Brown, Owsley Earn Recognition from National Research Organization
| A national research institute recently recognized two University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health faculty members.
Clare Brown, Ph.D., MPH, and Kelsey Owsley, Ph.D., MPH — both assistant professors in the college’s Department of Health Policy and Management — received esteemed accolades from AcademyHealth, an organization that champions health services, research and health policy through the transfer of information across different research and policy arenas.
Brown received the Alice S. Hersh Emerging Leader Award.
AcademyHealth honored Brown due to the high quantity and quality of her work, along with the importance of her research and contributions to health policy.
“Some of the most well-known researchers in our field have received this award,” Brown said. “It is an honor to be listed alongside many researchers that I look up to. Getting this award is a great achievement that I’m proud of.”
Brown described the importance of receiving the award from AcademyHealth.
“AcademyHealth is the organization that I consider my home, as its principles align with my research,” she said. “AcademyHealth is the leading health services research organization in the U.S. It’s exciting that they’ve recognized not only one, but two UAMS faculty members for their annual awards.”
Owsley earned the AcademyHealth Outstanding Dissertation Award for her dissertation, “Hospital Profitability and Safety Net Engagement: An Assessment of the 340B Drug Discount Program and Not-for-profit Hospital Acquisitions.”
Owsley’s dissertation was celebrated for its relevance and methodological rigor.
“It’s an amazing feeling knowing that leaders in your field deem your work as rigorous, relevant and having the potential to make a meaningful impact,” she said. “It motivates me to continue to work where I can better understand the ways our health care system can make advancements and better serve vulnerable patient populations.”
The exposure that accompanies the honor excites Owsley. She’s optimistic that it will increase the likelihood of her research leading to policy changes. Owsley also referenced how past recipients of the award have become nationally-recognized experts in health policy and health services research.
Owsley credits her mentors for the dissertation prize. That’s one of the reasons why she’s adamant about being a source of information and guidance for her students and colleagues as well.
“When learning that I received the award, I thought about how lucky I was to have several mentors who have given me enormous amounts of their time and support to prepare me to produce high-quality research,” she said.
Brown echoed Owsley’s praise of her mentors and highlighted the opportunities that she has been given at UAMS.
“I was so excited to hear that I received the Emerging Leader award, but when I heard that Dr. Owsley had won the dissertation award, I knew that our department chair, Dr. Tilford, would be ecstatic. As someone who trained here at UAMS for both my MPH and Ph.D., I certainly wouldn’t have been able to obtain this award without support from the department and from the college throughout all of my research efforts. I’m hopeful that our awards speaks to the quality of our faculty as well as our training programs here in the college.”