FSoS graduate student selected for prestigious translational research program

Gretchen Buchanan, doctoral candidate in Family Social Science, has been selected for a 2020 Translational Research and Career Training TRACT TL1 Program award from the University of Minnesota’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI).

The prestigious award will fully fund her remaining time in her doctoral program and support her dissertation work in the area of integrated behavioral health (IBH).

This award supports students with a research assistantship plus travel and research expenses in support of their work in clinical and translational research. She will collaborate with her advisor, Tim Piehler, assistant professor in FSoS, and Jerica Berge, professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health (and FSoS graduate alum) on the project, “Optimizing integrated care implementation in primary care settings using latent class analysis.”

Gathering data at primary care clinics, Buchanan will examine how implementing integrated behavioral healthcare (IBH) structures relates to clinics’ rurality, their patients’ socioeconomic risk status, and race/ethnicity. She hopes to learn if IBH is associated with more equitable outcomes for physical and mental health among these populations who often have health disparities.

“Gretchen put together a compelling proposal for the fellowship to partner with Dr. Berge in Family Medicine,” said Piehler. “This was an important strength in Gretchen’s proposal, and Jerica and I are enthusiastic about continuing to build upon the relationship between FSoS and Family Medicine.”

Additional research projects explore effects of pandemic

Buchanan is also part of a Department-funded research team with Cathy Solheim, professor and director of Graduate Studies in Family Social Science, that will identify and assess relational and financial stressors and coping strategies among immigrant families during the COVID pandemic. Here is the full story.