|
Evaluating a Complex Multi-Site HIV Vaccine Clinical Trials Network
|
| Presenter(s):
|
| Katherine Turner,
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center,
kturner@fhcrc.org
|
| Henry Fischer,
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center,
hfischer@fhcrc.org
|
| Ellen MacLachlan,
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center,
emaclach@fhcrc.org
|
| Abstract:
Funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Division of AIDS (DAIDS), the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) is an international collaboration whose mission is to search for an effective and safe HIV vaccine. The HVTN includes 27 clinical trial sites on four continents and 3 central organizations that provide leadership in study operations, statistics and data management, and laboratory science. With stakeholder input, the HVTN created an evaluation framework, developed performance measures, identified data sources, and began conducting annual assessments in 2002. The evaluation system enables the HVTN sites to understand performance, identify and resolve problems quickly, inform decisions, and document how the HVTN is moving HIV vaccine science forward. Key outcomes include data quality, trial efficiency, community participation, and timely data analysis and publication. This presentation describes how the HVTN, as one program within the larger DAIDS research agenda, developed a meaningful and useful evaluation system.
|
|
From Bench to Bedfellows: The Impact of Institutional Culture on the Evaluation of Large Research Initiatives
|
| Presenter(s):
|
| Cathleen Kane,
Cornell University,
cmk42@cornell.edu
|
| William Trochim,
Cornell University,
wmt1@cornell.edu
|
| Abstract:
This paper takes an operations and management perspective in discussing the evaluation of large federally-funded Translational Research (TR) initiatives. In recent years the NIH launched the Clinical Translational Science Awards (CTSAs), an ambitious new initiative designed to meet TR systems challenges on the pathway from laboratory discovery to clinical application and treatment. To achieve their TR objectives, CTSAs must rely heavily on collaboration and interdisciplinarity, yet many of the investigators and institutions have traditionally operated as equal parts collaborators and competitors. The sheer scope of the initiative and the context of the institutional culture creates many complex new methodological and management challenges for administrators and evaluators. In discussing these dynamics, this paper adopts a managerial lens to view the operationalization of evaluation methods such as publication metrics and analysis, interviews, descriptive and inferential analysis, social network analysis, concept mapping and secondary analysis of existing data.
|
| |