1. Personal Statement

Kathleen Harding (Kasey), MPH has been an employee at Community Health Center, Inc. for seventeen years. She began her career at CHCI as the Director of the HRSA funded Ryan White Program providing comprehensive HIV/AIDS care for individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Over the last ten years, Ms. Harding has diversified the portfolio of the Center for Key Populations by assuming administrative and programmatic responsibility for the Healthcare for the Homeless Program (WYA), Early Childhood Programs, Migrant Farm Worker Programs, CT Strong Adolescent Program, Hepatitis C Programs, Substance Use Disorder Programs, LGBTQ Health Initiatives and Health Advocacy Programs. Ms. Harding was also responsible for the development and implementation of new HIV Prevention Programs and the initiation of CHCI’s Centers for Disease Control funded PrEP (Pre-exposure Prophylaxis) Program.  All of these programs are designed to respond to the needs of vulnerable populations that experience disparities in health coverage and engage them in comprehensive healthcare services.

In 2012, Ms. Harding was at the helm of a large expansion for CHCI as the Principal Investigator of the SAMHSA funded TEACH – BMT grant. This grant combined substance use services for high-risk populations with primary care outcomes, education and community partnerships. There is currently publication pending on a 9-year study on the benefits of Buprenorphine administration in FQHC’s with regard to primary care outcomes. CHCI expanded on the original SAMHSA grant with additional funding and research from HRSA and HHS to provide national and statewide services for Substance Use Services to high-risk populations. Ms. Harding is a member of a research team with three publications pending to disseminate important information on the replication of programs designed to efficiently integrate Medication Assisted Treatment Programs into Primary care settings.

In 2013, Ms. Harding became part of The Weitzman Institute’s Clinical Quality team after receiving training at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in Practice Transformation and Implementation Science. She has since used this expertise to implement programs internally and to provide consultation outside of CHCI to FQHC’s and organizations requiring technical assistance in program implementation and project direction. Ms. Harding added to her expertise in Implementation Science with two certifications in practice transformation and organizational leadership in 2017.

Ms. Harding is also currently working on two National Learning Collaboratives; the first is the HRSA funded National Cooperative Agreement where she serves as a Coach – Mentor. This Team-Based Care Learning Collaborative is designed to provide transformational strategies and coaching support to help practices implement an advanced model of team-based care. The second National Cooperative Agreement provides implementation guidance to FQHC’s in the establishment of Nurse Practioner Residency Programs across the US.  Ms. Harding was also an integral member of the faculty and coaching staff for a National Learning Collaborative for Transforming Primary Care for LGBTQ that ended in 2018. This was a learning based collaborative designed to transform care for a population that has experienced increasing health disparities and stigma and to respond to the increasing need for targeted healthcare for this population.

Most recently, Ms. Harding has been a leader in the establishment of CHCI’s Weitzman Learning Academy, offering webinars, one on one coaching and custom site visits to assist agencies in implementing funding related to Substance Use Disorder Services, HIV, homeless programs, programs for the recently incarcerated and other key services. In 2020, The University of Kentucky contracted with Ms. Harding and the Medical Director of the Center for Key Populations, Dr. Marwan Haddad, to initiate a program that would reinvest almost a million dollars in income from their 340B program into training, education, quality improvement and evaluation for their statewide Ryan White Program.  Globally, Ms. Harding provides quality improvement and implementation Technical Assistance through a HRSA funded, PEPFAR project which identifies low resource and high HIV incidence countries like Uganda and Jamaica for targeted training and education. 

B.   Contributions to Science
 

In partnership with Weitzman Institute, which is the research and innovation division of Community Health Center, Inc., I have contributed to many health services research projects, including but not limited to:

Schiessl A, Thies K, Hess A, Khalid N, Harding-Wheeler K, Ward D. Academy Health 12th Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation. Arlington, VA. December 4-6, 2019. Evaluation of a Learning Collaborative to Implement Team-Based Care in Federally Qualified Health Centers using the Medical Research Council Guidance. Poster Presentation (Accepted).

Haddad M, Bifulco L, Joachim W, Harding-Wheeler K, Zlateva I, Teevan B, Erickson A, Lamb M. MetaECHO 2019 Conference. Albuquerque, NM, March 13-16, 2019. Analysis of the Impact of Project ECHO Buprenorphine on Providers' Self-Assessed Skills, Team-Based Care Approaches and Attitudes. Poster Presentation.

Hess A, Thies K, Flinter M, Bamrick K, Rogers A, Mistry R, Ward D, Harding K. The North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) 45th Annual Meeting. Montreal, QC, CA. November 17-21, 2017. Team-Based Care in Federally Qualified Health Centers: A Cross-Sectional Study Assessing the Efficacy of a 10-Month Training Intervention. Poster Presentation.

Haddad M, Harding-Wheeler K, Capreol G, Preston E. 145th American Public Health Association Annual Meeting. Atlanta, GA. November 4-8, 2017. Path to SOGI: A health center’s roadmap to collecting sexual orientation and gender identity information. Oral Presentation.

3. Ongoing Research Support

Health and Resources Services Administration (HRSA)                        Harding (PI) On going

09/30/01-03/31/22

Ryan White Part C Outpatient EIS Program

Community Health Center, Inc. receives Ryan White Part C funding at four health center sites (New Britain, Meriden, Middletown and Clinton) directly and eight other sites indirectly through a supplemental funding application. CHCI is funded to provide outpatient primary and HIV care, medical case management, referral for specialty services, medication funds, mental health, dental, substance abuse and nutrition services. CHCI submits annual data on quality measures, which include retention in care, cervical cancer screenings, nutrition screenings, oral health, substance abuse, risk reduction and medication adherence.

Role: Principal Investigator

National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC)                        Haddad (PI) Completed

02/01/16-02/01/19

Improving Healthcare Delivery for the LGBT Community

This service delivery project, funded through NACHC with additional support from the CDC, is partnering CHC and Fenway Community Health Centers to use ECHO to increase specialty training to provide compassionate and competent care to the LGBT community. The Center for Key Populations at CHC is providing the service delivery and evaluation of LGBT ECHO.

Role: Co-Investigator                                                                                

                                Yale University/National Institute of Health                                                                                                                 Harding (PI) On going

                                4/1/2020 – 3/31/2025

                                Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network

CHCI is a sub grantee working with Yale University to determine the best approaches to care for justice-involved individuals with opioid use disorders reintegrating into the community. The study seeks to enhance care options for individuals in community settings after justice involvement by comparing modalities of treatment.

Role: Co-Investigator

Yale University/National Institute on Drug Abuse                                                                                    Haddad (PI) On going

                                5/1/2019 – 4/30/2025

                                Long Acting Buprenorphine VS Naltrexone Opioid Treatment in Justice Involved Individuals

This study seeks to meaningfully address the U.S. opioid epidemic by implementing evidence-based treatment in correctional settings by comparing the effectiveness of two medications used to treat opioid use disorder, extended-release buprenorphine (XR-B). CHCI is a sub grantee working in collaboration with Yale University to implement and evaluate the CT arm of the study.