Research 

Report on Fiscal Year 2007-2008 Activities

The Center for Patient Care and Outcomes Research (PCOR) has had a remarkable year, as seen in its continued success in obtaining federally-funded research grants and growth in the number of affiliated faculty and staff. Despite the ongoing difficult funding environment, we have increased federal grant support by 22% over the prior year, to $16.5 million, in total federal funding held by closely-affiliated faculty as Principal Investigators. About 85% of this funding, just over $14 million, is derived from the National Institutes of Health or the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The remainder is funded by the VA HSR&D program and foundation funding, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In addition to federal funding, PCOR-affiliated faculty have over $2 million in grants received from the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin program. PCOR faculty are active in an even longer portfolio of grants of which the Principal Investigators are not members of the Center.

We continue to be especially pleased about the progress of junior faculty with respect to obtaining Career Development Awards (CDA). Five PCOR core faculty across four clinical departments (Drs. Brousseau, Farrell, Neuner, Yen and Wang), hold Career Development Awards. Four of the CDA are funded by the NIH and one is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Two junior faculty members, both in the final year of their Award, have successfully converted those to NIH independent awards. Several mid- and senior-level PCOR faculty hold independent federal funding as well. Closely-affiliated faculty holding NIH R01 funding as Principal Investigators include Drs. Pezzin, Schapira and Nattinger. The VA HSR&D program has also undergone significant growth in funding over the past year. Drs. Dillingham, Whittle, and Fletcher have active IIR HSR&D funding. The VA HSR&D program and investigators are closely affiliated with PCOR research faculty.

PCOR is a core part of a T-32 Training Institutional National Research Service Award that supports an academic fellowship in primary care research. PCOR has also played an increasingly active role in providing opportunities for medical students to receive training in outcomes research. This year, PCOR welcomed five medical students to work on research projects with our faculty. Each student that works with PCOR has the opportunity to work on a discrete research project that leads to a scientific presentation and publication.

PCOR faculty conduct population-based and outcomes research in a broad range of clinical areas and use a variety of research methods. Among our areas of focus are cancer care, care of older adults, and patient communication and medical decision making. Over the past year, PCOR has become increasingly active in community-based research. Dr. Whittle has a VA HSR&D grant that involves community-based research with the use of peer support for hypertension control among veterans. Dr. Schapira has an NIH/NCI grant in the area of health literacy that involves work with Hispanic populations in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Waukesha, Wisconsin. Drs. Whittle, Lamb and Maguire work on community-based projects through funding from the Advancing Healthier Wisconsin program.

With PCOR’s growth has come the need for increased space to accommodate both faculty and research staff. We look forward to participating in long-range planning for future initiatives in outcomes and community-based research at MCW.