tree symbolizing growth and developmentDepartment of Medicine

Division of Preventive & Behavioral Medicine

Seminars, Workshops and Continuing Education

Division seminars, journal clubs and regional, state and national workshops and continuing education programs provide opportunities for students, residents, fellows, and fully credentialed providers to learn from faculty research and program development as well as from investigators working in other institutions.  These are offered in a number of areas including: prevention and health services; research in curriculum development; analytic epidemiology, biostatistics, behavioral medicine, health promotion and education; nutrition; prevention and treatment of chronic disease such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension and obesity; evidence-based cancer screening, quality management and evaluation; psychosocial factors in chronic disease prevention and management; and health service utilization.  Seminars, workshops and CME programs integrate didactic and experiential learning.

Preventive and Behavioral Medicine Division Research Seminar Series

The Division holds a monthly seminar series coordinated by Dr. Stephenie Lemon.  This series is a forum for faculty and staff in the division, institution and region to present their research.  The seminar is designed to allow collegial interaction around issues of research methods and interpretation and implication of results, with the goal of establishing next steps for research and translation into practice.  Seminars are held on the third or fourth Monday of each month at noon.

Continuing Education Programs

The Division provides continuing education programs as part of our Professional Development Programs as well as in the form of lectures and grand rounds offered at other institutions around the state and nationwide.  Continuing education programs also are offered as part of our clinical research activities, in which health care providers or research staff are trained in individual counseling and group intervention protocols developed to promote health behavior change.

Faculty Development Programs

Our faculty provide a number of lectures as part of the Faculty Development Program in the Office of Faculty Affairs (OFA) including:

  • Preparation of Research Budgets
  • Use of Publicly Available Data for Population Health Research
  • Effective Facilitation of Meetings
  • Writing and Developing a K-Award for Clinical Research
  • Getting the Most of Your Clinical Research K-Award
  • Developing and Maintaining Multi Disciplinary Teams

Faculty involved in providing these programs include: Drs. Stephenie Lemon, Sherry Pagoto, Lori Pbert, and Judith Ockene and Mr. Phil Merriam.

In addition, twice a year the Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine, as part of the OFA’s Faculty Development Program, offers a workshop on Grant Writing for Clinical Research to assist junior faculty in developing their skills in this area.  The workshop is part of the OFA Faculty Development and Mentoring Program.  It is focused on clinical research, although it is open to all faculty interested in developing or sharpening their grant writing skills.  The workshop provides an overview of the grant writing process, the review process, mechanisms and sources of funding, and sections typically included in grant proposals, including specific aims, background and significances, research methods, and human subjects.  Attendees develop their own potentially fundable proposal over the course of the program.  Division faculty involved in this course are:  Drs. Sybil Crawford and Judith Ockene.

A campus-wide monthly seminar series entitled “Current Topics in Epidemiology and Biostatistics” is offered by Dr. Janet Hardy as part of faculty development.

Mentoring

Division faculty are actively involved in the UMMS Faculty Mentoring Program in the OFA.  This program supports mentoring for professional and personal development in teaching, research, patient care and leadership.  It provides junior faculty support from experienced and successful faculty members in navigating the complex academic environment in an informal, confidential and non-evaluative manner.

Faculty in the Division who serve as mentors include: Drs. Sybil Crawford, Judith Ockene, Lori Pbert, and Milagros Rosal.