Current Fellows
Veterans Affairs Quality Scholars Fellows:
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Lindsay Ballengee, PT, DPT, Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Geriatric Physical Therapy – (VAQS 2019-2021) Dr. Ballengee has a passion for education and implementation, specifically in the area of best practice for non-pharmacological pain treatments. Her clinical expertise is in self-care management for patients with high-impact persistent pain. Dr. Ballengee’s research focuses on implementation of psychologically informed physical therapy (PIPT) for the treatment of persistent pain conditions. As a VA Quality Scholars Fellow, she is involved with various quality improvement initiatives to improve pain care in the VA. Specific projects include improving interdisciplinary communication about veteran preferences for pain treatment, improving provider confidence and prescribing behavior for pain care, and improving veteran satisfaction with virtual non-pharmacological pain management. |
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Health Services Research Fellows (sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs):
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Jessica Ma, MD – (OAA 2019-2021) Jessica Ma, MD is a second year VA Health Services Research and Development fellow at the Durham VA Health System. She graduated from Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and residency training in internal medicine at Barnes Jewish Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine. She was a Chief Resident for Quality and Safety at the John Cochran St Louis VA Health System and completed hospice and palliative medicine fellowship at Duke University. Dr. Ma has an interest in palliative care, predictive analytics, and electronic health record innovation. She has an interest in how predictive analytics facilitate clinical decision making in patients with serious illnesses and clinician perspectives, use, and adoption of advance care planning interventions. As a HSR&D fellow, she is involved in projects examining the use of notifications within the electronic health record to increase advance care planning conversations and the VA Life-Sustaining Treatment Decision Initiative. |
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Caroline Sloan, MD – (OAA 2019-2021) Dr. Sloan completed her medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania and then came to Duke for her Internal Medicine residency and Chief Residency. She is now a clinical HSR&D fellow at the Durham VA. Dr. Sloan is interested in understanding the role that financial incentives and out-of-pocket costs play in the decisions that organizations, providers and patients make in healthcare. |
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Julie Schexnayder, DNP, PhD, ACNP-BC – (OAA 2020-2022) Dr. Julie Schexnayder joined HSR&D in November 2020. She completed her clinical doctorate from the University of Virginia (2014) and her research doctorate from Case Western Reserve University (2021). She is an HIV/AIDS certified nurse practitioner and maintains an active clinical practice at the Durham VA. She is an alumna of the VA Quality Scholars Fellowship Program (2015-2018), where she completed advanced training in operational quality improvement and evidence-based practice implementation at the Birmingham and Northeast Ohio VA Healthcare Systems. She is interested in mixed method approaches to support intervention adaptation and implementation, with an overarching goal of improving management of multi-morbid conditions in adults aging with HIV. |
National Clinician Scholars Program Fellows:
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Research Focus Area: Examining how the integration of community health workers into primary care systems affects patients’ health outcomes and primary care utilization as well as population level health disparities and chronic disease risks |
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Research Focus Area: Investigating lung cancer screening guidelines and surgical referrals, imaging in oncologic decision-making, and insurance market expansion and consolidation |
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