Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
133 Brookline Avenue, 6th Floor
Boston, MA 02215
The Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention is located in the Kenmore Health Center building of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates near Fenway Park.
DACP's core mission is to inform clinical, organizational, and public policy through education and research that integrate traditional medical school perspectives, values, and goals with those of health plans and delivery systems that use fixed resources to provide the complete care of defined populations. The department also brings its population perspective and clinical resources to collaborations with local and national public health agencies and with other population based programs.
The department's approach to these missions is informed by the synergies that arise from its joint sponsorship by the Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, a large not-for-profit health plan, and its close relationship to Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, a large multi-specialty group practice. Each entity contributes uniquely to DACP's activities and its ability to succeed. DACP also houses the Community Practice Core of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and is a member of the HMO Research Network and its affiliated networks including the Cancer Research Network and the Center for Education and Research in Therapeutics.
A few examples from recent Fellows' research include:
- Maternal fish intake, mercury, and offspring cognition
- A nearly continuous measure of birth weight for gestational age using a United States national reference
- Use of volunteer medical brigades to assess growth in Honduras
- Differential association of modifiable health behaviors with hot flashes in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women
- Exposure to violence in childhood and risk of hypertension in adult women
- Use of FDA category D and X medications during pregnancy and associated maternal characteristics
- Religious participation and STD risk in an urban clinic population