 |
 |
| Gordon Schiff, MD | Valerie Stone, MD, MPH |
Gordon Schiff, MD, associate director of the Center for Patient Safety Practice and Research, quality and safety director for the Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care and an internist in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care, and Valerie Stone, MD, MPH, vice chair for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Department of Medicine, received a $3.8 million, four-year grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The award will fund a research project titled, “Achieving Better Cancer Diagnosis (ABCD): Identifying, Supporting and Learning from Marginalized Patients Who Experience Delayed Cancer Diagnosis.”
The project aims to establish and implement improvements in the cancer diagnosis process based on learning from the experiences of historically marginalized patients with breast, lung, colorectal and prostate cancer who have received potentially delayed cancer diagnoses. The project, which is based on a joint award to the Brigham and the University of Washington, will bring together national experts to establish a Diagnostic Center of Excellence, which will identify and transparently address cases and causes of delayed cancer diagnosis. Based on learnings from interviews with patients and families, the team will develop an Improving Cancer Diagnosis Communication Toolkit for health care providers.
More broadly in his work at the Brigham, Schiff focuses on issues related to patient safety, diagnostic errors, test result follow-up, health IT and promoting safer prescribing and diagnosis practices. Stone’s research focuses on identifying and addressing disparities in care according to race, ethnicity and gender. She also works to expand the diversity of faculty and trainees in the Department of Medicine and implement department initiatives to enhance inclusion and advance health equity.
The AHRQ is the lead federal agency tasked with improving the safety and quality of health care for all Americans. The agency develops tools, data and evidence to improve the health care system and to support consumers, health care professionals and policymakers in making informed decisions related to health care.
