The infrastructure investments in IT in this region and the strong relationships with our community partners provide an unprecedented opportunity to involve patients, clinicians and researchers in meaningful clinical research.
New Orleans, La. (PRWEB) January 09, 2014
The Louisiana Clinical Data Research Network (LACDRN) was recently approved for a funding award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to develop and expand a health data network that will be part of PCORnet: the National Patient-Centered National Clinical Research Network. The LACDRN is one of 29 such networks that were approved nation-wide for a total of approximately $93.5 million from PCORI on Dec. 17, 2013, to form this new national resource that aims to boost the efficiency of health research.
The LACDRN is a partnership between the Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI), Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and Tulane University. This project, including its requested budget of $6.9 million, is approved subject to a programmatic and budget review by PCORI staff and the negotiation of a formal award contract. During the next 18 months, this collaborative partnership will work together to build an infrastructure for clinical research that may benefit millions of patients in Louisiana. Additionally, the team will advance the capacity to conduct efficient clinical research on two highly prevalent health conditions, obesity and diabetes, along with multiple associated comorbidities, sickle cell disease, and some rare cancers.
“We are thrilled to receive this PCORI award,” said Dr. Anjum Khurshid, Principal Investigator and Director of Health Systems at LPHI. “The LACDRN is a unique collaboration between a top-level research center (Pennington Biomedical), an academic institution of great repute (Tulane) and an established, community-based public health institute (LPHI). The infrastructure investments in IT in this region and the strong relationships with our community partners provide an unprecedented opportunity to involve patients, clinicians and researchers in meaningful clinical research. Not only does the LACDRN promise to bring opportunities for funding clinical research in our state, it also opens numerous opportunities for economic development, entrepreneurship, and job creation in this region and puts Louisiana and New Orleans on the map of major players in biomedical and translational medical research.”
LACDRN is part of PCORnet, which will be a secure, national data network that improves the speed, efficiency, and use of patient-centered clinical research. PCORnet will require patients' and other stakeholders' involvement in all aspects of the collection and use of the data. Additionally, it will reduce the time and effort needed to launch new studies and focus research on questions and outcomes especially useful to patients and those who care for them while advancing the shift in clinical research from investigator-driven to patient-centered studies.
“We are pleased that the LACDRN will be part of this exciting initiative to build the data structures needed to significantly enhance the speed and efficiency of patient-centered comparative effectiveness research,” said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby. “The process to select the awardees was very competitive and the LACDRN demonstrated it has the expertise, resources, and commitment to engaging patients and other stakeholders to be an excellent fit in PCORnet.”
“This project will also employ innovative technologies in the collection of patient-reported data both within and outside the clinical setting, bringing New Orleans and Louisiana into the national spotlight again as a leader in advancing healthcare for our communities,” said Joe Kimbrell, CEO of LPHI. “By actively and continuously engaging patients, clinicians and health systems leadership in the LACDRN governance, design and implementation, the network will be a patient-centered, community-based resource that prioritizes and facilitates clinical research to address our patients’ needs.”
“I’m pleased that Tulane is part of the LACDRN partnership with LPHI and Pennington Biomedical,” said Dr. Vivian Fonseca, Chief of Endocrinology at Tulane University School of Medicine. “This is a unique opportunity to study and test health system improvements and compare treatment strategies in populations that face significant health challenges. In the future we hope to expand our capabilities to work with all disease states and improve health outcomes in Louisiana using this new technological capability.”
“The development and use of the LACDRN will constitute another significant advance in translational research in Louisiana,” said Ronald Horswell, PhD Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Pennington Biomedical. “The overall clinical focus of the LACDRN, obesity and diabetes, is of great importance to the state, and Pennington Biomedical looks forward to collaborating with LPHI and Tulane, as well as other organizations, in working toward improved health outcomes for Louisiana citizens.”
The LACDRN was selected through a review process in which patients, caregivers, and other stakeholders joined scientists to evaluate the proposals. Applications were assessed for the capacity of their network to collect complete, comprehensive clinical data, how well they will engage patients and other stakeholders, and their ability to maintain data security and patient privacy among other criteria.
All awards are approved pending completion of a business and programmatic review by PCORI staff and issuance of a formal award contract. PCORI has awarded a total of $464.4 million since it began funding CER in 2012. For more information about PCORI funding, visit http://pcori.org/funding-opportunities.
About the Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI)
Founded in 1997, The Louisiana Public Health Institute’s mission is to promote and improve the health and quality of life in Louisiana through public-private partnering at the community, parish and state levels. By fostering collaborative endeavors in the areas of health information, public policy, applied research, and community capacity enhancement, LPHI works to develop community-oriented solutions that improve the health of the Louisiana population. For more information, visit http://www.lphi.org.
About PCORI
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is an independent, non-profit organization authorized by Congress in 2010. Its mission is to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information needed to make better-informed health care decisions. PCORI is committed to continuously seeking input from a broad range of stakeholders to guide its work. More information is available at http://www.pcori.org.
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