Capstone Projects

As part of a fully integrated four-year residency, our residents complete an individual, longitudinal capstone project which requires sustained effort over the four years of residency. These projects provide residents with the opportunity to integrate and demonstrate their knowledge of a subject that interests them.

Upon completion, residents will have produced one of the following learning outcomes:

  • Development of a postgraduate medical education curriculum that is testable and can be implemented by our residency or in other educational settings.
  • A quality improvement intervention that can be reported in a publication that reflects the Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE) publication guidelines.
  • A clinical or community-based research project that results in a peer-reviewed, publication-ready article.

Developing one of these three learning outcomes provides our residents another avenue for professional development and a means to contribute to the knowledge base of the medical profession.

Examples of past capstone projects

  • “Feasibility of a Telemedicine Model for Inpatient Palliative Care Consults”
  • “Transgender Health Curriculum”
  • “The Effects of Psychosocial Adversity, Adult Attachment and Resilience on Health”
  • “Reproductive Health Services at School-Based Health Centers in Oregon”
  • “Predictors and Barriers of Transfers of HIV Care Between Rural Health Centers in Kenya”
  • “A Pilot Study to Investigate the Feasibility and Efficacy of Primary Care Physician- Led Shared Medical Appointments for the Treatment of Co-Morbid Major Depressive Disorder and Diabetes"

Capstone topics and recorded presentations

May 2023 Presentations:  Capstone Project Presentations Group One (access code: GuxtSg2d)

Michelle Scheurich:  Obstetric and Newborn Services in Rural and Frontier Oregon - A Needs Assessment 

Omar Fares: Implementing a Point-of-Care Ultrasound Curriculum for Family Medicine Residency Faculty

Britt McAdams:  Training with Family - A Needs Assessment of Current and Former Parenting Residents in OHSU's Family Medicine Residency

June 2023 Presentations:  Capstone Project Presentations Group Two (access code: fNB86Qwp)

Ryan Nesbit Deane:  BATHE for Resident Wellness - Findings from Inpatient Rounds

Eliza Slater:  Continuity of Community Care in Cuba - Lessons for Rural America

Alexa Rawlins:  Battling the Inner Critic - Practices in Self Compassion and Reflection for OHSU Family Medicine Residents

Andrew Wang:  Scope - Investigation of Family Medicine-Performed Colonoscopies in Oregon

Sara Shimanek:  Assessing Utilization of the Paracervical Block in Family Medicine Faculty Clinical Practice

Katie Pavlat:  Medicine Inpatient Service Patient Presentations Pre and During Covid-19 Pandemic

June 2023 Presentations: Capstone Project Presentations Group Three (access code: pMi7P2hF)

Sienna Nelson:  Increasing Fetal Monitoring Access for High-Risk Pregnancies in a Rural County

Brooke Bachelor:  OHSU Integrative Health Collaborative (OIHC): Exploring Virtual Platforms as a Tool for Integrative Health Collaboration

Emily Dollar:  Food as Medicine - Evaluating a Vegetable Prescription Program in Oregon

Hilary Titus: Senioring (https://youtu.be/AriWxcIWd84) - click on the link to view.

May 2022 Presentations: Capstone Project Presentations Group One (access code: 3rRKXrmY)

Nikki Cairns:  Addressing Gender Bias in Remediation and Feedback

Robin Vest:  Human Papillomavirus Vaccination for Postpartum Patients: A Quality Improvement Initiative

Ishak Elkhal:  A Foray into Biostatistical Modeling in the World of COVID

Justin Lee:  Implementation and Assessment of Anti-Racist Structural Competency Training for First Year Medical Students

May 2022 Presentations: Capstone Project Presentations Group Two (access code: Yf9vQa8F)

Patty Tran:  Community Health Needs Assessments of the Asian American Population in the Portland Metropolitan Area

Nate Andrews:  Integration of Lifestyle Medicine into OHSU Family Medicine Residency Curriculum

Laurence Moore:  CPCC Reverse Integrated Behavioral Health Clinic Impact Study

Annie Buckmaster:  @ohsufamilymedres: Social Media as a Tool for Applicant Recruitment

June 2022 Presentations: Capstone Project Presentations Group Three (access code: jF2eTpSP)

Elizabeth Corwin:  An Educational Presentation for OHSU Family Medicine Providers with Aim to Improve Screening for Tuberculosis in Prenatal Patients

Arisa Takeuchi:  Improving SIC Conversation in FM Residency

Mel Ruberg:  The F.R.E.E.dom Experiment: Family Residents Exploring Evidence

May 2021 Presentations: Capstone Project Presentations Group One (access code: bUTi6RGP)

Josh Cohen: Mixed Methods Analysis of Outcomes of Graduates of OHSU's 4 year FM Residency

Colleen Cooper: The EMBRACE Curriculum: Creating a Medical Student Elective on Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal

John Mitchell: Physical Activity Promotion in Primary Care: Exercise as a Vital Sign

May 2021 Presentations: Capstone Project Presentations Group Two (access code: Wyv53i3m)

Jenan Hilal: Needs Assessment for Reproductive Health Access in Columbia County

Di Deng: POCUS Curriculum Development in the Time of COVID

Megan Quinlan: Improving Inpatient Didactic Teaching for Residents on a Family Medicine Inpatient Service

Dan Slowey: Medical Legal Partnerships: Challenges, Solutions, and Reflections

June 2021 Presentations: Capstone Project Presentations Group Three (access code: Pj5unC6M)

Katie Putnam: Landscape of Pregnancy Care in the Safety Net Setting

Ben Colburn: "The Interstitium": A Novel Medium for Meaning - Making in Healthcare

Roheet Kakaday: Facilitating Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy via an EHR-based SmartSet

Alex Domingo: Virtual Residency Interviews: Equity, Effectiveness, and Carbon Footprint

May 2020 Presentations: Capstone Project Presentations - Group One

Stuart Zeltzer: Improving Chronic Condition Coding and Documentation among Family Medicine Residents through a Web-based Interacting Learning Module
Ryan Manns: A Food Insecurity Project at the Benson School Based Health Center
Amanda Aninwene: Evaluation of Health Equity & Social Justice Book Club/Discussion Group in Family Medicine at OHSU
Mustafa Mahmood: Mental Health in Portland's Muslim Population

May 2020 Presentations: Capstone Project Presentations - Group Two

Jean Yau: Knowing & Growing: Healthy Bodies, Healthy Hearts, Healthy Lives
Melissa Logan: Predicting 30 Day Hospital Readmissions to the Family Medicine Inpatient Service
Cait Williamson: Postpartum Depression Screening at Gabriel Park: Practices and Barriers
Dominic Caruso: Planning School Health Services in the Scappoose School District: Performing a Community Needs Assessment
Maria Palazeti: Maintaining Values in Medicine
Brit Nilsen: Equity and Inclusion Curriculum in Family Medicine Residency
Kristen Otto: Family Medicine in Botswana: Adapting an International Rotation for OHSU FM Residents
Claire Montaigne: Patient Perspectives of Project Nurture - A Qualitative Analysis

May, 2019 presentations: Watch the full video here.

Mustafa Alavi: Who Really Matches into Primary Care & Why Family  Medicine?
Jenna Walters: Establishing a Hospital-based Medical Legal  Partnership
Kris Azevedo: Training OHSU Family Medicine Residents in  Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder
Ben Hersh: Developing an Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) to Improve Transgender Health Care
Michael Tudeen: Program Evaluation of Oregon Medicaid's Planned  Out-of-Hospital Births Requiring Transfer to the  Hospital
Gabe Plourde: Opiate Use Disorder Capstone - A Multifaceted  Approach
Lisa Kipersztok: Family-Centered Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal  Syndrome (NOWS) Care: A Multi-disciplinary Improvement Initiative at OHSU

June, 2019 presentations: Watch the full video here

Rachel Sircar: Depression and ACE Screening in Pregnancy
Hans Han: Development of a Resident Curriculum in Japan
Maggie Wells: Hill Family Handbook for Patient and Physician Wellness
Kelly Shaffer: Adventure Therapy for the Treatment of Addiction
Cait Goss: Acquisition of Sexual and Reproductive Health Education
Jessica Cody: The Impact of Stress on Work Productivity among Thai Hospital Employees
Sarah Skog: Assessment of Diabetes Distress in a Patient Centered Primary Care Home