Bio: Sharon R. Goldfeld, M.B.B.S., a 1999-2000 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, is an NHMRC research fellow (funded through the Public Health Research and Development Committee) at the University of Melbourne. Her current research examines the factors, particularly psychosocial factors, which influence the use of health services in the first 12 months of life. She has participated in the development of research and programs for the Centre for Community Child Health, and teaches at the University of Melbourne. She became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and a consultant pediatrician in 1997, specializing in developmental and behavioral pediatrics. She completed fellowships in community child health and adolescent health, and received her Graduate Diploma of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in 1998. Goldfeld is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Melbourne.
Placement: Boston University
Mentors: Barry Zuckerman, M.D.
Project: Examining the Factors that Contribute to Variation in Pediatric Health Service Utilization: The Impact of Maternal Health on Child Health Status and Health Service Utilization
Description: Goldfeld sought to examine the impact of maternal health on the health status and health service utilization of children, as part of a broader investigation into the drivers of variations in pediatric health service utilization. She used data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which allows data from mothers and their children to be linked. Explanatory variables included health status, demographics, and insurance status, and outcomes included mothers' and children's health service utilization.