Background
& Research Agenda
I am a health services researcher and implementation scientist. Currently, I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at University of California San Diego. My additional training includes fellowships with the Implementation Research Institute and the Miriam Lifespan/Brown University Criminal Justice Research Training Program.
I have been working in applied health services and health policy research for 10+ years. My research agenda is focused on:
(1) Increasing access to and the quality of substance use treatment services for safety-net and justice-involved populations.
(2) Advancing the study of dissemination and implementation science methods to promote systematic uptake of evidence-based practices across policy and systems levels.
(3) Using mixed methods to enhance our understanding of policy and health systems changes.
(4) Improving health equity for safety-net and justice-involved populations.
Prior to joining the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego, I was a Research Fellow at the Evans Center for Implementation Science at Boston University. I also worked as a Research Leader at IBM Watson Health and consulted for a variety of federal agencies including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Research (SAMHSA), and the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE).
When I’m not engaged in research, I can usually be found at a concert or going for a run. Having recently moved to southern California, I am learning how to surf and enjoying wiping out in the process!
NIDA-funded Research
(K01DA056838, PI: Crable)
Care Gap: More than one-third of Americans living with an opioid use disorder are publicly insured by state Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP), but many of these state programs or their managed care entities do not provide sufficient access to lifesaving medications for opioid use disorder [(MOUD), i.e., buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone] in their plan benefits. Research is critically needed to understand how policymakers and managed care entities overseeing Medicaid/CHIP benefit arrays solicit, receive, and use evidence to define their benefit and utilization management policies for MOUD.
Study Aims: Aligned with NIDA’s goals to support evidence-based policies supporting substance use treatment, this study aims to advance policy dissemination science methods to:
Develop and administer a national survey to Medicaid/CHIP agency and managed care organization policymakers to identify determinants, mechanisms, and intermediaries that influence their evidence use behaviors.
Empirically identify and describe distinct subgroups of Medicaid/CHIP agencies and managed care organizations based on their evidence use behaviors when designing MOUD benefits.
Design and pilot test the acceptability, appropriateness and feasibility of dissemination strategies, tailored to each latent class, for promoting policymakers’ evidence-based decision-making regarding MOUD benefits.
Teaching & Service
I am always looking for opportunities to share knowledge about health policy dissemination and implementation science. I have led multiple workshops and seminars for international audiences. Please reach out if you are interested in receiving any recorded materials from these sessions.
I co-Instructed Implementation Science: Linking Research to Practice (PM831) and served as a Teaching Assistant for International Public Health & Medical Care: A Systems Approach (IH704) at Boston University School of Public Health.
Between Spring 2019-Fall 2021, I hosted the QUALitative Methods Seminar, an inclusive, school-wide monthly seminar series supported by the Department of Health Law, Policy & Management at Boston University School of Public Health.
As a Research Fellow at the Evans Center for Implementation & Improvement Sciences, I developed two educational skills building seminar series: Transforming Implementation & Improvement Into Science and Mechanics of Improvement. Both series aimed to increase implementation science capacity amongst researchers and clinicians at Boston University Medical Campus.
Curriculum Vitae
Contact
Email: ecrable@health.ucsd.edu