The Duke Department of Surgery is pleased to announce the establishment of the new Collaborative for Health Services Research. Lisa M. McElroy, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Surgery, has been appointed the inaugural Director of the Collaborative.
Health services research (HSR) is defined by the Institute of Medicine as a, “multidisciplinary field of inquiry, both basic and applied, that examines the use, cost, quality, accessibility, delivery, organization, financing, and outcomes of health care services to increase knowledge and understanding of the structure, processes, and outcomes of health services for individuals and populations.”
The purpose of the Collaborative is to bring together and support faculty who are involved in health services research and ensure they are positioned to efficiently access both the Department of Surgery’s robust research support infrastructure along with the wealth of diverse collaborators across the broader Duke Health, School of Medicine, and University communities.
"Health Services Research can’t exist in silos. It requires diverse teams, who are diverse in specialty, and in thought." - Lisa McElroy, MD, MS
“The goal of health services research is to provide data, evidence, and tools to make health care safe, effective, equitable, affordable, and patient-centered,” says Dr. McElroy. “Fundamental to that pursuit is the idea of collaborative science. HSR can’t exist in silos. It requires diverse teams, who are diverse in specialty, and in thought.”
Growing departmental interest—especially among more recently appointed faculty—in conducting health services research and developing programs to improve surgical care quality requires a support system of specialized guidance and intentional collaborations with other HSR spaces across Duke.
“We have a number of faculty within the Department of Surgery now who are here to do this research, and there are so many challenges to being a new faculty member in a new place. The Collaborative will support these surgeon–scientists and help them be more successful in their research endeavors earlier,” adds Dr. McElroy.
"We are excited to welcome Dr. McElroy to this important role and have every confidence that she will help establish a strong and innovative foundation for HSR research in our department," says Shelley Hwang, MD, MPH, Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Surgery.
Dr. McElroy joined the Department of Surgery in 2019 as an assistant professor of surgery in the Division of Abdominal Transplant Surgery, and was named the inaugural Onyekwere E. Akwari Assistant Professor of Surgery in 2022. She is also an assistant professor in population health sciences, and leads the Consortium for the Holistic Assessment of Risk in Transplant (CHART). Dr. McElroy received her research training via a T32 postdoctoral research fellowship at Northwestern University, where she also earned a Master of Science in Health Services and Outcomes Research through the Institute for Public Health and Medicine.