Anju Ranjit presents her electronic poster on “Patient Centeredness in Research: The Equality Study” at an event hosted by Patient Centered Comparative Effectiveness Research Center (PCERC).

More than 40 researchers from across Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) gathered for a workshop and poster session in June to highlight patient-centered methods and approaches to their work. The event was hosted by the Patient Centered Comparative Effectiveness Research Center (PCERC), and included research in the areas of comparative effectiveness, patient-centered outcomes, health disparities and health services.

This was the second annual event of its kind hosted by PCERC, one of many centers under the Brigham Research Institute (BRI). PCERC was started about four years ago, around the same time as the creation of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, or PCORI, a nongovernmental organization in Washington, DC formed as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Since then, PCERC has grown to serve as a tremendous resource for comparative effectiveness researchers, and offers a way for those with similar research interests to collaborate and share best practices.

“There’s been a lot of continued interest in patient-centered outcomes research, and the number of grants that Brigham researchers have submitted to, and that have been consequently funded by, PCORI has increased significantly in the past few years. It’s an area of growing funder interest, and it’s heartening to see so many researchers, especially younger researchers, interested in networking and learning more about how to compete successfully for these grants,” said Daniel Solomon, MD, MPH, chief of the BWH Section of Clinical Sciences in Rheumatology. Solomon co-directs PCERC along with Joel Weissman, PhD, deputy director and chief scientific officer of the Center for Surgery and Public Health at BWH.

The June event included a workshop, with presentations by Solomon and Sebastian Schneeweiss, MD, ScD, professor of medicine and epidemiology, and vice chief of the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology in BWH’s Department of Medicine. The workshop highlighted several examples of PCORI grants that have been funded, provided information on requirements, and gave an overview of resources available through PCERC.

Then, participants moved from Carrie Hall to the Cabot Atrium, where more than 20 electronic posters were on display. Attendees mingled over refreshments as they discussed their methods and findings. Many of the researchers in attendance at the workshop were on-site to share their latest work and receive feedback from other participants and judges.

After a round of anonymous judging based on relevance, scientific rigor, and clarity of the presentation, the following $1,000 prize recipients were announced:

• Miranda Kim, MD, MBA Predictors of use of radiation therapy (RT) among Medicare patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) Miranda Kim, MD, MBA; Ling Li, Deborah Schrag, MD, MPH; Aileen Chen, MD, MPP
• Michelle Lin, MD, MPH An ED-Based Community Health Worker and Care Coordination Intervention for Frequent ED Users Michelle P. Lin, MD, MPH; Joshua Goldner, MD; Michelle Higgins, PA-C Elisabeth Lessenich, MD; Jeremiah D. Schuur, MD, MHS
• Brittany Smalls, MHSA, PhD Direct and Indirect Effects of Neighborhood Factors and Self-Care on HbA1c Levels in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Brittany Smalls, MHSA, PhD; Chris Gregory, PhD, PT; James Zoller, PhD; Leonard Egede, MD, MS

“We are always excited to see the number and breadth of PCORI submissions,” said Weissman, who himself was recently awarded PCORI funding. “Clearly with health care reform and the creation of PCORI, the field of comparative effectiveness research will only continue to grow. I hope participation in PCERC and attendance at this annual workshop and poster session will continue to grow as well.”