Roy awarded scholarship to attend AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting

Sharmily Roy, MPH, PhD candidate in the Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, was recently awarded a scholarship to attend the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting (ARM).

The research meeting brings together a wide variety of health services researchers from the medical and public health fields from across the country. Those who attend the conference conduct research to address the current and future needs of an evolving health system, inform health policy and practice, and translate evidence into action.

The researchers answer questions on how the U.S. health care system can improve the experience of care and improve the health of populations while reducing the costs of health care. To be considered for the program, Roy obtained a letter of recommendation from Jane Hamilton, PhD, MPH, LCSW-S, associate professor in the Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and went through a competitive application process.

Roy has been working as a doctoral research assistant with Hamilton for two years. Her role is to conduct research and program evaluations for the different programs Hamilton and her research center team perform. Additionally, Roy is conducting claims data research in children’s mental health for her dissertation research.

As part of the scholarship, Roy was awarded a AcademyHealth membership and linked with a midcareer scholar from AcademyHealth to provide her with mentorship and guidance as she continues her progress toward becoming an independent researcher and pursuing a career in academia.

Roy believes by attending this conference and being a part of AcademyHealth, she has been given the tools necessary to continue her journey in the health services research field.

“I was excited to get the scholarship,” Roy said. “I saw last year’s scholarship recipient cohort and thought it would be a good network of peer scholars to join. Having access to researchers and different experts in the field is exciting and something I did not have before.”