Dr. Stevens examines specialization in American medicine during the past 25 years in order to shed light on recent trends and choices for the future. She looks at the structure of the medical profession and its response to significant change by examining the evolving roles of the 24 specialty-certifying boards. The project focuses on several contexts of specialty practice and how they have changed. These include: the science base and conceptions of disease; the emergence of new specialist fields; the treatment of chronic illness and disabilities that cut across traditional specialty domains; rapid changes in the job market for physicians and reductions in payment for services under managed care; and the changing roles of generalists and specialists and the resulting tensions between them. Dr. Stevens hypothesizes that the boards are quietly changing their role in American medicine. Her work provides insights about the ways in which the medical profession is and might be structured.

Dr. Stevens has published seven books and numerous articles. She has won national awards in the history of medicine, history of public health, and health services research. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.