Principal Investigator: Erin Fraher, PhD, MPP The purpose of this study is to use life course theory as a conceptual and methodological framework to investigate how race/ethnicity, age, and gender influence the practice patterns of North Carolina’s primary care physician workforce in different time periods, including whether the physician provides prenatal care, if s/he performs obstetric… Read more »
Items By: Haley Simons
Understanding the Contributions of HBCUs to Diversify the Physician Workforce
Principal Investigator: Jasmine Weiss, MD, MHS Increasing the diversity of the physician workforce is critical to addressing health disparities in the United States, particularly for Black Americans. This study will examine the role of undergraduate Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in increasing the representation of Black physicians in medical schools and ultimately the physician workforce.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Primary Care Practice
Principal Investigators: Monisa Aijaz, MD, MPH, Valerie Lewis, PhD, Genevra Murray, PhD COVID19 has caused dramatic changes to primary care access and delivery that present significant issues to the primary care workforce. First, primary care practices have cancelled large swaths of in person visits while working to rapidly implement telehealth. This is coupled with… Read more »
Using Latent Transition Analysis as A Tool to Understand How Physician Careers Evolve over the Life Course
Investigator: Erin P. Fraher, PhD, MPP; Todd Jensen, PhD, MSW; Brianna Lombardi, PhD, MSW In a Year 10 study, we used latent class analysis (LCA) to describe the career typologies of primary care physicians (PCPs) in North Carolina which found that PCPs were sorted into four types of careers in 2009 and 2019 with high… Read more »
Addressing Burnout among the Frontline Workforce during COVID-19: A Scoping Review & Expert Interviews
Investigators: Lisa de Saxe Zerden, PhD, Brianna M. Lombardi, PhD, MSW, Erica L. Richman, PhD, Alexandria B. Forte, PhD Student, MSW, Meriel McCollum, PhD. Objective: This study sought to identify the strategies and interventions that U.S. health systems implemented to reduce burnout and increase employee well-being during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Pairing a scoping… Read more »
Workplace Violence in Healthcare Settings
Investigators: Brianna Lombardi, Emily McCartha, Connor Sullivan, Erin Fraher Overview: Workplace violence is described by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as “any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site. It ranges from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and even homicide.”… Read more »
Are BH providers co-located with DEA waivered Buprenorphine Prescribers?
Investigators: Lisa de Saxe Zerden, PhD, MSW; Brianna Lombardi, PhD, MSW; Erica Richman, PhD, MSW; Alex Forte, MSW; Evan Galloway, MPS Objective: Targeted planning for co-location of DEA-waivered buprenorphine prescribers and BH clinicians could increase the use of medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Presently, less than half of all waivered prescribers, outside of hospitals, are co-located… Read more »
Co-location of Pharmacists with Primary Care Providers: An Analysis of NPI vs Other Data Sources
Investigators: Emily M. Hawes, PharmD, BCPS, CPP; Brianna Lombardi, PhD, MSW; Evan Galloway, MPS; Hilary A. Campbell, PharmD, JD; Cristen P. Page, MD, MPH; Mary Roth McClurg, PharmD, MHS Objective: Despite evidence supporting the integration of pharmacists in team-based primary care, little information exists on the co-location of pharmacists with primary care physicians in the United States… Read more »
Describing the National Social Work Data Sources
Investigators: Brianna Lombardi, PhD, MSW, Lisa de Saxe Zerden, PhD, MSW, and Erin Fraher, PhD, MPP Rapid growth of social work degree programs, along with a diverse array of social work practice areas makes it is difficult to describe and count the social work profession. This project examines the data sources that could be used to… Read more »
Interrupted Integrated Health Care: How Primary Care Practices Utilized Tele-Health and Coordinated Team-Based Care in Response to COVID-19
Investigators: Brianna Lombardi, PhD, MSW; Lisa de Saxe Zerden, PhD, MSW; Erica L. Richman, PhD, MSW This study will investigate how integrated health care (IHC) teams adapted during COVID-19 with a specific focus on their use of tele-health and how they adapted components of IHC such as warm hand-offs between providers and patients, referral linkages, and communication… Read more »
Catherine Moore, PhD, MSN, RN
Catherine Moore, PhD, MSN, RN joined the Program for Health Workforce Research and Policy in April. Dr. Moore joins the team as the Director of Sheps Health Workforce NC and the North Carolina Health Professions Data System (NC Health Workforce – North Carolina Health Professional Supply Data). She will lead state health workforce initiatives in… Read more »
Abhi Joshi, MCS

Abhi Joshi, MCS is a Data Analyst for the UNC Sheps Center Program on Health Workforce Research and Policy, providing data management and statistical analysis services. Abhi holds a BS in Computer Science with a minor in Statistics from UNC Charlotte and a concentration in Software, Systems & Networks. He also holds a Master of… Read more »
Brooke Lombardi, PhD
Brooke Lombardi, PhD, MSW, joined our team as a Research Associate/Project Manager on the Carolina Health Workforce Research Center and the Behavioral Health Workforce Research Center. Dr. Lombardi holds both a PhD in Social Work and an MSW from UNC-Chapel Hill. Dr. Lombardi’s work focuses on the intersection of sexual victimization and the perinatal period… Read more »
Haley Simons
Haley Simons joined our team as a Program Coordinator. Haley holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill. Haley will be supporting the research team with coordination and dissemination efforts across multiple platforms and audiences to increase the reach and accessibility of our work. … Read more »
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