Patient Safety Research Program Announces New Fellow

Dr. Jerard Kneifati-Hayek joins the Patient Safety Research Program

September 21, 2018

Jerard Z. Kneifati-Hayek, MD

The Division of General Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) launched a new fellowship in July 2018. The Patient Safety Research Fellowship trains clinician-researchers in innovative, interdisciplinary, systems-based approaches for improving the safety, quality, and effectiveness of care. Our new NIH/AHRQ-funded, two-year fellowship is unique in its focus on patient safety in the inpatient setting, designed to provide clinician-researchers with the foundation and skills to become independent investigators in patient safety and health services research. Throughout the fellowship, fellows will be supported through protected time for research and training, and through mentorship as they become immersed in the patient safety research team and the vast research resources available at Columbia University, including the Mailman School of Public Health and the Irving Center for Clinical and Translational Research (CTSA), as well as its affiliation with NewYork-Presbyterian.

Fellows will work with accomplished Columbia Faculty Mentors whose research interests match theirs and who have a proven track record of grant funding, interdisciplinary research collaboration, publication, and mentorship. Our diverse group of Faculty Mentors represent a broad range of disciplines including General Medicine, Pediatrics, Behavioral Cardiology, Infectious Diseases, Psychiatry, Neurosurgery, Pathology, Biomedical Informatics, Nursing, Epidemiology, and Health Policy. Faculty Mentors have expertise and active grant support in research focus areas including medical errors, medication safety, healthcare-associated infections, health informatics, quality measurement and outcomes, healthcare costs and cost-effectiveness, chronic disease epidemiology, and health equity.

To provide fellows with the foundation and skills to carry out patient safety and health services research, this postdoctoral research program consists of five components: 1) Formal Research Education, 2) Mentored Research Projects and Dissemination, 3) Bi-Weekly Research Seminars, 4) Patient Safety Immersion, and 5) Grant Proposal Development. Fellows will earn both a Master’s degree from the Mailman School of Public Health and the Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) credential, complementing research methods with principles and practice of patient safety. Additionally, fellows will attend and present at a scientific conference, co-author and submit a manuscript, and develop and submit a grant proposal.

Our aim is that fellows will embark on careers as patient safety researchers who take on real-world problems, and design and test solutions in real-world settings, that can be scaled and widely applied across healthcare systems.

Dr. Jerard Kneifati-Hayek has said research has always been a passion of his. This fellowship has been perfect for him because it gives him protected time for research while simultaneously letting him attend House Staff as a clinician. The fellowship gives him a great opportunity to work with prestigious Columbia faculty and getting to attend topline institution Mailman School of Public Health.

“This is a very unique opportunity that allows me to start my career as a clinician investigator,” Dr. Kneifati-Hayek remarked. “Also getting to come into a great group that we have here, during a time where our work on wrong patient errors is taking off and being funded by big NIH grants is great. It is very vital to the institution while also addressing issues that are occur nationwide.”

References

To inquire about the program, contact the Program Administrator Chelsea Redman at ctr2120@cumc.columbia.edu.

If you would like to apply, please complete the online application. You will be asked to submit 1) your CV, 2) three letters of recommendation, and 3) a 500-word personal statement describing your research interests, career goals, and why you have chosen to pursue research training via the Patient Safety Research Fellowship.