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Ron Ackermann, M.D., M.P.H.
Associate Professor of Medicine
Northwestern University School of Medicine
r.ackermann@northwestern.edu
2006-2009 Cohort
Project Title: "Healthcare-Community Partnerships to Prevent Diabetes"

About the Project:

This project evaluated different strategies to implement new diabetes prevention services in primary care settings and whether those strategies can be improved by involvement of a community partnership liaison. Early success in implementing clinic-community linkages to prevent diabetes for this project helped Dr. Ackermann to secure additional funding from the NIH for a larger randomized effectiveness trial to evaluate impacts on patient behavior, intermediate health outcomes, and cost-effectiveness. This work is still ongoing, and evaluation of the effects of different partnership strategies should be completed by the Spring of 2012.

Biosketch:

Ronald T. Ackermann, M.D., M.P.H. is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. He was previously Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at Indiana University. He is a general internist who completed a residency and chief-residency in San Antonio, Texas, before moving to Seattle in 2001 to obtain advanced training in epidemiology, public health, and health services research as a fellow of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and student of the University of Washington School of Public Health.

Dr. Ackermann is interested in research that focuses on the development and evaluation of "partnered" approaches for preventing and managing diabetes and other chronic health conditions. He is currently Principal Investigator for two NIDDK-funded studies evaluating the feasibility, costs, and effectiveness of efforts to implement the highly successful Diabetes Prevention Program’s (DPP) and Look AHEAD lifestyle interventions as clinically relevant weight management services in community-based YMCA settings. Dr. Ackermann is Co-Director of the Community Engaged Research Center for the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute. Since 2004, he has also served in an advisory capacity to entities such as AHRQ, CDC, ADA, the Partnership for Prevention, and the Center for Health Care Strategies, in their efforts to identify, recommend, and promote effective approaches involving public-private partnerships to improve health and health behaviors among American adults.

His Physician Faculty Scholars Program project, "Healthcare-Community Partnerships to Prevent Diabetes," offered insights into how strategies to implement new diabetes prevention services in primary care settings is enhanced by involving a community liaison (from the YMCA) during all phases of implementation. Dr. Ackermann hopes that this work will help to inform future health plan and provider group policies to implement and disseminate diabetes prevention services nationally.

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