Meet the 2023 Winner: Tammy L. Eaton, PhD, MSc, RN,FNP-BC,ACHPN

Tammy Eaton is a health services researcher and second-year postdoctoral research fellow in the National Clinician Scholars Program (NCSP) through the VA HSR&D Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation, & Policy at the University of Michigan. Dr. Eaton received both her undergraduate degree and Master of Science degree in Nursing from Carlow University, her PhD in Nursing from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Master of Science degree in Health & Healthcare Research from the University of Michigan. She has been a member of the ATS and the Assembly on Behavioral Science & Health Services Research since 2019, along with secondary memberships in the Assemblies on Critical Care and Nursing. She was recently elected and will begin her terms this year as both a member of the Nominating Committee in the Assembly on Nursing and as a member of the planning committee in the Critical Care Assembly.

Dr. Eaton's research is focused on improving health care delivery for critical illness survivors through the development and implementation of high-value interdisciplinary care delivery models for critical illness survivors. Her ongoing projects include a qualitative study exploring US health insurance experiences during critical illness recovery, and a survey examining how ICU clinicians reconnect with survivors of critical illness after their ICU stay. Overall, she has published 21 peer-reviewed papers since 2019 (e.g., Annals of the American Thoracic Society, American Journal of Critical Care, JAMA IM, Critical Care Medicine, Chest, Critical Care Explorations, Intensive Care Medicine), which includes 17 empirical papers, with 4 more currently under review. These publications are accompanied by numerous invited presentations, and local and national interviews (e.g., JAMA, The Boston Globe, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Medscape).

Additionally, during her postdoctoral fellowship, she has engaged with several national-level VA projects and is newly a Co-Investigator for a VA Office of Research and Development (ORD) Health Services Research and Development (HSRD) merit award, which will create the infrastructure for a national VA Long COVID practice-based research network. Finally, she is a founding member and current executive leader for the Critical and Acute Illness Recovery Organization (CAIRO), a global learning collaborative of multidisciplinary clinicians from over 45 unique healthcare systems across 6 countries.

Description:

The award will be given to a very early career individual with demonstrated potential to make outstanding scientific and scholarly contributions relevant to behavioral and social sciences, clinical epidemiology, statistics, health services research, health economics, comparative clinical efficacy and effectiveness research, patient-centered outcomes research, performance measurement, quality improvement, or implementation science. This award is to recognize individuals with burgeoning talent and dedication to a career applying these methodologies to lung diseases, critical illness, or sleep disorders, and who have already demonstrated significant engagement within the BSHSR Assembly, or ATS as a whole. The award committee encourages nominations from groups who are under-represented in medicine. Awardees will be presented with a framed certificate at the ATS International conference. For guidance regarding whether a nominee is more appropriate for the Emerging or Early Award category, please reach out to the BSHSR Planning Committee Chair ahead of the submission deadline.

Criteria:

• Current trainee, Instructor, Assistant Professor, or an equivalent rank in a non-academic institution
• Currently in post-doctoral or clinical training, or up to 3 years after completion of terminal training degree, excluding time off for personal circumstances
• Current ATS member
• Have not previously received an Emerging Career award or Early Career Achievement award from any ATS assembly
• Cannot concurrently be nominated for an Early Career Achievement award
• The submission package must include the candidate’s updated curriculum vitae and a nomination letter from an assembly member addressing the candidate’s qualifications within the scored award domains.

Scoring:

Applicants are scored on 6 criteria using a 1-5 rating system across the following categories; summed scores provide an overall score:

• Scientific and scholarly contributions/products
• Teaching/mentoring/educational contributions
• Clinical and/or academic excellence and leadership contributions
• Participation in BSHSR Assembly and/or other ATS activities (apprenticeships, committees, workshops, etc.)
• Demonstrated interest and promise in a career focused on contributions relevant to the BSHSR Assembly
• Overall impact/impression of the dossier submitted for award application