Jeffrey Borkan has research interests in qualitative research and mixed qualitative-quantitative studies; doctor-patient communication and narratives; low-back pain in primary care; public participation in health policy decisions, such as rationing; and medical education.

Biography

Dr. Borkan joined the Department of Family Medicine at Brown Medical School as Professor (Research) and Chair in 2001. He is a family physician researcher, educator, clinician, and advocate whose career has bridged two fields (family medicine and medical anthropology), both in the US and abroad (Israel & Tonga). Since medical school, he has been active in family medicine research, as well as being a practicing family physician and resident/student educator. For six years, he was the Coordinator of a national practice based research network and served as the Director of Research in a family medicine department for a decade. Concurrently, he managed the medical services of an isolated desert region in southern Israel, later joining a model teaching practice in the Galilee. He came to Brown after having been the Vice Chair of Behavioral Science at Tel Aviv University, coordinating a major humanistic curriculum reform there. Though most of his research utilizes qualitative methods, he is active in mixed methods research, and has also published quantitative, epidemiologic, and even health-related entomological studies. Most investigations have focused on low back pain, medical education, and common problems in primary care. At Brown, Dr. Borkan has spearheaded the growth of the Department of Family Medicine, has been active in Rhode Island health policy, and has joined efforts to advance mixed method and narrative research. He has been active in education at the Medical School, leading the first committee charged with designing the Doctoring Program, and currently Chairs the MD Curriculum Committee and the Sub-Committee on Scholarly Concentrations.

Institutions

MHRI

Research Description

Jeffrey Borkan has research interests in qualitative research and mixed qualitative-quantitative studies; doctor-patient communication and narratives; low-back pain in primary care; public participation in health policy decisions, such as rationing; and medical education. He is a family physician educator, researcher, clinician, and administrator whose career has spanned two fields (family medicine and medical anthropology) and two countries (the United States and Israel). He comes to Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island and Brown Medical School after having been the Vice Chair of Behavioral Science at Tel Aviv University, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, coordinating a major humanistic curriculum reform there. Throughout his career, he has been active in family medicine research, as well as being a practicing family physician and resident/student trainer. He managed the medical services of an isolated desert region in southern Israel for ten years, later joining a model teaching practice in the Galilee. Previously and while abroad, he was a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Department of Family and Community Medicine. Dr. Borkan has been a visiting scholar at Harvard (1997-1998) and a visiting faculty member in the Departments of Family Medicine at the University of Connecticut, University of Washington, and Penn State. Dr. Borkan's research includes the physician-patient relationship, health policy, low back pain, and storytelling in medicine. He has frequently worked and conducted research among minorities and the underserved, both in the United States, Israel, and the Pacific Island of Tonga.

Awards

Best Research Project by a Medical Student, North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG), 1982
Fulbright/ITT, International Fellowship, 1982-1983
American Academy of Family Physicians—Mead Johnson Award for Family Practice Residents, 1986
American Academy of Family Physicians—Parke-Davis Teacher Development Award, 1988
Creative Writing award, First Place, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Education Consortium, 2002
Honorary Degree, Brown University, 2003

Affiliations

American Association of Medical Colleges
American Association of Family Practice
Washington State Association of Family Practice
Massachusetts Association of Family Practice
Society of Teachers of Family Medicine
Israeli Association of Family Practice
American Association of Anthropologists
Israeli Anthropological Association
General Practice Writers Association
Israeli Family Practice Research Network
North American Primary Care Research Group
European General Practice Research Workshop
Israeli Teachers of Family Medicine (Hemar)
Israel Association of Medical Education
World Organization of Family Doctors

Funded Research

2002-2007 Co-Investigator: "Translating ATPIII Cholesterol Management Guidelines into Primary Care Practice". National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute-National Institutes of Health (NHLBI-NIH).

2003-2006 Co-Investigator: "Assisting Primary Care Physicians Towards Improved Doctor-Patient Communications in the New Context Engendered by the National Health Insurance Law and Patients' Rights Act". The Israel National Institute for Health Policy and Health Services Research (NIHP).

2004-2007 Principle Investigator: "Academic Administrative Units in Primary Care". Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA).

Teaching Experience

Narrative Medicine, Doctoring, Scholarly Concentrations (Chair)

View My Full Publication List in pdf format

Selected Publications

• Medalie JH, Mettee TM, Cole-Kelly K, Borkan JM, Hogan MP. Working with families with chronic medical disorders. Fam Med. 2003;321-326.(2003)
• Benbassat J, Bauman R, Borkan JM, Ber R. Overcoming barrier to teaching the behavioral and social sciences to medical students. Acad Med. 2003;78:372-380.(2003)
• Shvarts S, Borkan J, Morad M, Sherf M. The government of Israel and the health care of the Negev Bedouin under military government, 1948-1966. Medical History. 2003;47:47-66.(2003)
• Abramovitch H, Shenkman L, Schlank E, Shoham S, Borkan J. A tale of two exposures: a comparison of two approaches to early clinical exposure. Education for Health. 2002;15(3):386-390.(2002)
• Reis S, Hermoni D, Livingstone P, Borkan J. Case report of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and anticoagulation. BMJ. 2002;325:1018-1020.(2002)
• Abramovitch H, Borkan JM, Schlan E, et al. A tale of two exposures: a comparison of two approaches to early clinical exposure. Education for Health. 2002;15(3):386-390.(2002)
• H. Tandeter, J.M. Borkan. Bloodletting and Blood Sampling. Israel Medical Association Journal, in print 2002.(2002)
• Wyatt M, Borkan JM. Disseminating and implementing the results of back pain research in primary care. 2002;27(5):E121-E127.(2002)
• Borkan JM, Van Tulder M, Reis SR, Schoene ML, Croft P, Hermoni D. Advances in the field of low back pain in primary care. 2002;27:E128-E132.(2002)
• Van Tulder M, Croft P, van Splunteren P, Miedema H, Underwood M, Hendriks E,