Family Medicine and Community Health Divisions

The mission and vision of the Family Medicine and Community Health Research Division is to develop and sustain a vital and productive research environment that fosters collaborative, trans-disciplinary approaches to promote person centered health by improving quality of care and addressing health-related disparities. Our team of community-engaged, primary care researchers are working with vulnerable populations at the intersections of community health, primary care and specialty care. Input from patients, clinicians and the community is at the heart of our work. There are eight core faculty members in the Research Division with well-developed primary care research portfolios focused on patient centered care and outcomes and understanding barriers and facilitators to dissemination and implementation of evidence based primary care interventions. 

Research division faculty have chronic disease expertise in behavioral health (Hudson, O'Malley), cancer (Hudson, Crabtree, Ferrante, O'Malley, King Jensen, Hemler), obesity (Ferrante), diabetes (Crabtree, Ferrante, Hudson), and content foci in health equity, aging (Jiang, Luth), substance use (Miles, O'Malley), housing and income instability, homelessness (Treglia). Affiliated faculty members have expertise in women’s health (Amico, Chen), intimate partner violence (Chen), health literacy and developmental disabilities (Jimenez) and community health (Jimenez, Pellerano).

Our Department of Family Medicine and Community Health’s Research Division has been consistently among the top Family Medicine Departments in the country in NIH funding by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research. Division research efforts have received major funding through federal and foundation sources, including the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institute on Aging (NIA), Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). This funding provides support for a well-established, ongoing line of dissemination and implementation science research that uses mixed methods to examine strategies to enhance quality of care in primary care practices. 

Shawna V. Hudson, PhD, FSBM
Professor, Vice Chair of Research and Henry Rutgers Chair of Family Medicine and Community Health
Senior Associate Dean for Population Health Research
Director, RWJMS Center Advancing Research and Evaluation for Person-Centered Care (CARE-PC)

Vice Chancellor for Dissemination and Implementation Science, Rutgers Health
Associate Director, NJ Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science (NJ ACTS)

There are eight core faculty members in the Research Division with well-developed primary care research portfolios focused on patient centered care and outcomes and understanding barriers and facilitators to dissemination and implementation of evidence based primary care interventions.

View Our Faculty Listing

The Department of Family Medicine and Community Health has a diverse portfolio of research that focuses on enhancing the quality of care delivered in primary care settings. This portfolio highlights the disciplinary diversity of our research faculty while at the same time underscores the close collaborations and sharing among investigators. Health equity is a strong focus of our faculty intervention research that spans the lifespan – from enhancing pediatric literacy in primary care settings, to building and testing interventions for elder and hospice care patients and their care givers.

Our Division is on the forefront developing and adopting innovative research methods to meet the challenges of studying the unique features of primary care. As well, Division faculty are closely associated with the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey investigating strategies to enhance cancer prevention and early detection, and quality of care for cancer survivors. Behavioral health integration within primary care is a focus. Our team also looks at implementation of health information technology (HIT) and organizational change strategies for successful transformation of practice. 

View Our Active Grants   View Our List of Publications

Marsha Gordon, MPH
Director of Administration, Research Division
303 George Street, Suite 301
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Phone: 848-932-0212
marsha.gordon@rutgers.edu

Toya Simmons, MPH, CHES
Project Manager, Primary Care First
317 George Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Phone: 732-235-7362
Fax:  732-235-7380
toya.simmons@rutgers.edu

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Matrix Plaza One, 303 George Street, Suite 301
New Brunswick, NJ 08901