The Role of a Division of Quantitative Sciences Division in Enhancing Academic Productivity of a Department of Pediatrics

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Role of a Division of Quantitative Sciences Division in Enhancing Academic Productivity of a Department of Pediatrics

AU - Smith, P. Brian

AU - Benjamin, Daniel K.

AU - Reed, Ann M.

N1 - Funding Information: P. Brian Smith MD, MPH, MHS * brian.smith@duke.edu Daniel K. Benjamin Jr MD, PhD Ann M. Reed MD Department of Pediatrics, Duke University, Durham, NC Department of Pediatrics Duke University Durham NC * Reprint requests: Duke Clinical Research Institute, 2400 Pratt St, Durham, NC 27710. Duke Clinical Research Institute 2400 Pratt St Durham NC 27710 The number of physician faculty members with expertise in biostatistics, epidemiology, and clinical pharmacology is limited. 1 Support from these areas, however, is critical for producing high-quality study designs, competitive grants, and peer-reviewed publications. 2 To address the lack of availability of these quantitative resources, the Department of Pediatrics at Duke University Medical Center created the Division of Quantitative Sciences with 3 faculty members in 2007. Today, there are 7 faculty members in the Division. All faculty are board-certified pediatricians and include members of the Divisions of General Pediatrics, Critical Care, Cardiology, Neonatology, and Infectious Disease. An eighth faculty member will be added this year. Currently, the faculty expertise includes: biostatistics (2 with MPH); epidemiology (1 with MPH, 1 with PhD, and 1 with PhD anticipated in 2018); and pharmacology (1 with PhD and 2 with PhDs anticipated in 2017). The Department of Pediatrics expects each member of the Division to obtain 75% of their compensation from extramural sources. For a number of years, the Division received a small amount of funding (~$20 000 per year) from the Department to support fellow research, tuition, and travel to meetings. Since 2007, the number and complexity of Departmental projects has increased from 20 per year to 60-100 per year ( ), and the Department has responded by increasing support to include 0.5 full-time equivalent position for a Master's level biostatistician. The biostatistician will collaborate with Divisional faculty to support projects. The majority of projects are unfunded. Of the 61 projects for which analyses were started in 2014-2015, 31 (51%) were in support of clinical pharmacology projects. Recent analyses have included population pharmacokinetic models, physiologically based pharmacokinetic models, and propensity score matching. Table I The goals of the Division of Quantitative Sciences are to: (1) support clinical, translational, and basic laboratory research in the Department of Pediatrics; (2) increase extramural funding; and (3) enhance the education and mentoring of faculty and trainees with research interests related to child health. To achieve the Division's goals, the faculty complement their personal research programs by participating as collaborators on other departmental projects. The projects are led by medical students, pediatric residents, subspecialty fellows, and pediatric faculty. Divisional faculty support these projects by reviewing protocol designs for basic, translational, and clinical research, writing the statistical sections of grants, and providing power analyses. Divisional faculty also develop and write statistical analysis plans for clinical trial protocols and assist in establishing databases for outcomes research projects. Faculty review study documents, such as study protocols, informed consent forms, Institutional Review Board submissions, manual of operations, and case report forms. In addition, they provide statistical analysis for individual presentations, abstracts, and manuscripts. Since its inception, the Division has supported nearly 500 individual research and quality improvement projects resulting in over 200 abstracts presented at national meetings and 300 peer-reviewed publications ( Table I ). These projects were led by physicians from 15 of the Department's 16 clinical divisions; this is a testament to the profound influence a Quantitative Sciences Division can have on an entire Department. Overall research funding in the Department has increased by >180% from 2007 to 2016. Trainee mentorship is a focus of the Division. Over the years, faculty in the Division have served as principal mentors on 8 K23 awards. Faculty mentor approximately 20 individuals per year, including medical students, residents, fellows, and junior faculty. The majority of subspecialty fellows working with Divisional faculty pursue degrees (Master's or PhD) inquantitative sciences including clinical research, public health, biostatics, and pharmacology. Faculty also oversee trainees serving as analysts on projects. Trainees typically learn to code using statistical software (eg, Stata, StataCorp, College Station, Texas; or SAS, SAS Institute, Cary, North Carolina).This training occurs through classwork and one-on-one interactions with faculty and serves 2 purposes for the trainee: enhances exposure to various research projects and investigators and provides the opportunity for authorship. Faculty also train subspecialty fellows to program using statistical software. Finally, Division Faculty are responsible for corecurriculum lectures to Department Fellows and noon conferences for Department Residents ( ). The topics are typically repeated every other year. Table II In summary, the Division of Quantitative Sciences in the Department of Pediatrics has been an unqualified success. Since 2007, the Division has allowed for improved access to quantitative expertise, mentored an increasing number of trainees, and increased the academic output of the Department. We thank Dr Joseph St. Geme, III, for his support in the creation of the division. Funding Information: P.B.S. receives salary support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (1U2COD023375-01), the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1TR001117), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD; HHSN275201000003I and 1R01-HD081044-01), and the US Food and Drug Administration (1R18-FD005292-01). D.B. receives support from the NIH (2K24HD058735-06), National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1TR001117), NICHD (HHSN275201000003I), and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (HHSN272201500006I). A.R. receives support from the NIH (5K12-HD043494-14) and National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Skin Disease (5R01AR057781-05). The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

PY - 2017/1/1

Y1 - 2017/1/1

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85001950379&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85001950379&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jpeds.2016.09.042

DO - 10.1016/j.jpeds.2016.09.042

M3 - Editorial

AN - SCOPUS:85001950379

SN - 0022-3476

VL - 180

SP - 4

EP - 5

JO - Journal of Pediatrics

JF - Journal of Pediatrics

ER -