Benjamin F. Crabtree, PhD:

Social Science Evolves into

Practice Jazz

By Kate O’Neill

Like an anthropologist studying a subculture, Benjamin F. Crabtree, PhD, professor of family medicine and director, division of research, studies primary care practices and patient care delivery. Working in a variety of settings — large and small practices, rural and urban groups, and independent and health-system affiliates — Dr. Crabtree and his colleagues gather comprehensive data and observe the dynamics that influence practice operations. His researchers use this information to form improvement teams, where ideas are shared among practice members in the hope of helping the practice evolve and improve its delivery of patient care.

Dr. Crabtree’s office is filled with clues to his energetic, team-based style of leadership. Here, he regularly gathers project leaders to update their colleagues, employing the same interactive Reflective Adaptive Process (RAP) that they use to elicit ideas in their studies. Adorning the walls are poster-sized sheets of paper, covered with bright, handwritten columns listing investigators’ names, deadlines, and funding sources. Project names such as ULTRA, SCOPE, and STEP-UP stand out, hinting at the group’s informality and creativity. Hours of brainstorming have produced fresh ideas, reflected in notes that slant between the columns of information, while the unmistakable scent of permanent markers lingers in the air.

A trained anthropologist, Dr. Crabtree initially planned for a career in public health. He worked on eradicating smallpox in Ethiopia and controlling tuberculosis in South Korea. During a break to teach English in Japan, he met his future wife. Dr. Crabtree completed his doctorate in medical anthropology at the University of Connecticut, where a research position in the Department of Family Medicine first “got him hooked,” he says, on studying and improving health care delivery in primary care settings, where Americans receive many of their clinical services.

Building the Division

In 1999, David E. Swee, MD, professor and then-chair, Department of Family Medicine, recruited Dr. Crabtree from the University of Nebraska to establish, develop, and coordinate a family medicine research division at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. In six years, Dr. Crabtree has built a 30-person division that is now engaged in 12 research projects.

Among 120 academic family medicine departments nationwide, the RWJMS division of research is ranked 11th in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for family medicine research. In 2005, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) approved the division’s newest R01 (investigator initiated) proposal, Dr. Crabtree’s third straight R01 to receive funding on first submission. The award brought his current NIH support to $6 million. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have awarded major grants to the division.

 “Dr. Crabtree’s approach has been emulated by many up-and-coming departments. It is fair to say that our department has achieved national eminence in large part due to the fantastic team he has built.”

-Alfred F. Tallia, MD ’78, MPH

Dr. Crabtree, whose extensive publications set the bar high, reports that “the division has come of age.” At the Fall 2005 annual conference of the North American Primary Care Research Group, 14 members made podium or poster presentations. “What was especially impressive was the diversity and scope of the research presented, from sophisticated biostatistical methods to complex theoretical perspectives,” he says.
“Ben’s idea of building diverse research teams was operational long before it was in the literature,” says Alfred F. Tallia, MD ’78, MPH, associate professor and acting chair, Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Tallia, who helped recruit Dr. Crabtree, has become not only a colleague, but also a friend. He says of Dr. Crabtree, “His approach has been emulated by many up-and-coming departments. It is fair to say that our department has achieved national eminence in large part due to the fantastic team he has built.”