Job Title: Fellow, International Society of Surgery; Fellow, Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences; Fellow, Academy of Medicine of Singapore; Fellow, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons; Dean, College of Health and Medicine, The Australian National University
Bio: Russell L. Gruen, a 2002-03 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, is an advanced trainee in General and Trauma Surgery with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, and a research fellow at the Flinders University of South Australia and Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin, Australia. His doctoral thesis, which addresses the delivery of specialist services to remote and disadvantaged Aboriginal communities in northern Australia, has received several specialist society and university awards. Gruen has participated on national advisory committees relating to care of severely injured patients and rural specialist workforce issues. His major policy interests include the involvement of physicians and medical societies in addressing health inequalities; population models of specialist practice; the relationship between specialists and general physicians; trauma systems in nonurban settings; and rural workforce issues.
Placement: Harvard University
Mentors: David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P.; Troyen Brennan, M.D., J.D., M.P.H.
Project: Medical Professionalism and Disparities in Health and Health Care
Description: Gruen's study examined how physicians' principles of professionalism guide their public activities and activism, particularly related to policies addressing disparities. He conducted a literature and analyzed focus group data on the relationship between professionalism and disparities, and conducted interviews with key informants from three professional medical societies. He then developed a conceptual framework for physicians' roles in addressing disparities, which was used to develop a survey of over 3,000 physicians.