meredith fordyce, phd

Dr. Fordyce is a Research Scientist at the University of Washington’s WWAMI Rural Health Research Center. She earned her doctorate at the University of Washington in Medical Geography and, in addition, completed the Health Services Doctoral Opportunities Program in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Through her work in the WWAMI RHRC, she has over 15 years experience in rural health research. During this time Dr. Fordyce has worked on a wide array of projects dealing with such issues as maternal and child health, diabetes care, malpractice, access to anesthesia services, rural health workforce and the role of international medical graduates in rural areas. She was also involved in the development of the ZIP-level Rural-Urban Commuting Areas (RUCA) codes. Her most recent work describes national physician supply and distribution, concentrating on conditions in rural areas. She has expertise in working with large complex databases, projects with shifting levels of analysis, definitions of rurality and database design. Her research interests include rural health workforce policy issues and rural taxonomies.