 | Melissa L. McCarthy, OTR/L, M.S., Sc.D.
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Education
Bloomberg School of Hygiene and Public Health (Sc.D., 1998)
University of Massachusetts School of Public Health (M.S., 1992)
Dr. McCarthy is a health services researcher whose main research interests are related to measuring patient outcomes following different types of injuries, quantifying daily surge in the emergency department and understanding its impact on patient care, and developing metrics to assess the medical preparedness of regions for catastrophic events. Dr. McCarthy has been involved in a number of studies related to the epidemiology and health outcomes of persons who sustain a traumatic brain injury. For example, Dr. McCarthy recently completed a study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that measured children’s health and health care service needs during the first year after sustaining a traumatic brain injury severe enough to warrant hospitalization.
Dr. McCarthy is actively involved in the research efforts of the National Study Center for Preparedness and Catastrophic Event Response (PACER) funded by the Department of Homeland Security. She is working with a team of investigators to develop statistical models of daily emergency department (ED) surge and patient flow. She recently completed a study that evaluated the validity of different instruments for measuring ED crowding using data from a consortium of six academic EDs across the country. Finally, Dr. McCarthy and other PACER investigators are developing a conceptual framework and metrics for assessing the medical preparedness of a region for different types of catastrophes.
