Sam Cykert, M.D. 
Professor of Medicine & Clinician and Researcher, Associate Director of Medical Education for NC AHEC Program, & Clinical Director of the NC Regional Extension Center for Health Information Technology | UNC-Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC, UNITED STATES
Dr. Cykert's research career has an emphasis on access to care, resolution of health disparities, and primary care practice improvement
Media
Publications:
Documents:
Photos:
Videos:
Audio/Podcasts:
Biography
Dr. Cykert is an Associate Professor of Medicine at UNC-CH. He is a faculty member of the Greensboro Area Health Education Center. His medical practice is at Moses Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro and he is Chief of the Internal Medicine Teaching Program there. He was recently named NC AHEC Director of Primary Care Residency Education.
Dr. Cykert's research career has spanned fifteen years with an emphasis on access to care, resolution of health disparities, and primary care practice improvement. This work includes a local and national survey of primary care physicians acceptance of publicly insured patients (Archives of Family Medicine 1993;2:1153-5; J Gen Intern Med 1995;10:345-8), and measurement of patient preferences that are particularly applicable to health disparities research (J Gen Intern Med 1999;14:217-222; Med Decision Making 2003; 23:167-176). Dr. Cykert has just completed a five-year, prospective study of racial disparities in treatment of early stage, non-small cell lung cancer to identify factors that can be modified to optimize care. He also has served for the last four years as a core leader in the North Carolina Improving Performance in Practice Project.
As part of efforts to merge research with health policy and dissemination, Dr. Cykert is the clinical director and co-PI of the North Carolina Regional Extension Center for Health Information Technology and serves the state as vice chair of North Carolina's Health Information Technology Collaborative (the key advisory group for the development of North Carolina's Health Information Technology System). The HIT Collaborative plays a key role in determining how North Carolina will address meaningful use requirements as defined by the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT. One aspect of this definition will be to disseminate practice tools that improve care and directly address healthcare disparities including those that exist in cardiovascular disease. If interventions prove successful, Dr. Cykert will advocate their use in the state and national IT system.
Industry Expertise (5)
Education/Learning
Research
Health and Wellness
Health Care - Facilities
Health Care - Services
Areas of Expertise (7)
Access to Care
Resolution of Health Disparities
Primary Care Practice Improvement
Racial Disparities in Primary Care
Lung Cancer
Cancer Prevention and Control
Cancer Outcomes
Accomplishments (5)
Alpha Omega Alpha Visiting Professorship, UNC-CH Gamma Chapter (professional)
2006
Joseph P. Stevens Teaching Award, Internal Medicine Training Program (professional)
2006
Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society, Indiana University (professional)
1983, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2002-2004
Society of General Medicine National Award for Innovation in Medical Education (professional)
1996
Outstanding AHEC Faculty Award, UNC-CH (professional)
1996
Education (1)
Indiana University School of Medicine: M.D., Medicine
Affiliations (2)
- North Carolina Regional Extension Center for Health Information Technology : Clinical Director
- North Carolina's Health Information Technology Collaborative : Vice - Chair
Media Appearances (1)
Diabetes Study Leverages iPad For Transition Care
Health IT Outcomes online
2014-09-03
In collaboration with MUSC and UNC-CH, the Bamberg County Diabetes Coalition, the Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties (RMC) and the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SC DHHS) will use Voorhees College as the local host for the project. The project is led by principal Investigators Dr. Sam Cykert from UNC-CH and Dr. Carolyn Jenkins of MUSC. “This collaborative effort is unique, rather than limiting patients to short clinic visits, we are combining community health workers and tech to address access issues in rural health within the community,” explained Cykert...
Articles (5)
Factors associated with decisions to undergo surgery among patients with newly diagnosed early-stage lung cancer
JAMA2010 OBJECTIVES: To identify potentially modifiable factors regarding surgery in patients newly diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer and to explore why blacks undergo surgery less often than whites. Design, Setting, and Patients Prospective cohort study with patients ...
Tamoxifen for breast cancer prevention: a framework for clinical decisions
Obstetrics and Gynecology2004 OBJECTIVE: Given the potential side effects and an uncertain survival benefit, decisions about tamoxifen treatment for the primary prevention of breast cancer remain complex. Primary care providers, including gynecologists, will need to counsel patients regarding ...
Racial differences in patients' perceptions of debilitated health states
Journal of General Internal Medicine1999 OBJECTIVE: To determine health utility scores for specific debilitated health states and to identify whether race or other demographic differences predict significant variation in these utility scores...
Primary care physicians and capitated reimbursement
Journal of General Internal Medicine1997 Given the explosive expansion of capitated reimbursement for the services of primary care physicians, we conducted a national survey of a random sample of these practitioners to measure attitudes toward capitated payment and identify predictors of important attitudes. ...
Health insurance does not guarantee access to primary care
Journal of General Internal Medicine1995 ABSTRACT: The roles of reimbursement and other predictors that affect physicians' willingness to accept publicly insured continuing care patients were examined in a national survey. The response rate was 47%. Eighty-eight percent of the respondents were accepting new ...
Social