CIPC Blog

UMass Chan Medical School Professor Christine Runyan, Ph.D. is joining the CIPC faculty to work on a new online course. The Center has been working with partners at Arizona State University to develop Integrated Primary Care workforce training for a large PCORI funded research project.  The e-learning courses developed by CIPC and ASU will be used as one of the prime interventions in the research with primary care practices across the country. 

Dr. Runyan will be focusing on expanding content for Primary Care Practitioners (PCPs).  She is the lead behavioral health practitioner at the Hahnemann Family Health Center, and also serves as the Director of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health’s fellowship in Clinical Health Psychology.  This two-year, post-doctoral fellowship adheres to a practitioner-scholar model and is designed to prepare clinical and counseling psychologists to become leaders and advocates for integrated, collaborative healthcare. The fellows work side by side with family medicine fellows, teaching residents about patient communications and improving provider/patient interactions.  Dr. Runyan is also the director of behavioral science for the Worcester Family Medicine residency, teaching communication skills and behavioral health assessment and intervention to residents

Many people throughout the UMass Chan Medical School campus know Tina Runyan as an articulate proponent of wellness for practitioners as an antidote to burnout.  Her helpful mindfulness prompts for fellows and notes on wellness for Department faculty and staff highlight her concern and commitment.

The new PCP course will provide physicians, NPs, PAs targeted content to help practitioners understand the benefits of integration and to provide strategies to deal with behavioral health issues that arise in their primary care patient populations.