May 7, 2009
Wickizer to deliver Public Health’s Distinguished Faculty Lecture, May 18
By Holly Weese
School of Public Health
Tom Wickizer, UW professor of health services, will deliver the School of Public Health’s Spring Quarter Distinguished Faculty Lecture: Reflections on 10 years of Collaborative Research to Improve Health and Health Care for Injured Workers in Washington State. The lecture will be presented Monday, May 18, at 3:30 p.m. in T-639 Health Sciences Building.
Wickizer also directs the School’s extended degree program, which offers a master’s degree in public health degree (MPH), a certificate in public health, and elective courses for working professionals. In 1997, Wickizer was awarded the five-year Rohm & Haas Professorship to pursue research and policy analysis in the field of occupational medicine. He investigated health services delivery systems within industry and, in particular, methods of providing health care to workers suffering from work-related injuries and illness.
The school’s Occupational Epidemiology and Health Outcomes Program and the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I), which runs the state’s workers’ compensation program, have worked together for many years to reduce the time workers lose because of injury.
Wickizer has played a leading role in this partnership, conducting applied studies and evaluating pilot programs designed to reduce worker disability. Wickizer says, “Conducting collaborative research with L&I to improve health care quality and outcomes for injured workers has been academically and personally rewarding; it also helps further the School’s mission to improve health and health care in the state of Washington.”
Wickizer’s training focused on health policy and health economics. He has a master’s degrees in social work, public health, and economics. He received his degree in social work from the UW; and the others from the University of Michigan, where he also received a doctoral degree in health services organization and policy. In addition to occupational health, his research interests include the effects of utilization management, managed care costs and outcomes, and substance abuse treatment and outcomes.
