Barbara Starfield


Barbara Starfield was an American pediatrician. She was an advocate for primary health care worldwide. Her academic and professional life was almost fully dedicated to the Johns Hopkins University.

Biography

Starfield studied medicine between 1954 and 1959 at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center and graduated magna cum laude. She specialized in pediatrics between 1959 and 1962 at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. She obtained her Masters in Public Health in 1963 at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.
She was placed in charge of the Department of Health Policy and Management of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore in 1994.
Her books have been translated into several languages. She was a member of many scientific societies, and an adviser for many official healthcare institutions around the world. She was a member of the editorial board and a reviewer for several internationally renowned medical journals.
She led projects to develop important methodological tools, including the Primary Care Assessment Tool, the CHIP tools, and the Johns Hopkins Adjusted Clinical Groups for assessment of diagnosed morbidity burdens reflecting degrees of co-morbidity. Starfield was the co-founder and first president of the International Society for Equity in Health, a scientific organization devoted to the dissemination of knowledge about the determinants of inequity in health and finding ways to eliminate them. Her work thus focuses on quality of care, health status assessment, primary care evaluation, and equity in health.

Honors and awards

Books


  • Starfield B. Primary Care and Health. A Cross-National Comparison. JAMA. 1991; 266:2268–71.
  • Starfield B, Simpson L. Primary Care as Part of U.S. Health Services Reform. JAMA. 1993; 269:3136–9.
  • Starfield B. Is Primary Care Essential? Lancet. 1994; 344:1129–33.
  • Starfield B, Cassady C, Nanda J, Forrest CB, Berk R. Consumer Experiences and Provider Perceptions of the Quality of Primary Care: Implications for Managed Care. Journal Family Practice. 1998; 46:216–26.
  • Starfield B. New paradigms for quality in primary care. Br J Gen Pract. 2001; 51:303-9.
  • Starfield B, Forrest CB, Nutting PA, von Schrader S. Variability in Physician Referral Decisions. Journal American Board Family Practice. 2002; 15:473–80.
  • Starfield B, Lemke KW, Bernhardt T, Foldes SS, Forrest CB, Weiner JP. Comorbidity: Implications for the Importance of Primary Care in "Case" Management. Annals Family Medicine. 2003; 1:8–14.
  • Starfield B, Shi L. The Medical Home, Access to Care, and Insurance: A Review of Evidence. Pediatrics. 2004; 113:1493–8.
  • Starfield B, Shi L. Primary care and health outcomes: a health services research challenge. Health Serv Res. 2007; 42:2252-6.
  • Valderas JM, Starfield B, Salisbury C. Definitions of chronic health conditions in childhood. JAMA. 2007; 298:1636.
  • Valderas JM, Starfield B, Roland M. Multimorbidity’s many challenges: A research priority in the UK. BMJ. 2007; 334:1128.
  • Starfield B, Shi L. Commentary: The impact of primary care and what states can do. North Carolina Medical Journal. 2007; 68:204-7.
  • Starfield B. Co-morbidity and its challenges for quality of primary care. Rev Port Clin Geral. 2007; 23:179-80.
  • Starfield B. Pathways of influence on equity in health: A rejoinder to Braveman and Wilkinson. Soc Sci Med. 2007; 64:1371-2.
  • Starfield B, Fryer GE Jr. The primary care workforce: ethical and policy implications. Ann Fam Med. 2007; 5:486-91.
  • Starfield B, Birn A-E. Income redistribution is not enough: income inequality, social welfare programs, and achieving equity in health. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2007; 61:1038-41.
  • Beasley JW, Starfield B, vanWeel C, Rosser WW, Haq CL. Global health and primary care research. J Am Board Fam Med. 2007; 20:518-26.
  • Pueyo MJ, Serra-Sutton V, Alonso J, Starfield B, Rajmil L. Self-reported social class in adolescents: validity and relationship with gradients in self-reported health. BMC Health Services Research. 2007; 7:151.
  • Forrest CB, Shadmi E, Nutting PA, Starfield B. Specialty referral completion among primary care patients: results from the ASPN Referral Study. Ann Fam Med. 2007; 5:361-7.
  • Starfield B, Horder J. Interpersonal continuity: old and new perspectives. Br J Gen Pract. 2007; 57:527-9.
  • Starfield B. Pathways of influence on equity in health. Soc Sci Med. 2007; 64:1355-62.
  • Macinko J, Starfield B, Shi L. Quantifying the health benefits of primary care physician supply in the United States. Int J Health Serv. 2007; 37:111-26.
  • Gervas J, Starfield B, Heath I. Is clinical prevention better than cure? Lancet. 2008; 372:1997-9.
  • Starfield B. Refocusing the system. N Engl J Med. 2008; 359:2087, 2091.
  • Lee TH, Bodenheimer T, Goroll AH, Starfield B, Treadway K. Perspective roundtable: redesigning primary care. N Engl J Med. 2008; 359:e24.
  • Starfield B. Access, primary care, and the medical home: rights of passage. Med Care. 2008; 46:1015-16.
  • Starfield B. The biggest bang for the buck: a conversation with Barbara Starfield, M.D., M.P.H. Interview by Sallie Rixey. Md Med. 2008; 9:11-3.
  • Rawaf S, De Maeseneer J, Starfield B. From Alma-Ata to Almaty: a new start for primary health care. Lancet. 2008; 372:1365-7.
  • Starfield B. An evidence base for primary care. Managed Care. 2008; 17:33-26, 39.
  • Starfield B, Hyde J, Gérvas J, Heath I. The concept of prevention: a good idea gone astray? J Epidemiol Community Health. 2008; 62:580-3.
  • Alonso J, Urzola D, Serra-Sutton V, Tebe C, Starfield B, Riley AW, Rajmil L. Validity of the health profile-types of the Spanish Child Health and Illness Profile – Adolescent Edition. Value in Health. 2008; 11:440-9.
  • Starfield B. The importance of primary care in health systems.. Hong Kong Practitioner. 2008; 30:1-2.
  • Starfield B. Quality and outcomes framework: patient-centred. Lancet. 2008; 372:692-4.
  • Starfield B. Primary care in Canada: coming or going?. Healthc Pap. 2008; 8:58-62; discussion 64-7.
  • ; Barbara Starfield; Humanity & Society, Vol 33, Issue 1-2, pp. 56-73; February 1, 2009; 10.1177/016059760903300105.
  • Starfield B. Re-inventing primary care: lessons from Canada for the United States. Health Aff. 2010; 29:1030-6.
  • Starfield B. Commentary on regular primary care lowers hospitalisation risk and mortality in seniors with chronic respiratory disease. J Gen Intern Med. 2010; 25:758-9.
  • Starfield B. Primary care, specialist care, and chronic care: can they interlock? Chest. 2010; 137:8-10.

Conferences