Cara Dooley, MD

University of Maryland School of Medicine

In navigating my education and career options, I have always been driven, to some degree, by the idea of prevention. Preventive Medicine offered me the opportunity to follow that passion and balance clinical care with public health. I eagerly wanted to learn skills in epidemiology, health policy, communication, and quality improvement, and to gain public health experience.

The AHRQ residency rotation with the USPSTF is an exciting opportunity to see how primary and secondary prevention efforts are designed for evidence-based population health. At AHRQ I reviewed draft recommendations on prevention topics and their supporting evidence for consistency and accuracy, reviewed public comments about draft recommendations, and prepared communication tools such as practice bulletins and presentations for clinician audiences related to prevention recommendations. The key preventive medicine concepts I learned were how to analyze evidence regarding the performance of proposed clinical preventive services, how to incorporate considerations of risk-benefit analysis in population-based care, and how to communicate effectively with the public, physicians, other health care professionals and health-related agencies.

Learn more about the APTR-AHRQ Preventive Medicine Residency Program.