September 22, 2015
Congratulations to Chi-Mei Liu, winner of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation’s Student Award Program grant

Chi-Mei Liu, MA, MBA, was awarded the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) Foundation’s Student Award Program grant. The grant provided her with $3,000 to support her dissertation research project, beginning September 2014.

Chi-Mei has a multidisciplinary background with public health, health economics, and pharmaceutical services research experience. She also excels at synthesizing large and complex datasets to locate trends and patterns and building statistical/econometric models to answer research questions, Chi-Mei is working toward her PhD in Social and Administrative Science.

The BCBSM Foundation is committed to improve the health of Michigan residents through the support of research and effective demonstration and evaluation projects. The goal of the Student Award Program is to support the next generation of applied researchers in health, health services and policy.

"I feel honored and privileged to receive this grant from the BCBSM. I wish to express my gratitude to my adviser, Dr. Karen Farris. Without her prudent mentorship, efficient working pace, and incredible guidance, I would not have won this award,” explains Chi-Mei. She plans to use the grant to pay fees associated with accessing restricted data from the CDC and to complete her dissertation.

Chi-Mei’s dissertation, Exploring the impact of Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) adoption in primary care on the quality of medication use, aims to evaluate whether better medication quality of care can be delivered to more individuals to improve the overall health of the population under the PCMH model. “It interesting to know and examine, based on the nationally representative survey data we are using with a rigorous research study design, whether medication quality of care is impacted by the extent of PCMH adoption” notes Chi-Mei. “If not, then the implication for improving medication use is very obvious. It is time for encouraging pharmacists and student pharmacists to be aware that there is still room for pharmacists to ensure medication consistency and quality of care for patients in today’s health care system.”