ECU research awards to Davis, Lamson

East Carolina University recognized Dr. Cori Davis, representing the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences in HHP, with one of its prestigious 2024 Thesis and Dissertation Awards.

Davis was announced as the winner in Doctoral Dissertation in Social Sciences, Business & Education for her dissertation, “Recruitment, Retention, and Intersectionality: Recognizing the Voice of Historically Marginalized and Systemically Oppressed Medical Residents.” 

The dissertation director was Dr. Angela Lamson, a Nancy W. Darden Distinguished Professor in HDFS and the university’s interim assistant vice chancellor for economic and community engagement, who also was selected as a 2024 winner of the ECU Distinguished Graduate Faculty Mentor Award.

Lamson and Davis were both honored during ECU’s Research and Creative Achievement Week Awards Luncheon on April 5.

“Our research highlights the experiences of historically marginalized medical residents (Women, People of Color, LGBTQ+ Individuals), specifically around burnout, wellbeing, discrimination and harassment. Our aim was to focus on ways to strengthen provider retention in medicine.”

Davis noted her research takeaways included:

• 60% of historically marginalized/systemically oppressed residents’ surveyed report instances of discrimination or harassment during their residency experience (n = 110).
• Of those who reported instances of discrimination and harassment, 78.2% (n = 86) reported that patients and their families perpetuated these actions.
• Only 49.5% of residents (n = 184) reported knowing if there were repercussions for those who perpetrated discrimination and harassment against them.

We have been invited to present locally, regionally, and nationally to residency program directors who are focused on improving resident well-being and policies that support retention.

“To sum up, one of the big problems we found is that most of the time it is patients and families that are discriminating against or harassing medical residents (and less so employees or other medical personal) and there is not good accountability on an institutional level against these experiences,” Davis said. “This becomes complicated when everyone (residents, medical institutions) wants all people to have access to health care, but we also want to keep our residents safe and hold patients/families perpetrating harm accountable.”

Lamson’s ‘deep investment in growth’

The ECU award announcement for Lamson emphasized that her inclusionary mentoring practices clearly influence the success of the medical family therapy students and their work to transform the communities they serve. Lamson continues to bring national and international mentees and recognition to ECU; she and Dr. Jennifer Hodgson were instrumental in creating the first medical family therapy doctoral program in the nation in 2005.

One student wrote that Lamson’s “mentorship is defined by her deep investment in our growth and success. Her organized weekly writing groups, guidance in our career development, and steadfast support in our research and clinical endeavors demonstrate the significant and positive influence she has on our professional journey.”