Accelerating the Dissemination and Translation of Clinical Research into Practice

Columbia University Medical Center researchers present NIH Clinical Resarch Networks Project results

WASHINGTON – Translational research seeks to directly connect basic research to patient care, but what are some of the most effective ways to accomplish such a broad and urgent task?

To address this key question, the National Institutes of Health is hosting a series of meetings on May 8 and 9, 2008 to discuss ways in which researchers can partner with community health care providers to translate clinical research into practice. A series of workshops will help identify key enablers of successful academic-community provider partnerships; effective strategies for dissemination, diffusion, and adoption of research; and public and private-sector partners for collaborative translational research.

Other workshops are designed to highlight the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research – a set of far-reaching initiatives designed to transform the nation’s medical research capabilities and speed the movement of research discoveries from the bench to the bedside. The Roadmap provides a framework for the priorities the NIH must address in order to optimize its entire research portfolio and lays out a vision for a more efficient and productive system of medical research.

Columbia University Medical Center had a three-year contract to help re-engineer the NIH Clinical Research Networks program and CUMC physician-scientists will present their findings on the project. Stephen Johnson, Ph.D., and colleagues at Columbia have been exploring one particular model, in which a central hub located at the academic medical center coordinates trials in a network of community-based practices located near New York City.

To address the needs of clinical research coordinators, Columbia developed a software system called “WorkWeb,” which supports collaborative activities such as sharing calendars, documents and coordinating workflow. WorkWeb was designed to address significant barriers that impede the conduct of efficient clinical research: the lack of well-designed tools to support day-to-day clinical research activities, the lack of standards for representing clinical research processes, as well as inadequate support for research infrastructure.

Overall, the day will be an opportunity to hear key accomplishments of the NIH Roadmap Clinical Research Networks Program and provide an opportunity for a multi-center research community to critically review and discuss how these accomplishments can be used to advance clinical and translational research. Case studies, posters, and demonstrations are planned.

WHO: Attending from Columbia: Thomas Bigger, M.D., professor of medicine and pharmacology at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and medical director of the Clinical Trials Network of Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital; Stephen Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics. Also from Columbia: Linda Busacca, assistant director for administration, Clinical Trials Network; Senior Systems Analyst Richard Steinman, Project Coordinators Sharib Khan and Meir Florenz, of Biomedical Informatics; and from Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, Rita Kukafka, Dr.P.H., assistant professor of public health (sociomedical sciences) and medical informatics.

Other speakers include: Elias Zerhouni, NIH Director, Barbara Alving, director of the NIH National Center for Research Resources, and Isaac Kohane, Harvard Medical School Informatics Program Chair, among others.

DATE: May 8 & 9, 2008

TIME: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
8 a.m. – 5 p.m. (At 2 p.m. Dr. Johnson will discuss the InterTrial, Columbia’s clinical trial re-engineering project.)

LOCATION: Natcher Conference Center
Main Auditorium, NIH Campus
Bethesda, Maryland

VIDEOCAST: A live videocast of the conference will be available on Friday, May 9 at 8:30 a.m. at http://videocast.nih.gov.

A complete agenda is attached. For more information about the NIH Roadmap, please visit the Web site at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — is comprised of 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Established in 1767, Columbia’s College of Physicians & Surgeons was the first institution in the country to grant the M.D. degree. Among the most selective medical schools in the country, the school is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York State and one of the largest in the country. For more information, please visit www.cumc.columbia.edu.