Meredith Doherty, PhD, LCSW conducts mixed-method, community-engaged research to understand the relationship between economic security and health. She examines the process through which medical financial hardship accelerates existing racial and ethnic health disparities. Dr. Doherty draws upon her clinical experience as a palliative care social worker in safety-net community hospitals to develop, implement, and evaluate health care-based social needs interventions that target downstream social determinants of health in medically underserved populations. As an implementation scientist, she seeks to advance evidence-based strategies that promote health care access and reduce cancer health disparities.
Dr. Doherty is lead investigator of the Guaranteed Income and Financial Treatment Trial (G.I.F.T.T.), the first randomized control trial of guaranteed income in the U.S. to focus on alleviating financial hardship in families facing cancer. The program will provide over 2,500 low-income Philadelphia cancer patients and their families with financial navigation and direct cash assistance, and assess their impact on key clinical outcomes.
