Training and serving as a professor of behavioral psychology for much of my early career, my recent research has sought to understand barriers to preventative care in the primary care environment. Much of this work has focused on the interactions between patient and healthcare professionals, as well as the dynamics that determine their attitudes and guide their behaviors, often utilizing mixed-methods approaches. My projects have spanned several topics of importance to primary care, including chronic pain and opioid treatment, lung cancer screening, and diabetes prevention.

I also have a body of collaborative and grant-funded work in which I lead the evaluation of implementation activities in clinic environments; this has included projects on patient transitional care and stroke care.

As the current Director of the Kentucky Ambulatory Network (KAN), I work to facilitate collaboration among primary care physicians, health care providers, scientists, and public health experts throughout Kentucky in translating research findings into practice. We also seek to engage community partners in this collaborative effort to advance primary care research.