The impact of medical homes

Allyson Hall

Allyson G. Hall, Ph.D., an associate professor in the College of Public Health and Health Professions’ department of health services research, management and policy, has received a $250,000 grant from the Aetna Foundation to support a two-year study of the relationship between primary care medical homes, patient engagement and care outcomes. In a medical home model, primary care providers coordinate a patient’s care throughout the entire health care system and provide patient-centered care, Hall said. “While there is some emerging evidence of the effectiveness of medical homes, their actual impact on patient health and health care remains relatively unexplored,” Hall said. The study will involve patients with diabetes who are seen at primary care clinics in Jacksonville.

James Flanegan

A safer polio vaccine

Biomedical researcher James B. Flanegan, Ph.D., has received a $100,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for his proposal to develop a safer polio vaccine that can be used in parts of the world where polio is a threat, as well as in countries such as the United States, where polio has been eradicated. Flanegan, a professor and the chairman of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at the UF College of Medicine, was named a Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Explorations winner. Flanegan’s strategy to accelerate the end of polio and sustain eradication involves developing a poliovirus vaccine composed of virus capsids — the protein shell of the virus — that look like the virus, but are not infectious.