The Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin Department of Surgery and Perioperative Care is offering an exciting research opportunity for medical students. 

The year-long Value-Based Care Research Fellowship provides an opportunity to closely work with leading Dell Medical School faculty on clinical and/or care delivery research projects over the course of a gap year. The Fellow will have opportunities to work directly with faculty such as Department Chair Dr. Kevin Bozic, Dr. David Ring, and other leaders of care transformation in Orthopaedics.

Overview

The Dell Medical School Value-Based Care Research Fellowship promotes applied healthcare delivery science research by giving extraordinary medical students an opportunity to investigate topics relevant to designing, implementing, and disseminating value-based care delivery models in surgery and perioperative care.

Faculty

The awardee will have the opportunity to work directly with several leaders in healthcare delivery innovation, including the following Surgery and Perioperative Care faculty members:

Kevin Bozic, MD, MBA Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery and Perioperative Care

David Ring, MD, PhD Associate Dean of Comprehensive Care; Professor of Surgery and Psychiatry

Karl Koenig, MD, MS Assistant Professor and Medical Director of the Musculoskeletal Institute

Tom Vetter, MD, MPH Professor and Director of Perioperative Care

Other leaders in various fields of surgery and perioperative care

Key responsibilities

1. Work with Department of Surgery and Perioperative Care faculty on value-based care delivery-related research projects such as: shared-decision making, defining treatment appropriateness in specialty care, assessing the effect of treatment interventions on patient-reported outcomes (PROs), using PROs and other patient data to develop personalized risk/benefit assessment models for different treatments, psychosocial aspects of illness, digital health technologies to enable value-based care, and assessing current trends in treatment utilization for high prevalence, high burden diseases.

2. Shadow Surgery and Perioperative Care faculty in clinical activities (operating room, outpatient clinic) and in value-based care related discussions with local stakeholders (i.e., hospital partners, payers, primary care providers, multi-specialty groups, post-acute providers, and senior Dell Med leaders), and interact with patients in a clinical setting through the collection of patient-reported outcome measures.

3. Help to prepare research-related publications and presentations for local and national orthopaedic and value-based care related conferences (e.g., American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Learning Action Network).

4. Support the Department of Surgery and Perioperative Care in strategic initiatives that are relevant to the design and dissemination of value-based care concepts and models.

Award Stipend and Benefits

The recipient of this award will receive a $28,000 stipend for the year. As circumstances allow, the Department may support travel to select national conferences.

Eligibility

The applicant must be accepted to or enrolled in medical school at the time of application. Strong critical thinking skills, written/verbal communication, and organizational skills are required. Completion of core clinical clerkships (i.e. current third-year medical student), prior experience with carrying out research projects through publication, making presentations, SAS/Stata data analysis experience, and having a demonstrated interest in value-based care is a plus.

Timeline

The deadline for applications is February 1^st, 2018. Phone interviews with several Department leaders will be scheduled following the deadline for submission, and finalists can expect to be notified in early March. The 2018-2019 VBC Research Fellowship will be July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019, although there is some flexibility in the dates.

How to Apply

Eligible students can apply online. If available, please include a sample of previous work (PowerPoint presentations, published research, data analysis, etc.).

If you have any questions about the position or application process, please contact Lauren Uhler, MPH, Assistant Director of Research, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Learn More: Read a blog post from our 2016-2017 Value Based Care Research Fellow.