INDIANAPOLIS — On April 5, winners of the 2013 Research Frontiers Trailblazer Awards were honored at IUPUI Research Day for research on public health informatics, 18th-century British history, and the development and evaluation of innovative programs to assist adults with severe mental illnesses.
Associate professor of family medicine Dr. Shaun Grannis, associate professor of British history Jason Kelly and associate professor of psychology Michelle Salyers each received a $1,000 cash prize to support their research. Established in 2010, the Research Frontiers Trailblazer Award recognizes IUPUI faculty who are showing great promise in advancing knowledge in their fields.
Grannis is internationally recognized as the leading expert in public health informatics, health information exchange and patient identification. His research on real-world health care systems seeks to identify the underlying specifications and methods that make larger-scale clinical outcomes research possible.
Among many other accomplishments, Grannis’ research on public health informatics led to one of the nation’s first effective and sustainable statewide, real-time public health surveillance systems. His research has been described as substantial, novel and well-recognized by the health data standards, health information exchange and public health informatics communities.
Last year, his research contributions were recognized by his election as a fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics, the central body for scholars and practitioners committed to advancing the field. It is one of the highest career distinctions in biomedical informatics and a rare honor at such an early career stage.
Kelly is recognized for his research on 18th-century British history and service to the field of arts and humanities. Because of his early accomplishments in research and service, he was selected in 2012 as the inaugural director of the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute. The organization supports campus-wide attainment of excellence in research and creative activity in arts and humanities; and showcases and promotes the major intellectual and scholarly contributions that IUPUI faculty members are making in the arts and humanities.
Kelly is also world-renowned for his transdisciplinary work in supporting the development and growth of open-access research networks in the digital humanities, an emerging intellectual movement that is pushing the boundaries of research through the integration of technology.
Salyers has been advancing research in the development and evaluation of innovative programs to assist adults with severe mental illnesses. Her research has pioneered tools, such as the CommonGround support tool, that help clients with severe mental illnesses and their treatment providers engage in shared decision-making about treatments.
Her research includes work on issues for mental health providers, such as high-impact interventions to combat professional burnout. Her efforts in this area show enormous potential for mental health providers in Veterans Affairs and other settings that include special education and cancer treatment. Salyers is co-director of the ACT Center of Indiana, an IUPUI Signature Center that provides training and research on evidence-based mental health practices to support recovery in adults with severe mental illnesses.
Sponsored by the IUPUI Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Research Day is an annual celebration of the cutting-edge, multifaceted and creative activities of IUPUI. The event provides an opportunity for IUPUI faculty, staff and students; their academic, industrial and governmental partners; and the broader community to come together and learn more about the research enterprise at IUPUI, to explore new collaborations and to lay the foundation for new partnerships.