NRSA for Primary Medical Care - Program Director: Michelle Roett, MD, MPH, FAAFP, Professor and Chair Eligibility: Georgetown University and PD were funded 2011 to 2022 under section 747 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, the HRSA Primary Care Training and Enhancement program Target Beneficiaries: MD or DO family medicine residency graduates, and PhD, DrPH or PsyD graduates interested in biomedical or behavioral health research related to primary care. Activities and Methodology: Fellows will participate in a structured, competency-based training program that includes mentored research, individual development plans, a multi-mentor model, formal training in faculty development, health policy, health services research, and implementation science, and professional development in grantsmanship, leadership, and scientific dissemination. Expected Outcomes: The program increases from 4 active trainees with 2 completing prior to the project, to 3 completing in year 1, and 8 active trainees in year 4, reaching a steady-state capacity of 4 fellows completing annually by Year 4. At least 80% of program graduates are expected to secure primary care research careers or academic positions within 12 months of completion. Primary care disciplines receive disproportionately low levels of research training support relative to population health needs, limiting the pipeline of investigators capable of advancing transformative health care delivery. The Primary Care Community of Scholars (PCCS) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) is designed to increase the number of highly qualified individuals capable of conducting rigorous primary care research. PCCS objectives are to: 1) develop and enhance research training opportunities for individuals interested in careers in primary care research; 2) increase the number of researchers focused on primary care issues that transform health care delivery; and 3) share fellow research findings to advance primary care. PCCS addresses persistent differential health outcomes in the Washington, DC metropolitan region, where high burdens of chronic disease, behavioral health conditions, cancer, maternal morbidity, and infectious diseases are compounded by critical workforce shortages and gaps in access to care. The program leverages a robust training environment that integrates GUMC, MedStar Health Research Institute, the Robert Graham Center, and the American Board of Family Medicine, providing access to large-scale clinical and workforce physician data, community-based research settings, and policy-relevant research opportunities. PCCS will recruit and train MD or PhD postdoctoral fellows who are committed to primary care research careers. Training activities emphasize interdisciplinary collaboration, and the translation of research findings into practice and policy. PCCS includes structured mentor matching, a comprehensive evaluation framework with defined key performance indicators to ensure program effectiveness and accountability, tracking competency-based domains with individual development plans, scholarly productivity, and career outcomes, with ongoing quality improvement processes to optimize training effectiveness. Through integration within a learning health system, PCCS will produce independent investigators equipped to address complex primary care challenges. The program leverages substantial institutional investment, including existing research infrastructure, data platforms, and faculty effort. The requested budget directly supports trainee stipends, protected research time, mentorship infrastructure, and dissemination activities necessary to achieve the defined performance benchmarks. PCCS will improve health outcomes by generating scalable, generalizable knowledge while strengthening the national primary care research workforce.
