Maria Pérez, MA

Maria is a specialized research professional responsible for the overall coordination, management, and implementation of behavioral research projects since 2004. She has been the project manager for two studies funded by the National Cancer Institute, including an observational cohort study of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients and controls without a history of breast cancer as well as a randomized clinical trial of a culturally tailored, interactive cancer-communications intervention for newly diagnosed African American breast cancer patients.

Maria currently serves as project manager of a study funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to identify interventions that can increase the diversity of physician-scientists in the biomedical-research workforce (R01 GM085350; PI: DB Jeffe) in addition to serving as Manager of the Health Behavior, Communication and Outreach Core since 2012. The Core provides services in behavioral science, epidemiology, health education and communication, and program evaluation as well as for instrument development (e.g., educational, psychological, and quality-of-life assessments), geocoding and spatial statistics. She also currently manages a study to further assess issues of racial/ethnic and gender bias in clerkship grading funded by the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Education Affairs. Maria also is a member of the Program Evaluation and Continuous Quality Improvement Unit in the Office of Education, providing data management and analysis on a variety of special projects for the advancement of educational programs at Washington University School of Medicine.

Select publications

1. Colson ER, Pérez M, Blaylock L, Jeffe DB, Lawrence SJ, Wilson SA, Aagaard EM. Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis Case Study: A Process for Understanding and Addressing Bias in Clerkship Grading. Academic Medicine. 2020 Dec; 95(12S Addressing Harmful Bias and Eliminating Discrimination in Health Professions Learning Environments):S131-S135.
2. Hanson JL, Pérez M, Mason HRC, Aagaard EM, Jeffe DB, Teherani A, Colson ER. Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Clerkship Grading: Perspectives of Students and Teachers. Academic Medicine. 2022 Aug 9. Epub ahead of print.