Researching Rural & Behavioral Health
The Center for Health Outcomes and Population Research fosters a collaborative and supportive environment to build capacity and work toward improving the health of patients and communities using unique data-driven techniques in rural areas of the Midwest.
How We’re Funded
The NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences funds the Center for Health Outcomes and Population Research. The grant supports a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (CoBRE) to facilitate the development of rural health in South Dakota. (NIGMS CoBRE P20GM121341)
What We Research
The level of health disparities in our region, coupled with the remote nature of our rural communities, calls for the development of a community and population health research center with a focus on rural populations. The center has expertise in:
- Data science
- Substance use and addiction
- Community partnerships
- American Indian (AI) Health
- Mental Health
- Healthcare services delivery
- Behavioral science
How We Support the Scientific Community
The center supports and mentors junior investigators (project leaders) vested in issues specific to rural and AI health. This leads to greater stability, sustainability and growth of regional research infrastructure. The leadership team provides project leaders with an individualized mentorship plan to enhance their professional skills and further their research goals to become successful, independent investigators.
The center also supports three interdisciplinary cores:
These research support cores provide center affiliates and regional scientists with key expertise and access to the most current approaches.
Our Publications
To learn more about the research center, see the published research under its CoBRE grant.
Meet Our Team
Leadership
Jill Weimer, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Clarence Weis
Program Manager
Tyler Sang
Core Director of the Biostatistics Core
Tamara Winden
Core Director of the Data Exchange Core
Susan Hoover
Clinical Liaison
External Advisory Committee
Donald Nease Jr., M.D.
Professor, Family Medicine
University of Colorado, Denver
Andrew L. Sussman, PhD, MCRP
Associate Professor
Department of Family and Community Medicine
University of New Mexico
Sterling M. McPherson, PhD
Associate Professor and Assistant Dean for Research
Director of Biostatistics and Clinical Trial Design and the Program of Excellence in Addictions Research
Elson Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University
Elizabeth Calhoun, PhD, MEd
Professor, Public Health Policy and Management
Associate Director, Population Sciences Cancer Center
Executive Director, Center for Population Science and Discovery
Associate Vice President, Population Science and Discovery
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Project Leaders
Anna Strahm, PhD
Assistant Scientist in Behavioral Sciences at Sanford Research
Project: Maternal stress and blood sugar metabolization during pregnancy, and associations with adverse outcomes
Assistant Professor of Basic Biomedical Sciences at the University of South Dakota
Project: Midwestern changes in substance use and treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic
Santiago Lopez, MD
Associate Scientist at Sanford Research
Project: Outcomes during pediatric lower respiratory tract infections in American Indian children
Pilot Grants and Supplemental Awards
Arielle Deutsch, PhD
Leverage Points for Equitable Systemic Change to Reduce Alcohol Exposed Pregnancy
There is a great need for higher quality alcohol and substance exposed pregnancy (ASEP) reduction programs that account for the constellation of interpersonal, intrapersonal and community-level contributors. Such programs are particularly important for addressing ASEP-related health disparities within at-risk communities, such as American Indian women. This proposal utilizes community-based system dynamics simulated models to test and discern high-impact areas for intervention and best strategies for translating these findings into action-based systematic change.
Benson Hsu, MD, MBA
Influence of Behavioral Economics Techniques on Medical Decision Making
The study aims to examine behavioral economics within the construct of medical decisions by surveying medical decision makers. Specifically, we will test the hypothesis that altering choice architecture (how a decision is presented) through various economics techniques will increase positive(better outcome, lower cost) medical decision making.
Lauren Schaefer, PhD
Momentary Relationships between Stress and Weight Regulation Behaviors after Bariatric Surgery
Obesity has become a worldwide epidemic, with especially high prevalence in rural areas including North Dakota. While bariatric surgery is an effective treatment for severe obesity, the course of long-term weight loss is variable. Such evidence underscores the need to identify and target the processes that may impede weight loss and maintenance in daily life. Stress is a dynamic construct that may elevate risk for problematic eating and physical inactivity by reducing individuals’ ability to engage in effective self-regulation.
This study will use ambulatory assessment methods to examine a state based model of problematic energy balance behaviors (i.e., loss of control eating, physical inactivity) among postsurgical bariatric patients. This model posits that momentary increases in stress will lead to reduced inhibitory control; in turn, these states of disinhibition will increase the likelihood of engaging in behaviors that impede weight loss (i.e., increased loss of control eating, decreased physical activity, and increased sedentary behavior). Further, to examine these processes specifically in a population that is at higher risk for poor weight-related health outcomes, this study will recruit postsurgical bariatric patients from Sanford Health, which is the largest rural not-for-profit health care organization in the U.S., operating in some of the most remote/frontier regions of the U.S.
Murat Sincan, MD
Polygenic risk score phenome-wide association study to identify novel associations
This study aims to develop novel methods to systematically identify the pleiotropic effects of coronary heart disease (CHD) and Breast Cancer polygenic risk scores (PRS) on all other phenotypes in the linked electronic medical record (EMR). By doing so, it can also identify patients who may be at higher risk for developing undiagnosed CHD and/or breast cancer.
Sabha Ganai, MD, PhD, MPH
An Exploration of Rural-Urban Disparities in Colorectal Cancer Care in North Dakota and South Dakota
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second-leading cause of cancer mortality in the United States, despite being highly preventable, detectable, and treatable. Over the last decade, CRC incidence rates have decreased by 30% in the United States. North Dakota is in the lowest quartile for CRC screening and highest quartile for CRC incidence. While South Dakota has been faring better with screening, it has worse CRC outcomes with mortality, which may conversely be due to limited access to subspecialty care. We hypothesize that there are spatial/geographic and aspatial/socioeconomic disparities in access to care measures that impact CRC outcomes differently in these two rural Northern Plains states.
Using a conceptual framework for advancing disparities research within the health care system, our first aim will examine the implications of age of diagnosis and screening on cancer incidence in the Dakotas. Our second aim will focus on detecting and understanding geographic rural CRC disparities using multilevel modeling of spatial accessibility to colonoscopy and surgical services, accounting for travel barriers, provider capacity, population density, and socioeconomic factors. Our third aim will characterize the relative importance of spatial and aspatial barriers through analysis of questionnaires examining the attitudes, preferences, and beliefs of residents in hotspot (high CRC incidence) and non-hotspot counties in North Dakota and South Dakota. We foresee that these findings will allow us to better understand and address rural-urban differences in CRC mortality, allowing for future efforts to create interventions that can reduce these disparities.
Center Graduates
Events
Past Symposiums
Annual Health Care Delivery and Population Health Research Symposium
May 26, 2021
Transdisciplinary Approaches to American Indian and Rural Population
Nov. 7, 2019
Sanford Population Health & Data Collaborative Symposium
Oct. 11, 2018
Population Heath Research Summit “Finding Your Narrative”
April 17-18, 2018
Sanford Health News
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Get to know your kidneys and how to keep them healthy
Try this STEM activity about the science behind healthy choices for your kidneys -
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Sanford-Fairview merger would make family’s care full circle
Three Schmitke kids were born at Fairview. Then Mom and Dad got lifesaving care at Sanford.
Classes & Events
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Teen Science Café
Tue 02/07/23 5:30 PM - Tue 02/07/23 7:00 PM
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Rare Disease Day 2023
Tue 02/28/23 12:30 AM - Tue 02/28/23 11:30 PM