Patrick Barlow, PhD

Associate Director for Program Evaluation

Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine - General Internal Medicine

Personal Statement

I am a course director and program evaluation consultant for the Office of Consultation & Research in Medical Education (OCRME) and their Masters of Medical Education degree program as well as an assistant professor in General Internal Medicine. I direct the program evaluation team at the University of Iowa Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS), and I also lead the evaluation for a NIOSH/CDC-funded U19 healthier workforce center for excellence.

I’ve been involved with nearly two dozen different evaluation projects as either the PI or co-PI, and gave numerous oral presentations on evaluation methodology and practice at national meetings. I have also taken a key role coordinating the evaluation activities for the UI Carver College of Medicine (CCOM) curriculum renewal efforts, which has involved developing unique software applications to facilitate easier data management, developing and disseminating new data collection instruments and processes, and working with college administration to standardize data collection best practices. This work has also included working with CCOM informatics and IT services to develop an Educational Data Warehouse for the college using a similar framework as the Enterprise Data Warehouse developed at the ICTS.

Working on the program evaluation team at the ICTS is a natural continuation of my ongoing commitment to working towards stronger evaluation practice across the CTSA Consortium. I have served as a member of the national CTSA Evaluator’s Group since its inception, and I have been an active participant in their Common Metrics (CM) Initiative as a developer and early adopter.

I co-authored the Workforce Development CM in 2015-16, and I was selected along with Kristi Holmes (Northwestern University) as one of the two evaluators to develop the Informatics CM in the spring of 2017. Throughout these experiences I have continuously demonstrated the ability to manage, design, and improve both small and large-scale programs, which are vital skillsets to successfully evaluating a complex program and its associated components.

Education

Psychology BA - Saint John’s University 2010
English BA - Saint John’s University 2010
Educational Psychology and Research Evaluation, Statistics and Measurement Program PhD - The University of Tennessee 2014
Department of Surgery, Grant Management and Evaluation Postdoctoral Research Associate - The University of Wisconsin, Madison - 2014

Positions

Student Research Scholar, St. John’s University, Collegeville, MN (2008 - 2010)
Graduate Assistant, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (2010 - 2014)
Statistical and Research Design Consultant, The University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, Knoxville, TN (2010 - 2014)
Postdoctoral Research Associate, The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI (2014)
Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA (2014 - Present)
Associate Director for Program Evaluation, Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, Iowa City, IA, (2015 - Present)

Professional Memberships

Member, American Evaluation Association (AEA), Graduate Student and New Evaluator Topical Interest Group (GSNE TIG), Higher Education Assessment TIG, & Translational Science Evaluation TIG (2011 - Present)
Member, The Association for Clinical & Translational Science (2016 - Present)
Member, CTSA Common Metrics Initiative Informatics Working Group, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health (2017 - Present)
Co-Chair, Program Evaluation Special Interest Group (SIG), The Association for Clinical & Translational Science. (2016 - Present)
Member, Institutional Readiness for Team Science Working Group, Methods and Processes Domain Task Force, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health (2016 - Present)
Member, CTSA Common Metrics Initiative Workforce Development Working Group, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health (2015 - Present)
Member, CTSA Program Evaluator’s Group, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health (2015 - Present)
Program Chair, American Evaluation Association Graduate Student and New Evaluator Topical Interest Group (2011 - 2013)
Member, LCME Dashboard Project Working Group, Carver College of Medicine (2016 - Present)
Member. Assessment and Outcomes Work Group, Carver College of Medicine (2015 - Present)
Member, Admissions Committee for the Masters of Medical Education (MME) Program, Carver College of Medicine (2014 - Present)
Member, The Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS) Management Committee (2015 - Present)
Member (ex officio), Medical Arts and Sciences (MASC) Committee (2014 - Present)
Member, LCME Accreditation Standard 8 Committee, Carver College of Medicine (2016 - Present)
Member, CultureVisionTM Steering Committee, Carver College of Medicine (2015 - Present)

Contribution to Science

Program Evaluation

As an active member of the American Evaluation Association (AEA), I have routinely submitted presentations that focus on integrating program evaluation skillsets and methods into the health science research area. Similarly, I have worked with health science researchers to design, advise, and execute program evaluation plans for both small-scale programs, and large-scale, federally-funded grant projects from agencies that include the Department of Defense, National Institute of Health, and the Health Resources and Services Administration. I am also intensely involved in the national conversation that drives evaluation in the CTSA Consortium where I have serve on the CTSA Evaluator’s Group, the Common Metrics Initiative Workforce Development and Informatics Working Groups, and the Institutional Readiness for Team Science Working Group.

Swander, L.C., Barlow, P.B., & Manuel, K. Promoting Team Science Across a CTSA Hub Institution: Content Analysis of Team Science Pilot Grant Program Applications (oral presentation). American Evaluation Association (AEA), Atlanta, GA.
Barlow, P.B., & Harlan, J.M. Uniting Evaluators in Health Professions Education: Creating a New Topical Interest Group (oral presentation). American Evaluation Association (AEA), Atlanta, GA.
Smith TL, Barlow PB, Peters JM, Skolits GJ. Demystifying reflective practice: Using the DATA model to enhance evaluators' professional activities, Evaluation and program planning. 2015 October 1;52:142-7. PMID:26051793. doi: 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2015.04.004. PMCID N/A
Barlow, P.B., Zabner, J., Robinson, G.F.W.B., Knudson, B.R., Rosenthal, G., & Stewart, G. Using a Pilot Grant Program and Teamwork Training to Improve the Knowledge and Skills of Science Teams (poster presentation). Science of Team Science (SciTS) 2016 Conference, Phoenix, AZ. May, 2016

Medical Education and Assessment

In addition to the consultation and collaboration activities mentioned above, I continue to investigate methods for teaching and assessing the ways in which statistical and research concepts are taught in medical education. This area of research has produced several national conference presentations as well as two manuscripts (one under review), and was the focus of my doctoral dissertation study. My most recent work has looked to leverage the power of Item Response Theory (IRT) as a framework for creating a rigorous, reliably, and adaptive assessment tool for medical residents to review interpreting statistics and clinical epidemiologic concepts in the medical literature.

Barlow PB, Thoma K, Ferguson K. Comparing measures of central tendency used to summarize family medicine resident milestone evaluations, Journal of Graduate Medical Education. (in press)
Barlow, PB, Smith, T.L., & Skolits, G. (2013). Five strategies for effective assessment in graduate medical education. World Medical & Health Policy, 6 (1) p. 51-62. PMCID N/A
Farland MZ, Franks AS, Barlow PB, Rowe SA, Chisolm-Burns M. Assessment of student study patterns, performance, and long-term knowledge retention following use of didactic lecture compared to team-based learning, Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2015 March;7(3). doi: 10.1016/j.cptl.2014.12.009. PMCID N/A
Berger A, Giacalone J, Barlow PB, Kapadia M, Keith JN. Choosing surgery as a career: Early results of a longitudinal study of medical students. Surgery, 2017; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.surg.2017.12.016. PMID: 28161006 PMCID N/A

Statistical and Research Consultation

One of my key areas of contribution to science has been in my work facilitating the success of other research projects by using my expertise in research methods and statistical design. As a statistics and research design consultant for the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine (Knoxville, TN), I participated in over 300 consultations with over 100 different resident, fellow, and faculty clinical research studies. While the emphasis of each project was different, my role in designing, analyzing, interpreting, and writing the results of statistical analysis contributed to manuscripts and national presentations in specialties ranging from clinical pharmacy education to critical care, and surgical simulation.

Jeffcoach DR, Gallegos JJ, Gandhi SS, Daley S, Barlow PB, Bollig R, Daley BJ. Massive transfusion in the elderly trauma patient: should it be done? J Surg Res. 2014 Feb;186(2):686. PMCID N/A
Bourgeois AC, Faulkner AR, Bradley YC, Pasciak A, Barlow PB, Gash JR, Reid, Jr WS. Improved Accuracy of Minimally Invasive Transpedicular Screw Placement in the Lumbar Spine with Three-dimensional Stereotactic Image Guidance: A Comparative Meta-analysis. J Spinal Disord Tech. 2014 August 1. PMID:25089676 PMCID N/A
Pierce GL, Harris SA, Seals DR, Casey DP, Barlow PB, Stauss HM. Estimated aortic stiffness is independently associated with cardiac baroreflex sensitivity in humans: role of ageing and habitual endurance exercise, J Hum Hypertens. 2016 September 1;30(9):513-20. PMID:26911535. PMCID: PMC4981524
Lee PH, Franks AS, Barlow PB, Farland MZ. Hospital readmission and emergency department use based on prescribing patterns in patients with severely uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus, Diabetes Technol Ther. 2014 March 1;16(3):150-5. PMID:24224752. doi: 10.1089/dia.2013.0168. PMCID N/A

Ongoing Research Support

1 U54 TR001356-01 Winokur (Center PI)

8/14/2015 – 7/31/2017

NIH/NCATS: The University of Iowa Clinical and Translational Science Award

This award aims to advance and support the clinical and translational research process at the University of Iowa. The ICTS is one of 62 hubs funded through the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program. The ICTS leverages educational, outreach, clinical science, and informatics resources in an effort to centrally support the advancement of the clinical and translational research enterprise both at the University of Iowa and across the national consortium.

Role: Associate Director for Program Evaluation

5 U19 OH008868 Rohlman (Center PI)

9/01/2016 – 8/31/2021

NIOSH/CDC: Healthier Workforce Center of the Midwest

The goal of this project is to support research and dissemination of best practices centering on improving total worker health. The center is a collaborative agreement with Washington University in St. Louis, and is comprised of three major components: (1) Outreach and education, (2) Pilot awards program, and (3) total worker health research projects.

Role: Director of Program Evaluation

Completed Research Support

5 D58 HP23233-03 Bergus (PI)

9/30/2011 – 9/29/2016

Health Resources & Services Administration: Expanding the Medical Home through Mental Health Collaboration

The goal of this project is to enhance the ability of Family Medicine residents to provide comprehensive care to patients at the interface of primary care and mental health interface. Another goal of the project is to enhance the quality of care and health outcomes of patients with severe, persistent mental illness comorbid with chronic medical conditions (e.g. heart failure, diabetes). In addition to resident educational interventions, the program implements dedicated Care Managers to provide personalize continuity of care to this at-risk population.

Role: Lead Program Evaluator

Contact Information