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Bridget Smith, PhD
Bridget Smith, PhD
Research Assistant Professor, Institute for Healthcare Studies
Feinberg School of Medicine
Northwestern University		Bridget Smith

Institute for Healthcare Studies
Northwestern University
750 North Lakeshore Drive
10th Floor
Chicago, IL 60611

Bridget.Smith@med.va.gov 

Bridget Smith, PhD is a research assistant professor in the Institute for Healthcare Studies and the in the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.  She is also a senior investigator at the Hines VA Center for Management of Complex Chronic Care, Center of Excellence and the Spinal Cord Injury Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (SCI QUERI). Bridget received her doctorate from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, Bloomington.   She has expertise in health services research, health outcomes, and health economics.  Bridget’s research is focused on the evaluation of outcomes associated with the provision of health care to persons with disabilities. Her interests include the management of chronic diseases in individuals with spinal cord injury, examining costs and quality of life outcomes with interventions to improve quality of care, statistical methodology, and the impact of multiple system use on outcomes. Bridget has participated in several SCI QUERI projects focused on the treatment and prevention of respiratory complications in persons with SCI&D and a CMC3 project examining the effects of the VA medication copayment increase. She is currently the PI for the VA HSR&D funded studies, “Health Care Use and Costs of Veterans with Neurotrauma” and “Evaluation of VA’s TBI Clinical Reminder and Secondary Evaluation”, and for a study funded by the Paralyzed Veterans of America, “The Management of Lipid Disorders in Veterans with SCI/D”.



Recent Journal Publications

Weaver F, Goldstein B, Evans C, Legro M, LaVela S, Smith B, Miskevics S, Hammond MC.  Influenza Vaccination Among Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury, Part 2.  Increasing vaccination rates, Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine. 2003;26:210-218.

Guihan, M., Goldstein, B., Smith, B., Schwartz, A.., Manheim, L.  SCI Health Care Provider Attitudes about Pressure Ulcer Management. Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine: 2003: 26(2):129-34.

Weaver FM, Hatzakis M, Evans CT, Smith B, Lavela S, Wallace C, Legro M, Goldstein B.  A comparison of multiple data sources to identify vaccinations for veterans with spinal cord injuries and disorders, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 2004 Sep-Oct;11(5):377-9.

LaVela SL, Smith B, Weaver FM, Miskevics S.   Geographical proximity and health care utilization in veterans with SCI&D. Social Science and Medicine 2004;59: 2387-2399.

Martell C and Smith B. Grant Levels and Debt Issuance: Is There a Relationship? Is There Symmetry? Public Budgeting & Finance. 2004; 24(3): 65-81.

LaVela SL, Weaver FM, Legro MW, Smith B. Staff Influenza Vaccination: Lessons Learned. SCI Nursing. 2004; 21(3) 153-157.  

LaVela SL, Smith B, Weaver FM, Legro MW, Goldstein B, Nichol K. Attitudes and practices regarding influenza vaccination among healthcare workers providing services to individuals with spinal cord injuries and disorders. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2004 Nov;25(11):933-40.

Collins EG, Langbein WE, Smith B, Hendricks R, Hammond M, Weaver F. Patients' perspective on the comprehensive preventive health evaluation in veterans with spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord. 2005;43(6):366-74.

Evans CT, Smith B, Parada JP, Kurichi JE, Weaver FM. Trends in antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory infection in veterans with spinal cord injury and disorder. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2005;Jun;55(6):1045-9.

Evans CT, LaVela SL, Smith B, Miskevics S, Weaver FM, Goldstein B. Influenza diagnosis and treatment in veterans with spinal cord injury.  Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 2006; 87:291-293.

Weaver FM, Smith B, Evans CT, Kurichi J, Patel N, Kapur V, Burns SP. Outcomes of outpatient visits for acute respiratory illness in veterans with spinal cord injuries and disorders.  American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 2006; 85(9): 718-726.

LaVela SL, Weaver FM, Smith B, Chen K. Disease prevalence and use of preventive services: Comparisons of female veterans in general and those with SCI&D. Journal of Women's Health, 2006; 15(3): 301-311.

Weaver FM, Smith B, LaVela SL, Legro MW, Wallace C, Evans CT, Hammond M, Goldstein B. Interventions to increase influenza vaccination rates in veterans with spinal cord injuries and disorders.  Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine. 2007;30:10-19

Weaver FM, Collins E, Kurichi J, Miskevics S, Smith, B, Rajan, S, Gater, D. Obesity and High Blood Pressure in Veterans with Spinal Cord Injuries and Disorders: Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease. American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.  2007;86(1):22-29.

Evans CT, LaVela SL, Smith B, Wallace C, Goldstein B, Weaver FM.  Response to the 2004-2005 influenza vaccine shortage in veterans with spinal cord injuries and disorders and their providers. Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine.  2007;30:20-26.

LaVela SL, Smith B, Weaver FM.  Perceived risk for influenza in persons with spinal cord injuries and disorders. Rehabilitation Psychology 2007;52:458-462.

Smith B, Evans CT, Kurichi JE, Weaver FM, Patel N, Burns SB. Acute Respiratory Infection Visits in Veterans with SCI&D: Rates, Trends, and Risk Factors.  J Spinal Cord Med. 2007;30(4):355-61.

Smith B, Weaver F, Ullrich P. Prevalence of Depression Diagnoses and Use of Antidepressant Medications by Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury. American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2007;86(8):662-71.

LaVela SL, Goldstein B, Smith B, Weaver FM.  Working with symptoms of a respiratory infection: Staff who care for high-risk individuals. American Journal of Infection Control. 2007;35(7):448-54.

Stroupe KT, Smith BM, Lee TA, Tarlov E, Durazo-Arvizu R, Huo Z, Barnett T, Cao L, Burk M, Cunningham FE, Hynes DM, Weiss KB. Effect of Increased Copayments on Pharmacy Use in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Medical Care. 2007;45(11):1090-7.

Smith B, LaVela S, Weaver F. Health Related Quality of Life and Spinal Cord Injury. Spinal Cord. 2008; 46(7):507-12.

Smith B, Guihan M, LaVela S, Garber S.  Risk factors for pressure ulcers in veterans with spinal cord injuries. American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 2008; 87(9):750-7. 

Yu, W, Smith B, Kim S, Chow A, Weaver F. Major Medical Conditions and VA Health Care Costs Near End of Life for Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury and Disorders. Journal of Research, Rehabilitation and Development. 2008; 45(6):831-840.

Banerjea R, Findley PA, Smith B, Findley T, Sambamoorthi U. Co-occurring medical and mental illness and substance use disorders among veteran clinic users with spinal cord injury patients with complexities. Spinal Cord 2009; May 5. [Epub ahead of print]

Gupta R, Kim JS, Springston EE, Smith B, Pongracic JA, Wang A, Holl J.  Food Allergy Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs in the United States.  Annals of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology.  In Press.