Carmit McMullen, PhD, is a medical anthropologist who studies health informatics, cancer survivorship, and health care delivery. She provides expertise in qualitative and ethnographic research methods, such as focus groups, interviews, and fieldwork (participant observation), for studies in diverse subject areas. She also facilitates stakeholder engagement in research by leading advisory boards and by training patient advocates and integrating them into the research process.
Dr. McMullen’s Qualitative and Mixed Methods Service work at Tufts CTSI is supposed by Alison Firemark, MA, and Kim Funkouser, MBA.
Dr. McMullen has used ethnography to study how health care providers across the country communicate in hospital and outpatient settings, ensure patient safety during surgery and critical care, and implement electronic medical records systems. She has developed rapid assessment processes for conducting team-based ethnographic evaluations of clinical trials and implementations of other interventions including health-information technology and organizational change in health care settings. She has also applied user-centered design to needs assessment and intervention development for a range of clinical contexts, from post-operative recovery to provider-patient communication regarding vaccination.
Dr. McMullen has an established research program on treatment-related disability, quality of life, and cancer survivorship among patients with a history of bladder or colorectal cancer. Her cancer research also explores personalized, preference-based treatment options for cancer survivors, including a comparative effectiveness study of urinary diversion options after cystectomy, several large-scale surveys of colorectal cancer survivors, and a series of projects on tailoring treatment and surveillance for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.
Dr. McMullen received her MA and PhD in medical anthropology from Case Western Reserve University. Her earlier research examined self-appraised health status, African American culture and health, and urban health issues in three community-based, anthropological studies of health and aging in Philadelphia.