UAMS Doctoral Candidate’s Research Published by Pediatric Journal
| Melanie Boyd, a doctoral candidate at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health and Graduate School, recently served as the first author on one of her team’s research projects.
Boyd, who is in UAMS’ Health Systems and Services Research doctoral program, was the lead investigator for the study, “Association of Allergy Specialty Care and Asthma Outcomes for Medicaid-Enrolled Children,” published in The Journal of Pediatrics.
The study evaluated the effectiveness of allergy specialist care for children with asthma who are enrolled in the Arkansas Medicaid program.
“The study took place over the course of a year,” Boyd said. “This process was thorough. There’s a lot of thought that went into it. A lot of different skillsets came together for this research.
“I learned a lot doing the project. The project involved people in my field of health services research as well as clinicians. Overall, doing the research was very rewarding. I love the math, statistics and analytic aspects of research, and love using these skills to help advance public health.”
The project was a byproduct of Boyd participating in a research workgroup that focuses on allergy and asthma care for kids in the Arkansas Medicaid program. The study led by Boyd is one of several focused on the topic.
“I had the opportunity to write the first draft of this project as well as conduct the analysis itself,” Boyd said.
“Our research details the importance of getting the proper care to manage asthma conditions,” she said. “It’s important that a child dealing with asthma is seeing a provider who is following the most current, evidence-based guidelines to help the patient have the best health possible and to avoid going to the ER, or being hospitalized, due to asthma or its complications.”
The main finding of the study was that Medicaid-covered children with asthma who see an allergy specialist were less likely to have an asthma-related adverse event than those who did not see an allergy specialist. Ultimately, children who have regular access to a health care professional with in-depth knowledge of asthma, tend to fair better than youth who don’t have access to professionals with such expertise.
Overall, Boyd was appreciative of the opportunity to join the study team and have a study published.
“Writing and submitting manuscripts is a long, complicated process,” she said. “However, that one email, informing me that the study is being published, was all it took for me to realize that it was all worth it. I look forward to continuing to do public health research and publishing in the future.”