WREN Awarded American Medical Association Grant

The University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine and Community Health Wisconsin Research and Education Network (WREN) was awarded a $50,000 American Medical Association (AMA) Community Health Impact Lab micro grant. Led by Sarina Schrager, MD, and Mary Henningfield, PhD, this project works with the UW Carbone Cancer Center Cancer Health Disparities Initiative and Prairie Ridge Health System in Columbus, Wisconsin, to provide education and logistic support to improve mammography rates.

“A focus on addressing barriers to getting screening mammograms in rural populations may be able to help mitigate disparities in breast cancer outcomes between urban and rural women. We hope that this work can be duplicated in rural areas across Wisconsin and the nation,” said Schrager, WREN medical director. “We are excited to work with the AMA on their inaugural Community Health Impact micro grant. This team has worked on two prior projects together over the last years, and we are grateful to the AMA for supporting this important work.”

WREN is one of the oldest and most respected practice-based research networks in the nation. WREN engages clinics in high-quality research and quality improvement projects to answer community-based health care questions and translate research findings into practice.

Community Health Impact Lab micro grants support physician-led innovation that addresses social drivers of health and community health priorities through creative, promising solutions. The initiative invests in projects that have the potential to improve health outcomes while creating models that can inform efforts in other communities.