UMCUniversity of Massachusetts Chan Medical School · Mathematics & Statistics
Equity Care Lab
Jennifer Tjia · Worcester, Massachusetts
Research Focus
Dr. Jennifer Tjia's research focuses on the impact of structural racism on family caregivers of patients with serious illnesses. Her lab conducts studies that explore how neighborhood factors and hospital cultures affect access to palliative care for diverse communities. The aim is to identify barriers that prevent equitable healthcare and to develop actionable recommendations that improve caregiver engagement and patient outcomes.
structural racismpalliative carefamily caregivershealthcare accessneighborhood factors
Research Aims
3AIM 01Evaluate the impact of neighborhood-level resources on health outcomes for caregivers and patients with serious illness.
AIM 02Characterize hospital cultures and their influence on caregiver engagement across different communities.
AIM 03Develop policy recommendations to improve equity in care for patients with serious illness.
Skills the Lab Values
qualitative case studiesquantitative analysisdata analysishealthcare system evaluationcommunity-based research
Output against the department
Publications208bottom 46% of dept.71st of 131
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations5.4kbottom 39% of dept.80th of 131
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.