Faculty


Bio
Patricia "Pita" Adam, MD, MSPH, is the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health's vice chair for clinical affairs. She teaches in the University of Minnesota Medical Center Family Medicine Residency and is also one of the founding family medicine team members on the Minnesota Primary Care Transformation Collaborative. As vice chair, Dr. Adam's goal is to improve the care we deliver to our patients and the experience of our providers and staff as they serve our patients. She oversees the four family medicine residency clinics and is a member of the Primary Care Executive Team within our Primary Care Service Line. Dr. Adam has participated in research studying team-based care, intrathecal narcotics for obstetric pain management, and saline nasal spray for colds and sinusitis. Her current passion is ambulatory medicine. She is leading the three-year implementation of Clinic as Curriculum across our four family medicine programs with the goal of implementing advanced scheduling options to improve provider-patient continuity and provider wellness.
Research Summary
My focus and interest lie in improving and understanding primary care systems in academic clinics. This includes interprofessional team care, teaching residents patient-communication skills, and how to transform the care in teaching clinics. In addition, I am interested in the incorporation of Community Health Workers in a primary care clinic and in improving the care for our underserved patients.
Clinical Summary
Ambulatory care; team care and interprofessional care; women's health
Contact
Address
M Health Fairview Clinic - Smiley's2020 E. 28th St.
Minneapolis, MN 55407


Bio
Prior to joining department faculty and the Medical School Program in Health Disparities Research, Michele Allen, MD, MS, completed a fellowship in primary care research and the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program. She is active in health disparities research and scholarship and serves as a reviewer for several scientific journals.
Languages
Contact
Address
717 Delaware Street SE, Suite #166Minneapolis, MN 55414

Bio
Sharon Allen, MD, PhD, co-directs the University of Minnesota Medical School Essentials of Clinical Medicine course. As an NIH-funded researcher for over 25 years, she has focused on factors that contribute to smoking, specifically looking at the influence of sex hormones on smoking cessation and addictive behaviors. Her research explores novel treatments for smoking cessation, examines underlying traits that fuel nicotine addiction, combines treatments to maximize effectiveness, and recognizes sex and hormonal influences on the treatment of nicotine addiction. Dr. Allen sees patients at the University of Minnesota Physicians Women's Health Specialists Clinic and Clinics and Surgery Center, where she also precepts residents in family medicine, internal medicine, OB/GYN, and pharmacy.
Research Summary
Tobacco cessation in women and sex hormones
Clinical Summary
Women's health; osteoporosis; smoking cessation
Contact
Address
6-145 Phillips-Wangensteen Building420 Delaware Street SE, MMC 381
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0356


Bio
Christine A. Arenson, MD, is director of the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education. Dr. Arenson was named co-director of the National Center in July 2020, working in Nexus with Barbara Brandt, the National Center’s founding director. She transitioned to director in December 2021. Prior to joining the National Center, Dr. Arenson served as alumni professor and chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Arenson graduated from the University of Delaware in 1986 and Jefferson Medical College in 1990. She completed family medicine residency training at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, followed by a fellowship in geriatric medicine. She was the founding director of the Jefferson Division of Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care and has focused on patient-centered care and team education for health professionals as strategies to improve the health of older adults. She was the founding co-director of the Jefferson Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education, serving in that role from 2007-2016. Most recently, she has been actively engaged in primary care transformation to meet the Quadruple Aim: Improve the Experience of Care, Improve Health Outcomes, Reduce Costs and Restore Joy in Practice. She previously served on the board of Jeff Care Alliance, Jefferson’s clinically integrated network, and the Executive Steering Committee for Jefferson Health population health and primary care service lines, implementing a new Advanced Primary Care Model across the Jefferson primary care network, now including over 100 practices. From 2013 – 2019 she was a member of the board of the Delaware Valley ACO. She also works to educate healthcare teams to improve healthcare outcomes. She is a past chair of the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative. She has served as a member of the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education Knowledge Generation Advisory Committee since 2014.
Contact
Address
420 Church St SEMinneapolis, MN 55455-0222


Bio
Macaran Baird, MD, MS, is professor emeritus and retired department head in the University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. Dr. Baird began his career as a family physician and family therapist in rural Wabasha, Minnesota, in 1978. He co-authored his first book, Family Therapy and Family Medicine, in 1983. Soon after that he launched his academic career by first serving as an assistant professor and residency director at the University of Oklahoma, followed by his appointment in 1987 as professor and chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the State University of New York Medical School, Syracuse, New York. In 1995, Dr. Baird returned to Minnesota as associate medical director for primary care for Health Partners and then moved to Rochester as medical director of the Mayo Health Plan and professor in family medicine at Mayo Clinic, Rochester. He returned to the Twin Cities as professor and head, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School and chair of the board of UCare. He held these positions from July 2002 until his first retirement in December 2017. As he was retiring, he was asked to serve as CEO for the University of Minnesota Physicians and co-president of M Health Fairview.
Dr. Baird is a past-president of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and was a founding member of the Collaborative Family Health Care Association. In 1999 he co-chaired the COGME 13th Report to Congress: Educating the Physician Workforce for the Future and in 2001 he was co-chair of the Health and Behavior Report for the Institute of Medicine. He has received awards from the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM), the Collaborative Family Health Care Association (CFHA), the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians, the Minnesota Medical Association and the University of Minnesota Medical School. He has authored and edited three books and several government and/or foundation reports related to mental health; he has also published over 40 papers and book chapters.
During Dr. Baird’s tenure at the University of Minnesota, the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health grew in the number of faculty, from 50 to around 100, and residency programs grew from six to eight. Funded research and research-focused faculty grew to make the DFMCH the third-highest NIH-funded department of family medicine in the US.
For two years after retiring, Dr. Baird served as a consultant to the dean. Among his duties during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic was to be part of the three-member team that did the first layer of review to assess the risk/benefit balance for all medical school clinical research grants. Many principal investigators were asked to delay patient enrollment to reduce the risk of infection for patients and staff. NIH and other funding sources did not penalize grant recipients for these actions.
Dr. Baird is now retired and lives with his wife, Kris, in Lake City, Minnesota.
Service Summary
Dr. Baird is focusing his interests in environmental and mental health causes and volunteers to provide primary care for a free clinic near Lake City, Minnesota. He is currently the president of the board of directors of the Hiawatha Valley Mental Health Center, a multi-center non-profit organization that provides mental health services to five counties in southeastern Minnesota. He is also a member of the Health Professionals for a Health Climate, HPHC, based in the Twin Cities, and is president of the Lake City Kiwanis Club.
Education
Licensures and Certifications
Grants and Patents
Selected Grants


Bio
Greta Bauer, PhD, MPH is a Professor and Director of the Institute for Sexual and Gender Health (ISGH). She holds the endowed academic chair in sexual health. Prior to 2022, Dr. Bauer was a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University in London, Canada, where she held a Sex and Gender Science Chair through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). As an epidemiologist, Dr. Bauer’s focus on sexual and gender health has been both substantive and methodological, with a focus on the impacts of social marginalization. She is an international leader in both community and clinical research on transgender and non-binary health, and in incorporating intersectionality into quantitative research methods. As an interdisciplinary epidemiologist, she has published in top academic journals across medicine (e.g., Annals of Emergency Medicine), public health (e.g, American Journal of Public Health), psychology (e.g., Psychology of Women Quarterly), social science (e.g., Social Science & Medicine), sexual health (e.g., Journal of Sex Research), and epidemiology (e.g., Epidemiology). Her research and professional expertise have been used in legislative or court processes in Canada with regard to blood donation policy for gay and bisexual men, the addition of gender identity and expression to federal and provincial human rights codes, and legal challenges in multiple provinces regarding restrictive criteria for trans people to change sex designations on identity documents. Pronouns: she/they
Contact
Address
Institute for Sexual and Gender Health1300 South 2nd Street, Suite 180
Minneapolis, MN 55455


Bio
Dianne Berg, Ph.D., is an associate professor and licensed psychologist, with an emphasis in Child and Adolescent Gender Health at the Institute for Sexual and Gender Health (ISGH). She provides clinical services to adults, adolescents and children with sexuality and gender concerns. Her areas of interest are transgender issues – including gender creative children, and compulsive sexual behavior – including the unique needs of partners of people with compulsive sexual behavior. Dr. Berg and her colleague, Dr. Katie Spencer, are the authors of the Gender Affirmative Lifespan Approach (GALA™) of Psychotherapy and Education that is the theoretical framework for the clinical-research program of the Gender Health Services at ISGH. Dr. Berg is an invited speaker both nationally and internationally, including appearances on PBS and in Scientific American Mind magazine as well as presentations at the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) symposium and the national conference of the American Association for Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT). She is a published author with more recent work being a chapter co-author for an APA book on Assessment for Children within a Gender Affirmative Model of Care. She is currently developing a group therapy curriculum for trans-identified youth and their parent/s and is exploring clinical innovations to enrich supportive therapy experiences for gender creative children. Dr. Berg is a member of the Child and Adolescent Committee of WPATH, as well as an AASECT certified sex therapist and AASECT certified supervisor. Dr. Berg works in conjunction with pediatric endocrinology, urology, genetics and MDH Newborn Screening to provide a multidisciplinary clinic for children/adolescents with Disorders of Sex Development (DSD). Dr. Berg received her PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Sexual and Gender Health. Pronouns: she/her/hers.
Research Summary
Transgender issues, compulsive sexual behavior, sex offender treatment, children and adolescent gender diversity
Education
Fellowships, Residencies, and Visiting Engagements
Licensures and Certifications
Professional Memberships
Contact
Address
Institute for Sexual and Gender Health1300 South Second Street, Suite 180
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55454


Bio
Mark Berg, MD, is faculty at the University of Minnesota Woodwinds Hospital Family Medicine Residency. Prior to joining M Physicians in 2016, he spent 18 years delivering babies, rounding at nursing homes and the community hospital, attending the sidelines of high school sporting events and serving primary medical needs of the New Prague communities in Minnesota. His medical interests include wellness, sports medicine, obstetrics, and office procedures.
Clinical Summary
Sports Medicine; Sports medicine with wrestling, running, baseball and nordic skiing focus. Vasectomy. Office-based procedures.
Contact
Address
M Health Fairview Clinic - Bethesda580 Rice St.
St. Paul, MN 55103


Bio
Dr. Berge is a professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health as well as the inaugural holder of the Carole J. Bland, PhD Endowed Chair at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Dr. Berge is both a researcher and behavioral medicine clinician. She is a licensed mental health therapist and supervisor who specializes in integrated care and community-based partnerships to address family health issues. Her NIH research agenda focuses on conducting both childhood obesity prevention and treatment studies within primary care settings with the ultimate goal of decreasing childhood obesity disparities in low-income and minority households. She is also the director of the Healthy Eating and Activity across the Lifespan (HEAL) Center and the Principal Investigator of the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) K-12 grant. Additionally, she is the director of the Center for Women in Medicine and Science (CWIMS) at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Research Summary
Dr. Berge's NIH research agenda focuses on weight and weight-related health behaviors across the lifespan, families and health, women's health, and integrated care. She conducts both childhood obesity prevention and treatment studies within primary care settings with the ultimate goal of decreasing childhood obesity disparities in low-income and minority households. Dr. Berge has expertise in conducting mixed methods studies that include observational methods such as, ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and video-recorded family tasks, as well as quantitative survey data to more fully understand the complex family dynamics and processes related to physical activity and dietary behaviors in children and adolescents. Dr. Berge is one of the most cited authors on family dynamics and childhood obesity with over 125 publications, 300 presentations and 20 book chapters on related topics. She has an impressive funding trajectory including NIH K12, R03, R13, R21, R56, and R01 grants funded across several different institutes including NHLBI, NIDDK, and NICHD. Dr. Berge also serves on several NIH study sections including the Psychosocial Risk and Disease Prevention study section at NIH and several special interest study sections.
Clinical Summary
Depression, anxiety, PTSD/stress response, and weight-related behaviors.
Education
Fellowships, Residencies, and Visiting Engagements
Licensures and Certifications
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations
Contact
Address
717 Delaware St SE, Room 420Minneapolis, MN 55414-2959


Bio
Amy Bonifas, MD, is faculty and program director for the University of Minnesota Methodist Hospital Family Medicine Residency. In addition to teaching, she practices full-spectrum family medicine and has special interests in obstetrics, community health, and adolescent medicine. Dr. Bonifas is medical director for Central Clinic, the free clinic for children and adolescents in St. Louis Park, which is staffed by Methodist Family Medicine third-year residents. |
Education
Fellowships, Residencies, and Visiting Engagements
Contact
Address
Park Nicollet Clinic - Creekside, 6600 Excelsior Blvd, Ste 100, St. Louis Park, MN 55426

Bio
Karen Borchert, MD, is the associate program director of the University of Minnesota Medical Center Family Medicine Residency. She is also a graduate of this program and joined the faculty in 2015. Dr. Borchert practices full-spectrum family medicine including obstetrics at Smiley's Family Medicine Clinic in Minneapolis, MN. She is passionate about providing comprehensive reproductive health care, LGBTQ+ care including gender-affirming care, and improving patient and physician education.
Research Summary
Pregnancy of unknown location, early pregnancy failure, family planning, postpartum depression
Clinical Summary
Women's health, transgender care, office-based gynecologic procedures, reproductive health, prenatal care, medication-assisted treatment, refugee and immigrant health.
Contact
Address
M Health Fairview Clinic - Smiley's2020 28th Street East
Minneapolis, MN 55407


Bio
Dana Brandenburg, PsyD, LP is faculty in the University of Minnesota Medical Center Family Medicine Residency. She completed a fellowship in primary care and behavioral science education through Michigan State University. Her scholarly interests include the integration of mental health services into primary care, behavioral science education within residency education, interprofessional education and health behavior change. Dr. Brandenburg is the training director for the Primary Care Behavioral Health Fellowship program. Additionally, she serves as a health care professional representative on the state Health Care Home Advisory Committee with the Minnesota Department of Health.
Research Summary
Smoking cessation, health behavior change, primary care psychology
Education
Fellowships, Residencies, and Visiting Engagements
Licensures and Certifications
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations
Contact
Address
M Health Fairview Clinic - Smiley's2020 East 28th St.
Minneapolis, MN 55407


Bio
Darin Brink, MD, is faculty at the University of Minnesota Woodwinds Family Medicine Residency. Prior to joining the department in 2010, he started a free clinic for refugees in Moscow and provided medical care and instruction in Moscow, Samara, and Tula Oblasts, Russia. Brink also has several years experience as a small town family doctor in South Dakota. He has a strong interest in medical missions and humanitarian medical care.
Contact
Address
M Health Fairview Clinic - Bethesda580 Rice Street
Saint Paul, MN 55103


Bio
Dr. Kathryn Brown has been a member of the St. John's Hospital Family Medicine Residency core faculty since 2015. She received her medical training at the University of Minnesota Medical School-Twin Cities Campus and completed her family medicine training in 2014 at the St. John's Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program. In the field of family medicine, Dr. Brown is motivated by developing and sustaining collaborative relationships with patients in the clinical setting, working with families, providing obstetric care, and enhancing the patient experience as they interface with medicine. Dr. Brown's research interests include: improving the patient experience in clinical care and management of chronic pain and safe opiate prescribing. In her personal life, Dr. Brown enjoys time with her family, cooking, time spent outdoors, and ceramics.
Research Summary
Improving the patient experience in clinical care; management of chronic pain; safe opiate prescribing
Clinical Summary
Specialties: Family Medicine/Primary Care
Contact
Address
M Health Fairview Clinic - Phalen Village1414 Maryland Ave E
Saint Paul, MN 55106-2824


Bio
Dave Bucher, MD, is a core faculty member at the Methodist Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program in St. Louis Park. He holds an adjunct professor appointment in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health (DFMCH) and sees patients for his faculty panel at the Minneapolis location of Park Nicollet Clinic. He teaches third- and fourth-year medical students at the Creekside residency clinic and precepts the family medicine residents in their training program. He has facilitated second-year medical students in their Foundations of Clinical Thinking course since 2011, and has been a small group facilitator for first-year medical students in their SAR course (sexuality course).
Research Summary
Primary care clinical research
Service Summary
Dr. Bucher practices full-range family medicine and has special interest and experience in LGBTQ+ care, dermatology in primary care, and sports medicine/fitness.
Clinical Summary
Family medicine / primary care
Education
Fellowships, Residencies, and Visiting Engagements
Professional Memberships
Contact
Address
6600 Excelsior Blvd., St. Louis Park, MN 55426Administrative Contact
Paris Fayerweather
952-993-7716
paris.fayerweather@parknicollet.com


Bio
Jennifer Budd, DO, has been faculty in the University of Minnesota St. John's Hospital Family Medicine Residency since 2016. She is the current medical director at Phalen Village Clinic. She practiced full-spectrum family medicine for 10 years in North St. Paul, MN. During that time she was also a family medicine community preceptor at the University of Minnesota Physicians Bethesda Family Medicine Clinic.Her current interests and projects include a medication reconciliation process in the ambulatory setting, standard approach to pediatric obesity, and developing the OMM curriculum for our residency program with an emphasis on treatments used in the office setting.
Clinical Summary
Women's and children's health; osteopathic principles and practice; quality improvement; chronic disease management
Contact
Address
M Health Fairview Clinic - Phalen Village1414 Maryland Ave E
Saint Paul, MN 55106-2824


Bio
Caitlin Canton, DO, is an assistant professor for the University of Minnesota Medical Center Family Medicine Residency. The ability to provide community-focused care at Smiley's to a diverse patient population combined with the resources of a University program is what drew her to this position. Some of her professional interests include full-spectrum family medicine practice including obstetrics, research and quality improvement, and community medicine with an emphasis on health literacy.
Clinical Summary
Women's health and reproductive care; LGBT+ primary care and gender-affirming care; Inpatient medicine Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment
Contact
Address
M Health Fairview Clinic - Smiley's2020 28th Street East
Minneapolis, MN 55407


Bio
Barbara Carver, PsyD, LP, is a licensed psychologist and the Director of Behavioral Medicine for the University of Minnesota/St. Cloud Hospital Family Medicine Residency since 2019. Dr. Carver received her doctoral training at Pacific University in Oregon. She completed her post-doctoral training at Washington State University. Barbara also completed a two year intensive Gestalt Therapy training program at the Gestalt Therapy Training Center Northwest in Oregon.
Dr. Carver is one of the founding providers of Integrated Behavioral Health at CentraCare Health. She also has previously worked as an outpatient therapist specializing in the treatment of eating disorders at CentraCare Health. Her current clinical duties include providing integrated behavioral health services in primary care setting and teaching family medicine residents.
Clinical Summary
Acceptance and commitment therapy, gestalt therapy, integrated behavioral health, patient centered care


Bio
Dr. Casey attended the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine in Athens, Ohio, and completed her residency in Sandusky, Ohio, at Firelands Regional Health Center. Her first job was as teaching faculty at St. Vincent’s Family Medicine Residency in Toledo, Ohio, and she has been teaching in family medicine residencies in Ohio or Pennsylvania since then. In her position before coming to the Duluth Family Medicine Residency Program, she was privileged to be the founding program director of a family medicine residency in Lima, Ohio. When not teaching, she loves hiking, camping and traveling with her husband and especially loves going to visit her son, daughter, and son-in-law.
Clinical Summary
Dr. Casey's clinical interests and expertise include integrative medicine, preventive medicine, and dermatology.
Education
Honors and Recognition
Professional Memberships
Contact
Address
Duluth Family Medicine Clinic330 N Eighth Ave E
Duluth, MN 55805




Bio
Nicole Chaisson, MD, MPH, is faculty at the University of Minnesota Medical Center Family Medicine Residency. She is also one of the family medicine team members on the Minnesota Primary Care Transformation Collaborative. She completed fellowship training in adolescent medicine and has strong interests in adolescent health and wellness and reproductive health. Dr. Chaisson earned her MPH in maternal and child health from the University of Minnesota.
Clinical Summary
Family planning and prenatal care, women’s health, adolescent health and wellness, cross-cultural health care, community-oriented care
Education
Fellowships, Residencies, and Visiting Engagements
Licensures and Certifications
Honors and Recognition
Professional Memberships
Selected Publications
Selected Presentations
Contact
Address
M Health Fairview Clinic - Smiley's2020 28th Street East
Minneapolis, MN 55407


Bio
Kirby Clark, MD, is faculty in the University of Minnesota St. John's Hospital Family Medicine Residency and Director of the Rural and Metropolitan Physician Associate Programs. He also serves as a master tutor for several Medical School courses; instructor for two department courses – Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO®) and Family Medicine Ultrasound; and co-director for the department Leadership and Finance course. His medical interests include pediatrics, office procedures, inpatient medicine, practice management, and education.
Contact
Address
M Health Fairview Clinic - Phalen Village1414 Maryland Ave E
Saint Paul, MN 55106-2824


Bio
Eli Coleman, PhD, is Professor Emeritus and former director of the Institute for Sexual and Gender Health. He held the first endowed academic chair in sexual health. Dr. Coleman is the author of numerous articles and books on compulsive sexual behavior, sexual offenders, sexual orientation, gender dysphoria, chemical dependency and family intimacy and on the psychological and pharmacological treatment of a variety of sexual dysfunctions and disorders. He is one of the founding editors of the International Journal of Transgenderism and is the founding and current editor of the International Journal of Sexual Health. He is one of the past-presidents of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the World Association for Sexual Health, the International Academy for Sex Research and the Society for Sex Therapy and Research. He is currently the Chair of the WPATH Standards of Care Revision Committee. He has been a frequent consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization (the regional office of WHO), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pronouns: he/him/his
Contact
Address
Institute for Sexual and Gender Health1300 S 2nd St, Suite 180
Minneapolis, MN 55454


Bio
Jennifer Connor, PhD, LMFT, is a licensed marriage and family therapist and an associate professor at the Institute for Sexual and Gender Health (ISGH). Her research interests include women's sexual and reproductive health, such as vulvodynia and infertility. She has conducted research in sexual health in the Minnesota Somali community, including the impact of female genital cutting. Her clinical interests include vulvodynia, infertility, couples therapy, sexual dysfunction, and gender creative and transgender children and adolescents. Connor received her PhD from the University of Minnesota. Pronouns: she/her/hers
Education
Fellowships, Residencies, and Visiting Engagements
Licensures and Certifications
Professional Memberships
Contact
Address
West Bank Office Building1300 South 2nd Street, Suite 180
Minneapolis, MN 55454-1075


Bio
Brooke Cunningham, MD, PhD, is a general internist, a sociologist, an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, and commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Health. Dr. Cunningham uses mixed methods to examine factors at both the provider and organizational levels that impede or facilitate efforts to address health equity, including how health care workers make sense of race and frame the causes of and solutions to racial disparities in health and health care.She teaches a course on race to first-year medical students and has been invited to speak to students and faculty from other medical schools about race and medicine.Dr. Cunningham practices internal medicine at the Community-University Health Care Clinic (CUHCC), a federally-qualified health clinic in Minneapolis that serves a diverse patient population, most of whom live in poverty.
Research Summary
Research Funding GrantsPrincipal Investigator
2016-18, U of M CTSI Pre-K Award
Purpose: Conduct a systematic review of interventions conducted with health care personnel to promote engagement with race, racism, or racial disparities in health and to develop a scale to measure providers’ psychological safety and perceptions of organizational culture in relation to racial health and health care disparities.
2015-17, U of M Office of the Vice President for Research
Title: "From 0 to 100: Building Strong Positive Organizational Climates for Health Equity"
Purpose: Use qualitative methods to identify the domains of health equity climate, by contrasting a local safety net health system—which has recently decided to elevate health equity—to health systems which are considered “best in class.”
2015-16, U of M Serendipity Grant
Title: "Come Step in It: Real Talk about Race"
Purpose: Use participatory action research to develop an intervention to promote effective dialogues about race in health care.
Co-Investigator
2015-20, NHLBI
Title: "The Impact of Residency Factors on Racial, Size, and LGBT Bias in Physician Trainees"
Purpose: This study is part of a program of research intended to evaluate and improve the degree to which physician training promotes physicians’ ability to provide equally high quality and patient-centered care to all patients regardless of their race or ethnicity, size, or sexual orientation.
2013-17, VA Health Services Research & Development
Title: "Motivating Providers to Reduce Disparities in Their Own Practice"
Purpose: Develop and test communication strategies to motivate VA providers to prevent racial health care disparities.
Contact
Address
Rm 155717 Delaware Street SE, MMC 381
Minneapolis, MN 55414-2959


Bio
Christine Danner, PhD, has worked in the department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Minnesota since 1998, when she began as the department’s first full-time post-doctoral fellow in behavioral health. She has served as the Director of Behavioral Health for the Woodwinds (formerly St. Joseph’s) Family Medicine Residency Program since completing her fellowship in 2000. In 2022, Dr. Danner's role expanded when she became the Director of Behavioral Health for the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. Dr. Danner’s current clinical interests include providing integrated behavioral health services across the lifespan in the primary care setting, refugee mental health, addressing equity gaps in the mental health care system, healthy lifestyle promotion and chronic pain management.
Research Summary
Refugee physical and mental health, chronic pain management, medical cannabis, patient centered communication training, integrated behavioral health
Clinical Summary
Integrated Behavioral Health, Chronic Pain Management, Medical Cannabis, Pediatric Obesity Prevention, Refugee Mental Health
Contact
Address
M Health Fairview Clinic - Bethesda580 Rice St.
Saint Paul, MN, 55103


Bio
Jay Dirks, MD, joined the University of Minnesota Medical Center Family Medicine Residency faculty in 2014 and is now faculty at Methodist Hospital Family Medicine Residency. Previously, he practiced full spectrum family medicine in the western suburbs of Minneapolis. His medical interests include office-based procedures including POCUS, pediatric care, non-traditional visits (e-visits, telephone visits), and quality improvement. He also enjoys working with medical students through the University of Minnesota Rural Physician Associate Program (RPAP).
Research Summary
Improving Vaccination Rates in Adolescent Somali Refugees
Teaching Summary
Courses: University of MN Department of Family Medicine Leadership and Finance Course presenter University of MN Department of Family Medicine Resident POCUS Course presenter
Clinical Summary
Quality improvement, office procedures, pediatrics including improvement in vaccination rates, and teaching medical students and residents.
Grants and Patents
Selected Grants
Contact
Address
Park Nicollet Clinic St. Louis Park Creekside6600 Excelsior Blvd #160
St Louis Park, MN 55426


Bio
Anne Doering, MD, joined the University of Minnesota North Memorial Family Medicine Residency faculty in 2020. She practices and teaches full-spectrum family medicine at North Memorial Medical Center and Broadway Family Medicine clinic. Dr. Doering has particular interests in obstetric and perinatal care, promoting physician engagement in advocacy and policy, patient-centered communication, community health, and reproductive justice.
Contact
Address
Broadway Family Medicine Clinic2426 Broadway Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55413


Bio
Dr. Dukinfield enjoys working in a practice that is focused on taking optimal care of all patients and utilizes a strong, team-based approach to provide the most comprehensive, appropriate and evidence-based care to a diverse population. His family medicine training allows him to take care of individuals from birth through end of life, with a special emphasis on family dynamics as well. He enjoys taking care of people in all stages of life, from newborns, children and adolescents to adults of middle and old age.
Clinical Summary
Medical interests include preventive medicine, pediatrics, end-of-life care, and diabetes.
Contact
Address
Park Nicollet Clinic St. Louis Park Creekside6600 Excelsior Blvd #160
St Louis Park, MN 55426


Bio
Dr. Dwivedi is University of Minnesota faculty in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, chief clinical officer at the Community University Health Care Center, and vice chair for community engagement and advocacy. She is also the Mac Baird Endowed Chair in Advocacy and Community Engagement. She received her medical training at Dr Vaishampayan Memorial Government Medical College in India. She graduated from and was chief resident at the UMN Medical Center Family Medicine Residency program. Dr. Dwivedi is involved with several leadership and quality committees all across Minnesota and serves as director at large within the executive committee of Minnesota AFP. She is an educator and likes to create new models of teaching and culturally competent care deliveries. Her special interest in education includes global health and culturally sensitive care. She is also invested in improving health disparities and mentoring medical students and residents.
Research Summary
Addiction, preventable chronic diseases, trauma healing and body experiences, patient centered care, and educational models.
Clinical Summary
Primary care, office based procedures, suboxone, integrative medicine, reproductive health
Education
Fellowships, Residencies, and Visiting Engagements
Licensures and Certifications
Honors and Recognition
Media Appearances
Professional Memberships
Languages
Selected Publications
Contact
Address
Community-University Health Care Center2001 Bloomington Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55404