HOP Chair Delivers Keynote Address at UF Nursing College’s Leadership Conference

Betsy Shenkman, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Health Outcomes & Policy and director of UF’s Institute for Child Health Policy, delivered a keynote address at the College of Nursing’s 2016 Dorothy M. Smith Leadership Conference in February.

Shenkman’s speech, “OneFlorida: Building a Statewide Partnership for Patient-Centered Research,” touched on the importance of collaborating with other health partners and institutions to achieve common goals, influence health policy, and improve health outcomes among patients.

Shenkman serves on the executive committee of the OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium. This statewide infrastructure is one of 13 national clinical data research networks (CDRNs) funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The CDRNS support diverse research and work closely in collaboration with patients and clinicians to facilitate clinical research with the goal of improving health outcomes for patients across the country.  The OneFlorida CDRN is funded by a $7.9 million award from PCORI, and Shenkman serves as the lead co-principal investigator of the funding award, with Bill Hogan, M.D., M.S., director of biomedical informatics, as the co-principal investigator for biomedical informatics. OneFlorida’s consortium partners include the University of Florida and UF Health, Florida State University and the Regional Campus Practice Partners, the University of Miami and the University of Miami Health System, Orlando Health System, Florida Hospital, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, Bond Community Health Center, Inc., Miami Children’s Health System, WellFlorida Council, Health Choice Network, DuchenneConnect, and Phelan-McDermid Syndrome Data Network.

“I was honored to have been selected as a keynote speaker for the conference and to discuss one of the most important and remarkable health care collaborations in Florida today,” Shenkman said. “OneFlorida’s partners are united in their goals to streamline the research process, collaborate with others in the network and across the country, and improve patient health outcomes.”

Anna McDaniel, dean of the College of Nursing, said the theme of this year’s leadership conference was “The Power of Partnership,” which focused on the importance of developing inter-professional partnerships in health care. McDaniel said she immediately thought of Shenkman as a keynote for the conference “because her work has always depended on her ability to forge strong partnerships.

“We thought it would be incredibly meaningful for [Dr. Shenkman] to present her work in establishing OneFlorida, which is the true definition of partnership across universities and health systems,” McDaniel said.

In addition to serving as one of the conference’s keynote speakers, Dr. Shenkman was selected to receive the Dorothy M. Smith Nursing Leadership Award for Exemplary Efforts in Health Care Quality.

“Both her selection as a keynote speaker and an awardee was because of her strong leadership as a nationally renowned health outcomes researcher,” McDaniel said. “Indeed her presentation was thought-provoking, informative and inspiring.”