Chronic Conditions

Dr. Andrew Quanbeck was recently awarded two 5-year NIH grants totaling nearly $5 million to implement interventions for preventing and treating substance misuse in primary care.

He will be collaborating with HIP on the project, “Promoting the implementation of clinical guidelines for opioid prescribing in primary care using systems consultation.” The project addresses the change needed in the U.S. regarding the opioid crisis and prescribing practices by determining how to implement safer prescribing practices as efficiently and effectively as possible in primary care clinics. 

Dr. Maureen Smith, HIP Director, was recently featured in a video from the Wisconsin Partnership Program about her disparities project with the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality and the Collaborative Center for Health Equity. This project aims to develop and implement a publicly reported measure of disparity in the quality of care in Wisconsin and examine the sources of disparities in the quality of care. This video was introduced by HIP Outreach Specialist Lauren Bednarz, and shown at the Healthiest State Summit on September 20-21 in Green Bay, WI.

Dr. Elizabeth Cox recently discussed the benefits that the UW Fall Research Competition has had on her research career in a UW-Madison news article. As a multi-time recipient of the award, Dr. Cox has found that the funding can be a great way to start new collaborations or support mentoring a graduate student. She has also used the funding to conduct a pilot test of an intervention to address barriers to self-management for youth and teens with type 1 diabetes, and then went on to secure a 3-year extramural award to evaluate the impact of the intervention in a multi-site randomized, controlled trial.

HIP Investigators Meghan Brennan, MD and Heidi Brown, MD were recently awarded pilot funding through the University of Wisconsin - Madison Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (UW ICTR).  

The Database of Patient Experiences (DIPEx) methodology used to develop HealthExperiencesUSA.org, a website that brings patients' voices to American healthcare, was recently featured in articles in both the New York Times and USA Today as an important resource that can enable patients with depression to identify with others who suffer from the disease.

Dr. Heather Johnson was recently invited to participate in the Wisconsin Hypertension Symposium, which brought together clinical providers, policy makers, health insurers, and state and national organizations such as the American Medical Association and the American Heart Association to develop action plans to improve hypertension diagnosis and control in Wisconsin. Dr. Johnson's research showing that young adults are less likely to be diagnosed and treated for hypertension was reference during the symposium to demonstrate disparities in hypertension care between populations in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality recently released the Rural Wisconsin Chronic Disease Toolkit, and updated the Toolkit for Improving Hypertension Care & Outcomes and the Toolkit for Improving Diabetes Care & Outcomes.

Individuals in Wisconsin can now view the prevalence of obesity at the Zip Code level. The Obesity Prevention Initiative, funded through the Wisconsin Partnership Program, has released a report that was co-authored by HIP staff Lauren Bednarz, MPH and Maureen Smith, MD, PhD, MPH, along with an interactive mapping tool on the Wisconsin Health Atlas website, that describes the obesity epidemic in Wisconsin.

Dr. Elizabeth Cox and collaborators have been awarded UW2020 funding to build a translational research pipeline to personalize diabetes prevention and treatment. The project will establish a data registry and biobank of individuals with diabetes, called the Diabetes Research Accelerator for Wisconsin (DRAW), as a step towards delivering personalized diabetes care and facilitating interdisciplinary translational diabetes research at UW-Madison.

Dr. Heather Johnson recently served as the keynote speaker at the 7th Annual National Wear Red Day event at Fountain of Life Church. The goal of the event was to educate African American on the risk factors for cardiovascular disease and lifestyle changes that women can make to reduce their risk, and Wear Red Day also included networking and fellowship opportunities. The event was one of many across the nation for American Heart Month, "Go Red for Women."  Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death among American women over the age of 25, and African American women are disproportionately affected.