Public Health Article Selected as 'Most Influential Research for 2011' by RWJF

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 3, 2012) − A research article on public health spending written by Glen Mays, the F. Douglas Scutchfield Endowed Professor in Health Services and Systems Research at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health, has been selected among the “Final 5” by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Most Influential Research for 2011.
 

Each year, RWJF posts a list of the most influential research articles on their web site and in the monthly newsletter, Evidence Matters-News from Research and Evaluation at RWJF. The top 20 articles nominated for 2011 were the most frequently viewed research articles on RWJF.org in the past year.
 

Visitors to the RWJF web site voted for the top five articles, based on their solid research performance and significance to the field, of which Mays was selected number three. The article, "Evidence Links Increases In Public Health Spending to Declines In Preventable Deaths," was co-written with fourth year doctoral student Charla Smith from the University of Arkansas.
 

“We are delighted to be included on this list, particularly since the topic of our study-investments in local public health activities has been overlooked and understudied for so long," Mays said. "Hopefully, this can help broaden awareness of the power and potential of public health within larger health system reform."
 

Prior to joining the UK College of Public Health in August 2011, Mays served as professor and chairman of the Department of Health Policy and Management in the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), where he also directed the doctoral program in Health Systems Research. 
 

Mays’ research focuses on strategies for organizing and financing public health services, preventive care, and chronic disease management for underserved populations. Currently, he directs the Public Health Practice-Based Research Networks Program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which brings together public health agencies and researchers from around the nation to study innovations in public health practice.  Mays also serves as co-principal investigator of the RWJF-funded National Coordinating Center for Public Health Services and Systems Research at UK.