Lisa Zubkoff PhD

Dr. Zubkoff is an Associate Professor in the Division of Preventive Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Associate Director for Research at the Birmingham/Atlanta Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) at the Birmingham VA Health Care System. As an Implementation Scientist, her research focuses on developing and testing implementation strategies to improve the uptake of evidence-based practices. She has served as PI and Co-Investigator on several studies, including those funded by the NIH, VA, and not for profits. Dr. Zubkoff’s recent work has included the adaptation of quality improvement collaboratives to a virtual learning collaborative as an implementation strategy to foster improvement in healthcare organizations.

Education

• BA, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
• MS, Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
• PhD, Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
• Postdoc, Department of Veterans Affairs, Sepulveda, CA

Research Interests

• Generation of knowledge about methods to improve the adoption, adaptation, integration, and scalability of evidence-based practices
• Improving the integration of the evidence-based ENABLE early palliative care program in oncology practices for advanced cancer patients and their caregivers
• Understanding the implementation process for the evidence-based early palliative care program, ENABLE (Educate, Nurture, Advise, Before Life Ends)
• Planning and execution of the Virtual Quality Improvement Collaborative, also known as Virtual Breakthrough Series, to improve care for Veterans
• Understanding the implementation of evidence-based practices in the Veterans Health Administration
• Examining if Veterans who present with moderate or severe pain receive appropriate, high-quality care; VA HELP-Vets project

Recent Publications

• Zubkoff L, Lyons KD, Dionne-Odom JN, Hagley G, Pisu M, Azuero A, Flannery M, Taylor R, Carpenter-Song E, Mohile S, Bakitas MA. A cluster randomized controlled trial comparing virtual learning collaborative and technical assistance strategies to implement an early palliative care program for patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers. Imp Sci. 2021 Mar 11;16(1):25. doi: 10.1186//s13012-021-01086-3.
• Zubkoff L, Bakitas M, Lyons K, Dionne-Odom JN, Hagley G, Flanner M, Taylor R, Azuero A, Carpenter-Song E, Pisu M, Nelson EC, Watts BV, Mohile S. Building Sustainable Palliative Care Services for Advanced Cancer Patients and their Caregivers: Comparing Two Implementation Strategies among Community Oncology Practices. 13th Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health. December 15-17, 2020. Virtual.
• Zubkoff L, Bakitas MA, Lyons K, Dionne-Odom JN, Flannery M, Taylor R, Azuero A, Carpenter-Song E, Pisu M, Mohile S. Implementing Palliative Care: Learning Collaborative vs. Technical Assistance. Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences Division of Cancer Prevention New Grantee Workshop, November 22, 2019, Rockville, MD.
• Zubkoff L, Neily J, Mills PD.  How to do a Virtual Breakthrough Series Collaborative. J Med Syst. 2019 Jan 3;43(2):27. doi: 10.1007/s10916-018-1126-z.
• Romo RD, Carpenter JG, Buck H, Lindley LC, Xu J, Owen JA, Sullivan SS, Bakitas M, Dionne-Odom JN, Zubkoff L, Matzo M; HPNA Research Advisory Council. HPNA 2019-2022 Research Agenda: Development and Rationale. J Hosp Palliat Nurs.  2019 Aug;21(4):E17-E23. PMC6776462