Elizabeth Lees, DO

Preventive Medicine and Public Health Fellowship
Mayo Clinic

My experience with AHRQ gave me a new appreciation for the work that goes into making and maintaining national health guidelines, which is not a process well known to most people in healthcare. I spent two months working closely with AHRQ medical officers learning how research is aggregated, appraised, and applied in guideline decision-making. I attended Task Force meetings that allowed me to see recommendation statements in various stages of their development. Most notably, I was given the unique opportunity to work on projects that shape our national guidelines and the future of research funded by Congress.

In public health policy, it can be hard to feel like you are moving the needle. However, this rotation with the Task Force felt like my work had impact. The staff I worked with all took great pride in their work, and that translated to how I felt throughout the rotation. The highlight of my experience was attending the Task Force meeting that convened in person at HHS headquarters in Rockville, MD. It was perhaps best described as experiencing a sense of patriotism- being in a room with distinguished minds from all across America who come together for a common purpose to serve. 

Types of projects I worked on:

• Extracting priority topics for research needs and gaps 
• Fact checking draft recommendation statements
• Drafting sections of recommendation statements
• Composing journal segments related to Task Force recommendation topics
  

The most eye-opening part of the rotation was simply seeing how much work goes into creating a guideline. I have a better idea of what it means to critically appraise research and apply it to a population. I also learned a lot about communications.

Note:

Dr. Lees had a reflection published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in December 2024. Her commentary was titled "Evidence-Based Humanism: A Reflection from the APTR-AHRQ Preventive Medicine Residency Rotation Program"