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Leadership Team
Leadership Team
Patients First is led by an experienced team of U-M faculty and staff dedicated to patient-centered research.
Sarah Hawley, PhD, MPH - Director
Dr. Hawley is a Professor of Medicine and Public Health. She holds several appointments across the University including Co-Director of the Center for Health Communications Research (CHCR); Co-Leader of the Cancer Control and Population Sciences and Associate Director of Training, Education, and Career Development within Rogel Cancer Center; and Faculty Lead for Education and Training within the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI). She is also a long-standing research investigator within the Ann Arbor VA Center for Clinical Management Research (CCMR) where she is Co-Lead for the Inclusion, Diversity, Development, Equity, and Anti-Racism core.
Dr. Hawley’s research focuses on understanding and improving patient-centered cancer care delivery across the continuum and includes both observational and interventional work. This work involves a specific focus on improving patient-clinician communication and shared decision making. Dr. Hawley is also actively involved in several career development initiatives: in her leadership roles, as mentor to several early and mid-career faculty (she received the 2020 MICHR Mentor Award), and through her external activities such as service on NIH study sections.
Megan Haymart, MD - Co-Director
Dr. Haymart is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology, and Diabetes (MEND). She is the U-M Director of Thyroid Cancer Research, Director of the Endocrine Oncology Health Outcomes Research Core and Assistant Director of the Data Analytics and Information Technology workgroup for U-M Precision Health. She is also the Nancy Wigginton Research Professor in Thyroid Cancer.
Her research is inspired by her patients as she focuses on cancer care delivery and on improving the quality of cancer care. This includes research on cancer diagnosis, prognosis, management, decision-making, provider-patient communication, and survivorship. She is committed to promoting trainee growth and development; she serves as a mentor to several trainees as well as early and mid-career faculty. Reflective of this commitment, she received the 2021 MICHR Distinguished Mentor Award.
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
An interdisciplinary Steering Committee oversees the Initiative and provides additional input and resources for researchers seeking advice from Patients First.
Lesly Dossett, MD, MPH | Associate Professor, Surgery
Clinical focus: Breast cancer, skin cancers, sarcoma, and complex GI malignancies.
Research focus: The physician-to-physician interface in the delivery of complex care, PCP and cancer specialist interaction, and how physicians provide constructive QI feedback to other physicians.
Specific expertise: Design and conduct of de-implementation clinical trials.
Funding sources: AHRQ, NCI, American Cancer Society
Jeffrey Kullgren, MD, MPH, MS | Associate Professor, General Medicine
Clinical focus: Primary care
Research focus: Improving patient decisions about preventive behaviors and the utilization of healthcare services; identifying effective and scalable approaches to promote modification of behavioral risk factors among patients at high risk for developing chronic diseases.
Specific expertise: Intervention research and randomized controlled trials
Funding sources: NIDDK, VA, NIDA, CMS, foundation and private funding
Donovan Maust, MD, MS | Associate Professor, Psychiatry
Clinical focus: Geriatric psychiatry
Research focus: Determinants and outcomes of potentially inappropriate psychotropic prescribing to older adults; factors that drive overuse of medical services by older adults with dementia
Specific expertise: Geriatric mental health research
Funding sources: NIA, VA, CMS, CDC, foundation and private funding
Lauren Wallner, PhD, MPH | Associate Professor, General Medicine and Epidemiology
Research focus: Identifying gaps in the delivery of high-quality cancer survivorship care; improving care coordination between oncologists and PCPs; designing, evaluating, and implementing interventions to improve cancer care.
Specific expertise: Implementation trial design and conduct
Funding sources: NCI, NIA, American Cancer Society, foundation and private funding
Patients First is based in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of General Medicine, at the University of Michigan. Funding for the Initiative has been provided by the University of Michigan Medical School Office of Research, the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, the Rogel Cancer Center, the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine, and the Department of Radiation Oncology.
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