Irina Arkhipova-Jenkins, MD MBA

Stony Brook Preventive Medicine Residency

My AHRQ-APTR rotation was great. It allowed a unique opportunity to attend a biannual US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in-person meeting at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) headquarters during which I attended presentations on scientific evidence and experienced USPSTF deliberations on several in-progress recommendations. As a part of the rotation, I also received a robust training on the USPSTF methodology for evaluating the quality of scientific evidence, developing preventive health recommendations, and strategies to address important evidence gaps, particularly in the areas of health equity. I also learned about AHRQ’s ongoing efforts related to the dissemination and implementation of the task force recommendations.

As a AHRQ-APTR resident I was given the opportunity to attend weekly task force progress meetings during which USPSTF members reviewed new evidence and developed draft language for recommendation statements. I also had a chance to take a "deep dive" into the task force’s process for developing recommendations for preventive screening services by working on the project that compared and summarized diagnostic accuracy characteristics of screening tests used in the USPSTF Grade A and B recommendations. In addition, I helped draft a monthly "Putting Prevention into Practice” feature for the American Family Physician journal contextualizing a recently published recommendation from a clinical practice perspective and critically appraised and presented recently published research relevant to the topic of one of the in-progress USPSTF recommendations. This rotation also allowed me a unique chance to continue developing my evidence synthesis skills by assisting with literature review for an in-progress evidence report. 

Aside from the phenomenal educational experiences listed above, participating in this rotation broadened my understanding regarding critical prevention focused population and public health efforts spearheaded by AHRQ, CDC, NIH, and other leading federal agencies and gave me a greater sense of appreciation for evidence-based preventive medicine practice.