New Interest Groups

Disability Research

The Disability Research Interest Group is composed of health services and policy researchers interested in the coordination, quality improvement, and financing of services, assistive devices, and environmental changes needed for the optimal health and social integration of people in situations of disability. It brings together researchers, policy analysts, persons with disabilities, and educators to increase the impact of good quantitative and qualitative research on disability policy, practice, and professional education in the U.S. and abroad.

Disparities

The Disparities Interest Group calls for researchers, practitioners, policymakers and advocates committed to reducing racial/ethnic disparities in health. The interest group will provide a forum to share knowledge, challenges, methods and best practices in improving inequalities in health care access, quality of care, and health outcomes based on race/ethnicity.

Health Policy Communications

The Health Policy Communications Interest Group consists of researchers, advocates, policymakers, and journalists interested in the mass mediated dissemination of research, analysis, and other information that influences health policy. Topics of interest range along the communication process, from understanding how and why mass mediated health policy messages are created, through analyzing the content of health policy messages, to understanding how media messages affect knowledge, opinions, and politics. The purpose of this group is to help improve the quality of information that informs health policy development.

Quality

Initially, the Quality Interest Group will focus on three aspects of quality - measurement, safety, and pay for performance. The intention of the group is to bring together researchers from multiple disciplines to foster development in specific aspects of quality and also to integrate them into a more comprehensive understanding of measurement and policy development.

Research Translation

The Research Translation Interest Group is comprised of researchers, policymakers, advocates, consumers, practitioners and others interested in improving the quality of healthcare by assuring that health services research is translated to the meet the needs of various audiences. The group's mission is to achieve timely transfer of knowledge to all groups of healthcare decision makers. The group focuses on practical ways to understand and reach audiences and creates networking opportunities for those interested in building research translation skills.

Join Our Interest Groups

For more information or to join any of the five new Interest Groups, please contact the Member Services Team at 202.292.6700 or membership@academyhealth.org.

If you would like to explore starting another Interest Group within AcademyHealth, please contact Kristine Metter, director of membership, at kristine.metter@academyhealth.org or 202.292.6754.