Russell E. Glasgow, Ph.D.
Research Professor, Family Medicine
Director, Dissemination and Implementation Science Program of ACCORDS
Research Reachout:
This is the latest installment of our regular series where we sit down with Department of Family Medicine (DFM) researchers to find out more about them and the impactful work in which they are involved.
This time around, we focus on Russ Glasgow. Those who work with him are the first to trumpet his accomplishments and his value to the DFM team.
Q & A:
Briefly tells us (for those who may not know) your history with DFM. How long have you been on the team? What brought you here?
I have been here since 2014. I came from a leadership position at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and was ready to return to a setting doing important, cutting edge research and that was well positioned and to some extent, already doing implementation science. I had previously had the good fortune to collaborate with several of the DFM faculty and staff in my former professional lives at Kaiser Colorado or AMC Cancer Research Center... and finally we moved back to Denver to be closer to our kids and .....at that time, a new grand-daughter.
Tell us a little bit about your latest research project involving lung cancer screening with rural primary care practices. What is it? What is important about it? What are you offering to rural primary care practices?
It is a challenging and complex project that brings together several different content areas (shared decision making; behavior change (smoking cessation) and cancer prevention and control activities... all in the context of rural primary care. we are working in partnership with multiple SNOCAP practices, especially the HPRN, as well as the AAFP National Research Network.
Our goal is to not only develop and validate successful approaches but also to provide guidance for other primary care settings on ways to successfully implement- and to adapt patient-centered programs to their local setting. We also hope to advance science by developing, evaluating and sharing pragmatic frameworks, methods and measures.
This is our first example of the type of pragmatic, transdisciplinary and stakeholder engaged work that we plan to do related to health services programs that can be broadly applicable, sustained, and that help to address health inequities.
Depending on outcomes from this particular project, you mentioned that this could serve as a model on a national scale and may help pave the way for addressing other important issues in primary care beyond lung cancer screenings. How so? What are some examples of other issues to address?
We are assessing and attempting to address several key barriers to the successful adoption, implementation and maintenance of evidence-based programs (using our RE-AIM Framework). Following ‘Proof Of Concept’ studies in Colorado PBRNS, our plan is to provide guidance for and to disseminate these products and associated resources nationwide though both the NRN and our network of national implementation science centers.
Other key issues we plan to address include primary prevention including smoking cessation, physical activity and healthy eating; HPV vaccinations and vaccine hesitancy; aging, cognitive function and cancer; multiple risk factors and multiple chronic conditions faced by primary care (as opposed to the more common one disease or one behavior or one issue at a time research studies).
What else is on your to-do list in terms of pushing family medicine/primary care research forward?
We are very excited about the potential for on-line, interactive and user-centered resources, as well as other tools and guides. we have developed and are frequently updating and enhancing several resources for researchers, evaluators, clinicians and community leaders. We have especially focused on supporting training in either the science- or the practice of- implementation and dissemination.