they may be available for more severe/complex cases. The primary intervention will be to develop a lecture series augmented by in-person educational visits around Madison and eventually expanding to rural areas within Wisconsin. Questionnaires deployed, prior to, during and after the primary intervention will evaluate primary care provider knowledge and level of comfort using psychiatric medications. We will quantitively assess e-consults, consults from PCPs to Mental Health Providers, and prescribing habits of PCPs before and after the intervention.
What is the potential student role in the project, including clinical time?
Student will assist with chart review to determine prescribing habits for psychiatric medications at a clinic level at baseline and after intervention. The summer student will also perform a needs assessment and review survey data. The student will be able to work with Dr. Michael at Belleville Family Medicine Clinic several half days per week while working on the summer project.
Medical Students Join DFM Faculty on Summer Research Projects.