The lecture will take place in person in Alumni Hall at the Carolina Club from 2:00-3:00 pm, followed by a reception of light hors d’oeuvres and drinks from 3:00-4:00 pm.  We kindly ask that you RSVP if you plan to attend the event: https://go.unc.edu/ShepsDL2024

The Carolina Club is conveniently located on campus at 150 Stadium Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27514.  The Ramshead Deck is the primary parking facility for The Carolina Club and parking charges are $1.75 per hour. The address for this deck’s entrance is 104 Ridge Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. For the most convenient access to the Club, park in the spaces nearest the Hill Alumni Center & Carolina Club walkway, on the uppermost 3rd level of the Ramshead Deck.

 

As an alternative to driving, the Chapel Hill Transit NU bus route runs every 20 minutes, picking up near the Sheps Center and dropping off near the Carolina Club.

More information on parking, directions, and accessibility can be found on The Carolina Club website. 

Deidra C. Crews, MD, ScM, FASN, is Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School of Medicine, where she also serves as Associate Director for Faculty Development in the Division of Nephrology as well as Deputy Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity. She currently serves as President of the American Society of Nephrology.

Dr. Crews received her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and studied medicine at Saint Louis University School of Medicine in Missouri.  She completed both her residency in internal medicine and fellowship in nephrology at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. She also earned a ScM in clinical epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Crews’ research interests span many issues in health equity, exploring the intersection of clinical practice and public policy. These interests include the burden of kidney disease among socially disadvantaged populations; addressing social and behavioral risk factors for kidney disease and hypertension, such as food insecurity and unhealthy dietary patterns; and optimizing care processes for people living with kidney failure. Her work has earned her the Johns Hopkins President’s Frontier Award (2018), the W. Lester Henry Award for Diversity and Access to Care from the American College of Physicians (2019), the ASN Distinguished Leader Award (2019) and election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2020), the National Academy of Medicine (2023), and the Association of American Physicians (2024).

The Gordon H. DeFriese Distinguished Lecture on Health Services and Policy Research was established by colleagues and friends of Gordon DeFriese to honor his leadership as Director of the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his many research, teaching, and public service contributions to the people of North Carolina and the nation. The lecture was announced on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary celebration of the renaming of the Center for its first director, Cecil G. Sheps, in 1993.

 

Gordon DeFriese has been a friend, colleague, and mentor to many individuals during his professional life. He assumed the directorship of the Sheps Center in 1973, just as the Center’s original five-year federal grant was about to end. At the time, the Center had two exceptional assets: a small, dedicated group of young faculty; and Gordon, who provided much of the vision, hard work, and know-how to ensure a future for the fledgling research program. As a measure of their success, when Dr. DeFriese stepped down as Director in October 2000, the Sheps Center was widely regarded as one of the premiere university-based health services research and training programs in the United States, a reputation that continues. In recognition of Dr. DeFriese’s contribution to the University, the UNC-CH Office of the Provost awarded the Center funding to support the DeFriese lectureship as an annual event.

Previous DeFriese Lecture Speakers:

1994, Robert H. Brook, MD, ScD “Quality and Health Reform: Are They Compatible?”	2008, Elizabeth A. McGlynn, PhD “Quality: Where Have We Been and Where are We Headed?”
1995, Robert G. Evans, PhD “Getting Sick in Groups: The Determinants of Health in Populations”	2009, Martin Roland, CBE “Tea, the Beatles, and Pay for Performance”
1998, Dennis Gillings, PhD “Health Services Research and 21st Century Medicine”	2010, Jonathan B. Oberlander, PhD “Against All Odds: The American Struggle with Health Care Reform”
2000, Edward H. Wagner, MD, MPH “Perspectives on the Changing Field”	2012, Lisa Simpson, MB, BCh, MPH, FAAP “Wither Health Services Research? The promise and peril of relevant, rigorous, and timely evidence”
2001, C. Tracy Orleans, PhD “Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Tobacco”	2013, JudyAnn Bigby, MD “The Health Reform Journey in Massachusetts”
2002, Sara Rosenbaum, JD “Ending Insurance as We Know It”	2015, Thomas C. Ricketts, III, PhD, MPH “So Make Me! Translating Research into Action”
2004, Paul B. Ginsburg, PhD “Research, Policy Analysis and Policy”	2017, Stuart Altman, PhD “The Possible Impact of the Election on the U.S. Healthcare System”
2005, Nicole Lurie, MD, MSPH “Is There a Quality Chasm in Public Health?”	2023, Julia Adler-Milstein, PhD “Turning Digital Fumes into a Breath of Fresh Air”
2006, Jeremiah A. Barondess, MD “Looking at Health Through the Urban Lens”

Initial funding for the DeFriese Lecture was provided by the Office of the Provost, but gifts from supporters have sustained this event.  The lectureship plays a pivotal role in advancing our understanding of health systems, improving patient outcomes, and informing evidence-based policy decisions. It would also provide a platform for disseminating cutting-edge research and fostering collaborations with leading experts in the field.

 

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