Job Title: Chair, Society for Studies in Organizing Healthcare (shoc.org.uk)
Bio: Mark Exworthy, a 2002-03 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice, is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London. His research and policy interests include: policy formulation and implementation, clinician-managerial relations, primary care reform, policies to tackle health inequalities/disparities, and the geographical implications of health policy. He has published in all these areas. Exworthy's research has been funded by the U.K. government, health care agencies, the Economic and Social Research Council, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. He was a cofounder of the U.K. Health Equity Network and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Placement: University of California
Mentors: Eugene Washington, M.D.
Project: Tackling Health Disparities in the United States: A Study of Organizational Strategies
Description: Exworthy's study examined organizational strategies for tackling health care disparities, including what disparities get addressed, what organizational processes and incentives are used, and how these efforts are assessed. He first conducted a document review and key informant interviews on current policies regarding disparities, and then administered a questionnaire to 800 hospitals identifying the key factors driving their strategies to tackle disparities. Finally, he conducted two case studies on how individual hospitals design and implement such organizational strategies.