MN-LHS Program Welcomes Additional Scholars to New Cohort

The Minnesota Learning Health System Career Development Program (MN-LHS) welcomed a new cohort of scholars into the program in January 2024. These incoming scholars will be trained to conduct embedded patient-centered research in order to improve health care.

Initially, MN-LHS was one of 11 institutions funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Two of the new scholars, Drs. Derek Lumbard and Rubina Rizvi, were accepted into MN-LHS under this model. They are funded by the Office of Academic Clinical Affairs and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

MN-LHS and its consortium of clinical partners recently received an award from AHRQ and PCORI as part of the LEaRN (LHS E-STaR of the North) initiative, allowing the program to expand and offer more training opportunities. Four new scholars from the clinical partner sites joined as a result of this funding.

Elizabeth Goldsmith, MD, PhD
Dr. Goldsmith is a general internist, epidemiologist, and a core investigator at the Minneapolis VA Center for Care Delivery & Outcomes Research (CCDOR). Her research areas include behavioral and movement therapies for chronic pain, quantitative bias analysis, and sexual and gender minority health. For her project, Dr. Goldsmith is developing data and methods to evaluate the quality of anatomically relevant care for transgender and gender-diverse patients.

Melissa Harry, PhD, MSW, LGSW
Dr. Melissa Harry is a research scientist with the Essentia Institute of Rural Health (EIRH), the education and research center for Essentia Health. She also currently serves as the lead scientist for trauma research at Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center’s Level I Adult/Level II Pediatric Trauma Center. Dr. Harry routinely conducts quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research in health system settings, and will be evaluating equity in suicide screening and prevention for her LHS project.

Amanda Herrmann, PhD
Dr. Herrmann is a research associate at the HealthPartners Institute Neuroscience Research Center and an adjunct assistant professor in the Medical School Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. Her primary research interest is investigating complementary and integrative health approaches for people with neurological disorders.

Kerry Sheets, MD
Dr. Sheets is a practicing geriatrician at Hennepin Healthcare and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on the early stages of cognitive and functional decline in older adults. For her project, Dr. Sheets aims to promote health equity with a focus on early identification of older adults experiencing cognitive decline.