Research in Family and Community Medicine
About
The research division of the Department of Family and Community Medicine brings together clinicians, health services researchers, and a variety of interdisciplinary collaborators aimed at:
- Improving the delivery of evidence-based primary care
- Studying questions of quality and value in healthcare
- Understanding and improving healthcare systems
- Improving education for undergraduate, graduate and continuing medical learners
Our work focuses on:
- Clinical preventive services and population-oriented prevention
- Reducing health service overuse and low-value care
- The patient-clinician relationship
- Designing impactful educational interventions and meaningful learner assessments
We use a variety of methodologies to address these focus areas:
- Mixed quantitative and qualitative methods
- Data science
- Practice facilitation, academic detailing, and other proven practice-change methods
Team
John Epling Jr., MD
John Epling Jr., MD, MSEd, is a Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Roanoke, VA. He serves as Vice Chair for Research and Population Health for Family and Community Medicine, is Medical Director of Employee Health and Wellness for the Carilion Clinic, and maintains an active clinical practice in Family Medicine. Dr. Epling has taught family medicine, evidence-based medicine, and clinical prevention to all levels of learners throughout his career. His research areas of focus address clinical preventive services, implementation science and knowledge translation, education, and various practical issues in clinical primary care. He has participated in vaccination-related workgroups on the state and national level and was a member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force from 2016 to 2020.
Holly Morrison, PhD
Holly Morrison, PhD, serves as the Director of Research in the Department of Family and Community Medicine in Roanoke, VA. Dr. Morrison earned her PhD from Virginia Tech’s Biomedical & Veterinary Sciences program, where her research dissertation focused on cancer immunology and inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract (esp. inflammation-driven tumorigenesis in colorectal cancer). Following her PhD, her postdoctoral research training at the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute studied the intersection of stem cell function in regeneration and skin cancer development. Having spent 10+ years training as a translational biologist with extensive training in cancer biology, Dr. Morrison is committed to bridging the gap between research findings and applications to healthcare. Her research areas of interest include health systems science, implementation science to improve healthcare delivery, and community medicine.
Neeharika Yallayi
Neeharika is a first-year student in the Translational, Biology, Medicine, and Health Graduate Program at Virginia Tech. She is completing the Public Health & Implementation Science track, with research focused on improving primary care to specialist transitions and workflows. She completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at Virginia Tech in May of 2025. Her previous research experience was in neurovirology in HSV 1 and 2.
Brianna Chang, MS
Brianna is a student at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (Class of 2027). Her research project evaluates the impact of multiple chronic conditions status on the relationship between “sludge” (a behavioral economics concept that describes administrative burdens and frictions, e.g., repetitive paperwork, cumbersome technology, long waits) and delayed or foregone colorectal cancer screenings.
Isaiah Yim
Isaiah is a student at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (Class of 2027). His data science research project evaluates the longitudinal health impact of switching from chronic opioid therapy to chronic NSAID therapy in patients with chronic kidney disease.
Camille Mittendorf
Camille is a student at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (Class of 2028). Her research will focus on the intersection of lifestyle medicine and primary care.
Kate Watkins
Kate is a student at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (Class of 2028). Her research will focus on trust in data.
Grace Qian
Grace is a student at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (class of 2029). She is working on a project involving the effect of a short-interval primary care follow-up appointment on interrupting the opioid prescribing cascade after an initial opioid prescription for acute pain.
Anya Zhong
Anya is a student at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (class of 2029). Her research focuses on patients' disclosure of direct-to-consumer medications to their primary care clinicians.
Michelle Rockwell, PhD, RD
Michelle S. Rockwell, PhD, RD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine where she also serves as Phase 1 Director for the Health Systems Science and Interprofessional Practice curricular domain. She is the Executive Director for the Research Consortium at the Virginia Center for Health Innovation. A registered dietitian and health services researcher, Dr. Rockwell’s work focuses on improving healthcare quality, access, and value through implementation science, health policy, and primary care research. Dr. Rockwell collaborates with healthcare systems, community organizations, and state agencies to translate research into practical solutions that improve patient outcomes and strengthen health systems.
Recent Publications
Discover the latest research and recent publications from the Family and Community Medicine Research Group by visiting our publication library.
https://www.zotero.org/groups/5179677/fcmrg_publications/library
Collaborators
Partners and Frequent Collaborators
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine Virginia Ambulatory Care Outcomes Research Network (ACORN) Health Systems and Implementation Science VTC Department of Health Systems and Implementation Science Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine Fralin Life Sciences Institute at Virginia Tech Center for Biostatistics and Health Data Science at Virginia Tech
