About the Bowen Research Center
History
The Bowen Research Center started as an
idea between Deborah Allen M.D. and Deborah Freund Ph.D. in 1992. The
center was originally developed as a joint collaboration between the
School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the School of Medicine. A
successful capital campaign endowed 2 professorships and provided funding
for beginning the infrastructure.
Dr. Freund, an internationally known
economist, served as the first Director of the Bowen Research Center until
1999. Dr. Robert Dittus served as the co-director of the Bowen Research
Center. Their joint research agenda included one of the original AHCPR
“PORT” grants totaling over 5 million dollars for total knee replacement.
Dr. Dittus left Indiana University School of Medicine in 1998 and now
serves as the Director of General Internal Medicine at Vanderbilt
University. Dr. Freund left Indiana University School of Public and
Environmental Affairs to become the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs at
Syracuse University. Dr. Allen accepted the Otis R. Bowen Professorship
and assumed the role of Director of the Bowen Research Center upon
completing 10 years as Chair of the Department of Family Medicine.
During the Bowen Research Centers’ first
ten years, the research projects included:
- design for clinical studies and
community evaluations
- design and testing of health care
interventions
- design and testing of behavioral
health interventions
- survey design and methods
- program evaluation
- community health surveillance
- cost analysis and strategic planning
Specific skills of the faculty and staff
include:
- primary health care delivery
- biostatistics
- epidemiology
- health economics
- database management and data analysis
In 2000, the Department of Family
Medicine received a three-year grant from the Health Resources and
Services Administration Bureau of Health Professions. The aim of the grant
was to develop a practice based research network. The mission of the
research network, Indiana Family Practice Research Network (INET), is to
use scientific research methodology to find answer for patient care
questions and address issues relevant to the practice of Family Medicine.
In 2003, the School of Public and
Environmental Affairs changed its strategic plans and opted out of the
original collaboration. Since then, the Bowen Research Center has served
as the research division of the Department of Family Medicine. The Bowen
Research Center currently encompasses faculty researchers from the DFM in
addition to external research associates and affiliates from other schools
within the University and health care provider organizations.
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