Suzanne B Cashman, ScD, Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health and Director of Community Health in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, is trained in health services research and evaluation. Dr. Cashman has spent the thirty-five years of her professional career teaching graduate public and community health courses, developing curricula for medical and public health students and residents, conducting community-based evaluation research, and fostering partnerships aimed at helping communities improve their health. With secondary appointments in the Department of Quantitative Health Sciences and in the Graduate School of Nursing, Dr. Cashman is also faculty for the University’s Preventive Medicine Residency. When Dr. Cashman joined the UMMS faculty in 1999, she co-led a state supported initiative to develop and evaluate interprofessional health care delivery teams in community health centers. Recently, she has been applying knowledge gained from her years of experience functioning as a bridge between the community and the academy to the development and evaluation of community-responsive health improvement initiatives. A common thread running through these initiatives is developing and using partnership principles as the basis for carrying out a community-based participatory research approach to research.

Currently, Dr. Cashman Co-Directs the Determinants of Health Course for undergraduate medical students and plays a lead role in the course's Population Health Clerkship.  She also co-directs the community engagement section of the UMMS Center for Clinical and Translational Science and of its Center for Health Equity Intervention Research.  In addition, she is an investigator for the school's CDC funded UMass Worcester Prevention Research Center.  Dr. Cashman provides evaluation assistance to the statewide Area Health Education Center Network and recently concluded serving as Principal Investigator for UMass Worcester's Learn and Service initiative funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Dr. Cashman is a founding member of Worcester ’s Common Pathways healthy communities coalition and is a member of its leadership council.  For the past ten years, she has served as a leader in the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research and as a Senior Consultant for Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH).  Dr. Cashman was recently elected to join the CCPH board where she will continue to advance efforts to bridge community and academia and through developing authentic partnerships.

Prior to coming to UMMS, Dr. Cashman served as a faculty member in the Department of Health Services at Boston University ’s School of Public Health. In addition, she spent nine years developing and nurturing a community-oriented primary care (COPC) focused interprofessional preventive medicine fellowship in Boston, MA. Funded by the WKKellogg Foundation through its urban COPC national demonstration initiative, this project provided the foundation for creating the Center for Community-Responsive Care.  The Center used the preventive medicine training template to launch a multi-professional training template to launch a multi-professional training program aimed at teaching participants skills that would help them work collaboratively with communities to improve health.

Current Positions

Director of Community Health (2004-present)
Co-Director, Determinants of Health Course
Co-Director, UMCTTS Community Engagement Section
Co-Director, Center for Health Equity Intervention Research Community Engagement Section
Faculty, Preventive Medicine Residency and Fellowship (2000-present)
Co-Director, Rural Health Scholars Pathway (2000-present)
Co-Director, Summer Service-Learning Student Assistantships (2002-present)
Population Health Clerkship Group Leader(1999-present)
Evaluation Consultant, Area Health Education Center Network (2003-present)

Affiliations

American Public Health Association
Association for Prevention and Teaching Research
Community Campus Partnerships for Health
Common Pathways, Worcester's Healthy Communities Collaborative
New England Rural Health Roundtable
Society of Teachers of Family Medicine

Scholarly Activity

Teaching:

Undergraduate Determinants of Health
Family Medicine Residency Community Health Block
Preventive Medicine Residency/Fellowship
Rural Health Scholars Pathway
Population Health Clerkship

Research:

Preventive behavior and knowledge of tick-borne illness
Health promotion intervention among refugees from Burma
Effect of open access and access with modest monthly pay to physical activity for patients from an FQHC

Workforce:

Interprofessional prevention education
30 years of family medicine residency: graduates’ community involvement and location decisions
Visiting specialist model for rural/small town residents in MA
Recruitment and retention of primary care providers in rural MA

Evaluation:
Teen Tot Connections
MassHealth Access Program
New England Latino CEED
HealthyTomorrows

Service:
Board member, Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (2011-present)
Steering Committee and Indicators Workgroup, Common Pathways (2003-present)
YWCA Healthy Weight Now Coalition member (2008-present)
Policy Work Group, Community-Based Public Health Caucus, APHA (2002-present)
UMMS applicant interviewer (1999-present)
Board member, Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (2002-2010)