Graduate Student Opportunities with CHOT

The Center for Organization Transformaion was formed with a mission to capitalize on the existing strengths of Penn State and promote a holistic approach to understanding and solving problems of access and quality in healthcare. The Center has received funding from Penn State University's Colleges of Medicine, Engineering, Information Sciences & Technology, and Health & Human Development and the Office of the Vice President for Research.

The CHOT Scholars program is directed at attracting graduate and post-graduate students with an interest in healthcare delivery. These students work with faculty advisors on research themes that are key to the Center's scope. The scholars become active participants in the Center and present their projects at the annual workshop. Each scholar receives a cash award and certificate for completing the program. Some past projects have included:

• Optimizing Patient Flow in the Emergency Department
• Increasing Quality Outcomes with Pay-for-Performance
• A Risk Assessment of Medical Devices
• Development of an Integrated Model to Predict Patient Compliance
• Health Information Technologies: Privacy and Security
• Healthcare Data Visualization for Chronic Care Management
• Supporting Multi-Disciplinary Team Collaboration through the Electronic Medical Record
• Critical Factors in Medical Device Development

Many of the projects have enabled scholars to work with graduate students and faculty outside of the IME department, thus expanding the base of their learning experience. The CHOT projects often become a component of students’ masters or doctoral theses and/or the basis for project work in their classes.

For more information, see the CHOT website.