Scientific Interest(s):
Dr. Pamela Davidson's major research areas are community determinants of medical care access and leadership development for health care professionals. Currently, Davidson is directing two national evaluation studies. She is principal evaluator on the Leadership Excellence Networks (LENS) Demonstration Project, sponsored by the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL). This evaluation is assessing the outcomes of a comprehensive leadership development system on improving leadership and management competencies, team effectiveness and scorecard performance of health care provider systems.
Additionally, Davidson is co-investigator and project director for the RWJF/TCE national evaluation team, assessing the impact of the Dental Pipeline, Profession & Practice Program. The Pipeline Program aims to: increase recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority and low-income (URM/LI) students, revise didactic and clinical curricula to support community practice and establish community based clinical education programs. Davidson leads the internal evaluation team at NexCare Collaborative/First 5 LA Connect, a call center providing information and referral services to increase access for families and caregivers of children ages 0-5 in Los Angeles County. As principal investigator, she is conducting a cancer health services research project examining the community and individual determinants of breast cancer stage at diagnosis, a critical indicator of access.
Selected Cancer-Related Publications:
Davidson, PL, Carreon, DC, Baumeister, S, Nakazono, TT, Gutierrez, JA, Afifi, AA, Andersen, RM. Influence of Contextual Environment and Community-Based Dental Education On Practice Plans of Graduating Seniors. J Dent Educ, 2007, 71(3): 403-18.
Davidson, P.L., Bastani, R.B., Nakazono, T.T., Carreon, D.C. The Role of Community Risk Factors and Resources on Breast Cancer Stage at Diagnosis. Cancer, 2005, Mar 1;03(5):922-30.
Andersen, R.M., Davidson, P.L., Atchison, K.A., Hewlett, E., Freed, J.R., Friedman, J.A., Thind, A., Gutierrez, J.J., Nakazono, T.T., Carreon, D.C. Pipeline, Profession, & Practice Program: Evaluation to Assess Changes in Dental Education, J. Dent. Ed., February 2005, 69(2):239-248.)
Davidson, P.L., Andersen RM, Wyn R, Brown ER. “A framework for evaluating effects of safety net and other community-level factors on access for low-income populations. Inquiry, Volume 41: pp. 21-38, Spring 2004.
Davidson, P.L., Cunningham, WE, Nakazono, TT, Andersen, RM. Evaluating the Effect of Usual Source of Dental Care on Access to Dental Services: Comparisons among Diverse Populations. Medical Care Research and Review, March 1999, 56(1): 74-93.