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Research Division
Benjamin F. Crabtree, PhD
Director
The Research Division is under the leadership of Benjamin F. Crabtree, PhD, a nationally recognized family medicine researcher, widely known for his contributions towards establishing qualitative methods as an integral part of primary care research. The Division is supported administratively by a faculty leadership group and receives guidance from an ongoing enhancement team call the Reflective Adaptive Process (RAP) team that meets weekly to discuss emerging issues. A weekly Research Division meeting provides a forum for faculty/staff development and interactive communication.
The Department is a collaborative member of the AAFP-funded Center for Research in Family Practice and Primary Care. The Center is one of three highly competitive centers funded by the American Academy of Family Physicians' research enhancement initiative and is a collaboration of four family medicine departments: Case Western Reserve University (Kurt Stange, MD, PhD, principal investigator); Lehigh Valley Hospital (William Miller, MD, MA, principal investigator); UTHSC San Antonio (Carlos Jaen, MD, PhD, principal investigator) and UMDNJ-RWJMS (Benjamin Crabtree, PhD, principal investigator). The UMDNJ-RWJMS site serves as the "Qualitative Core" of the Center.
Division research efforts has received major funding through federal and foundation sources, including the National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute (NHLBI), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). In the 2003-2004 academic year this funding has exceeded $1.2 million in annual direct costs. This funding provides support for a well-established ongoing line of research to enhance quality of care in primary care practices that uses a theoretical model based on complexity science.
In collaboration with the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the department has an established New Jersey Family Medicine Research Network (NJFMRN) to work collaboratively with community-based clinicians and practices. Currently this network includes 66 New Jersey practices in 20 of 21 New Jersey counties representing 160 physicians and more than 400,000 patients.
Since 2002, the Department's Primary Care/Health Services Research Postdoctoral Fellowship has been integrated into the Research Division, with fellows working in "apprenticeship" relationships with faculty in the department or in other departments within the university over a 2-year period. The fellowship is supported by a federal NRSA grant and is open to either MD or PHD candidates.
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