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Under Secretary's Award in Health Services Research

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Elizabeth Martin Yano, Ph.D., M.S.P.H

Elizabeth Martin Yano, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., is the recipient of the 2012 Under Secretary's Award.


2012 USH Flash video award presentation
View the Flash video award presentation.

Elizabeth Martin Yano, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., is the recipient of the 2012 Under Secretary's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research—the highest honor for a VA health services researcher. Dr. Yano is co-Director of HSR&D's Center for the Study of Healthcare Provider Behavior in Sepulveda, CA, and has been a part of the Center since its inception. She also has been part of the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System for more than 20 years. Dr. Yano has met the major criteria for this award by: improving our understanding of factors that affect the health of Veterans and improving the quality of their care, contributing to the future of VA health services research by inspiring and training the next generation of investigators, and enhancing the visibility of VA research through national recognition within the research community.

Dr. Yano earned her M.S.P.H. and Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Since then, Dr. Yano has obtained funding for nearly 50 independent projects, with almost half of those projects devoted to improving the delivery of primary care for Veterans who receive VA healthcare. The focus of her research is organizational influences on quality and the implementation of evidence-based practice in healthcare organizations. For example, she is currently working to inform VA's efforts to implement and evaluate VA Patient-Aligned Care Teams (PACT), leading the evaluation of the VISN 22 VA PACT Demonstration Laboratory's approach to accelerating impacts of PACT innovations. She also is principal investigator for the National VA Women's Health Research Consortium and Practice-Based Research Network, which provides needed infrastructure for advancing VA research to evaluate and improve the organization, quality, and impacts of the delivery of VA healthcare services to meet women Veterans' needs. Moreover, Dr. Yano is a VA Research Career Scientist Awardee—a nationally competitive career award for conducting health services research, mentorship and service.

In addition to her primary role at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Dr. Yano also serves as Adjunct Professor of Health Services at the UCLA School of Public Health, where she has been an outstanding faculty member in the Executive MPH program. She also is a faculty mentor at the UCLA/VA Clinical Scholars Program, the UCLA National Research Service Award (NRSA) Primary Care Fellowship Program, the VA Health Services Research Fellowship Program, the VA Women's Health Fellowship Program, and the VA Associated Health Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. Dr. Yano also is an extraordinarily productive scholar. She is a prolific author, generating more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, and has made more than 300 academic presentations.

Dr. Yano is exactly the kind of researcher VA aims to foster—productive, dedicated to the VA and Veterans, innovative, and a major leader within the research and clinical communities. Her career has seamlessly integrated scientific research of the highest caliber with boots-on-the-ground, substantive contributions to VA clinical operations. It is with great pride and pleasure that VA presents Dr. Elizabeth Yano with the prestigious Under Secretary's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research.

Video Presentation


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