May 16 Symposium on Implementation Research in the Learning Health System
Here are new and updated details about the upcoming Vanderbilt Symposium on Implementation Research in the Learning Health System.
The planning committee includes professor Chris Lindsell and research assistant professor Cheryl L. Gatto.
Symposium registration: https://redcap.link/IRLHSregistration2022
Abstract submission for poster reception: https://redcap.link/IRLHSpostersubmission2022
Project proposal submission for workshop: https://redcap.link/IRLHSworkshopsubmission2022
Yu Shyr inducted into AACR Academy
AACR Fellows, class of 2022. Yu Shyr is third from left in the front row.
May 16 Implementation Research Symposium
Note: this blog post has been superseded by the April 19 update about symposium opportunities.
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Vanderbilt Center for Clinical Quality and Implementation Research and the Vanderbilt CTSA/VICTR Learning Healthcare System are co-sponsoring an in-person symposium on May 16. More details are forthcoming. The planning committee includes professor Chris Lindsell and research assistant professor Cheryl L. Gatto, and there will be a poster session (submissions welcome through April 25; see the symposium webpage for guidelines).
Health & Wellness
Spring has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere. To quote the poet Tennyson, "In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove." (The state flower of Tennessee is the iris.)
Spring is also a great time to set new self-care goals. The Department of Biostatistics has a long-standing relationship with Vanderbilt's Health & Wellness initiative. Senior associate Dan Byrne helped create the award-winning Go for the Gold program in 2003, and with biostatistician Ryan Moore provides support for "The Healthy Pulse," a feature that appears on the back page of each issue of Connection, which is mailed to all Vanderbilt employees.
Spotlight on Samuel Nwosu and Jubilee Tan
Lead biostatistician Samuel Nwosu was featured in the March 17 issue of the ACTIV-6 Site Newsletter, and application developer Jubilee Tan in the March 4 edition. The interviews are republished here with permission of the Duke Clinical Research Institute.
Data Coordinating Center Spotlights
Samuel Nwosu
What is your role on ACTIV-6?
Provide assistance with data management, create trial summary reports, perform data validations, and help with implementing the trial's interim analyses.
What activities or hobbies do you enjoy outside of work?
I enjoy spending time with my family, a good jog, and the occasional adventurous/extreme activity.
Why do you think ACTIV-6 is important?
This trial is at the forefront to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and provide a pathway to ending this global pandemic.
What drives and motivates you about working on the ACTIV-6 study?
Knowing that the work I do is part of a bigger community to assist in the fight against COVID-19. Hopefully my effort within the ACTIV-6 study will help everyone get back to some sense of normalcy
Jubilee Tan
What is your role on ACTIV-6?
I maintain and upgrade automated information systems among four roles: participants, pharmacy, the call center, and biometric analysts.
What activities or hobbies do you enjoy outside of work?
When I get off work, I usually spend time with family, watch movies, and fix some issues in open source community.
Why do you think ACTIV-6 is important?
Since COVID changed our lives two years ago, many families may have faced a very big change, not only the loss of life, but also social distancing and economic shock. This project is an opportunity to turn things around so that people can go back to life before the pandemic.
What drives and motivates you about working on the ACTIV-6 study?
This project is about helping people fight COVID, and I feel very motivated every time I think about this work that could lead to an earlier end to the pandemic.
Vanderbilt Biostatistics Bulletin - February 2022 issue
The February 2022 issue of our department newsletter is now available. We are excited about our recent accomplishments and upcoming events.
Note: the application deadline for the Vanderbilt Biostatistics Summer Internship for Underrepresented Undergraduates has been extended to March 14, and the due date for useR! abstracts is now March 15.
Spotlight on Chris Lindsell
Professor Chris Lindsell, who leads the ACTIV-6 Data Coordinating Center, was featured in the February 11 issue of the ACTIV-6 Site Newsletter, which is published twice a month by Duke Clinical Research Institute. The interview is republished here with permission.
What is your role on ACTIV-6? I am privileged to lead the Data Coordinating Center. Our team has developed an innovative way of running studies by using the research record like the medical record. The data we collect includes a mix of the information we need to find out what medicines help patients feel better faster, and all of the data needed for real time study information sharing and communications. The partnership with DCRI has allowed us to create a fully integrated system that will continue to get better as we learn from this new way of doing studies.
What activities or hobbies do you enjoy outside of work? I used to play rugby, but then I blew out my knees. Then I used to sail, but there isn’t much water in Nashville. I took up gardening but my brown thumb left me with little hope. For a while, I was a craft beer brewer and home vintner, which also had bad side effects. Pandemic isolation gave me a whole new lease on life and I got to teach myself the guitar while smoking bacon, chicken, salmon, turkey, brisket, cheese, bread, and even vegetables. This year I plan to master the art of pastry (or patience, or both).
Why do you think ACTIV-6 is important? If there is a safe medicine already available that could help people feel better faster from Covid-19, I want to know that, I think that’s important.
What drives and motivates you about working on the ACTIV-6 study? The challenge of finding a way to do research in totally different ways and solving the problem of what medicines help people feel better faster drives me. The passion, dedication, and excellence of the teams that are leading this research motivate me.
Spotlight on Savannah Obregon
Application developer Savannah Obregon was featured in the January 28 issue of the ACTIV-6 Site Newsletter, which is published twice a month by Duke Clinical Research Institute. Her contributions to the study range from front-end presentations to back-end programming, including displays of study data on the Support Site landing page, the site's FAQ, the creation of a back-up server for emergency randomization, and auto-generating alerts. As stated in the issue, "her work is invaluable to site enrollment and the smooth operation of the study as a whole."
To date, the ACTIV-6 research study has enrolled more than three thousand participants. To learn more about the quest to help people with COVID-19 feel better faster, visit activ6study.org.
(Spotlight republished here with permission.)
Cancer-Immu: a new data portal for research and treatment
Click the link to read the feature in the January 14 VUMC Reporter.
Celebrating ACTIV-6 and IVY
Happy 2022, y'all! At the end of 2021, members of the Vanderbilt ACTIV-6 and IVY teams gathered online to celebrate the work they've collectively achieved in collaboration. Department members in the below gallery include Chris Lindsell, Wu Gong, Samuel Nwosu, Matt Shotwell, Yuwei Zhu, Zhouwen Liu, Dean Gibson, and Kim Hart.
You can see most of the attendees wearing a t-shirt with a logo symbolizing the integration of the teams' expertise and dedication. The logo was designed by program manager Meghan Vance.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center houses the Data Coordinating Center for the national ACTIV-6 drug repurposing trials. Dr. Lindsell heads the DCC as its principal investigator, with department members Frank Harrell and Tom Stewart among its co-investigators. For more about the medical center's role with ACTIV-6, see this November VUMC Reporter feature.
The Influenza and Other Viruses in the Acutely Ill (IVY) Network has more than 11,000 critically ill people enrolled in its COVID-19 surveillance studies to date. Recent publications include "Association Between mRNA Vaccination and COVID-19 Hospitalization and Disease Severity," presented in the November 4 issue of JAMA.
