Dr. Jen’nan Ghazal Read was awarded 1st place in a research grant competition at the Hamad Medical Corporation during a special ceremony this past Thursday in Doha, Qatar. The project is entitled “Social and Cultural Determinants of Emergency Department Use,” and the $100,000 award was given in the Senior Investigator Award category, the highest in the competition. Research proposals went through an external peer review process and narrowed down to 20 finalists. The finalists were invited to present their proposals to a 12-member selection committee, who scored the proposals based on scientific merit and the potential for high impact. She is the Lead Principal Investigator, along with co-PIs Dr. Peter Cameron (Chairman of Emergency Medicine) and Dr. Salem AboSaleh (Director of Emergency Department Statistics).
The project aims to identify factors that lead to the misuse of ED services for non-urgent conditions among different population subgroups in Qatar (e.g., nationals, high-skilled expatriate workers, low-skilled laborers). Findings from the study will improve ED efficiency and quality of patient care by informing policymakers and hospital administrators on appropriate interventions for specific subpopulations. The project will also provide pilot data for a larger grant proposal that Dr. Read has under review at the Qatar National Research Foundation. Those awards will be announced in May.
Dr. Read is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Global Health at Duke University and is currently on leave serving as the Assistant Executive Director for Health Services Research at the Hamad Medical Corporation.
Department of Sociology