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Spectrum services support researchers, clinicians, and students across Stanford School of Medicine and beyond

CORES AND PROGRAMS PROVIDE COMPREHENSIVE SERVICES TO SUPPORT THE RESEARCH ENTERPRISE 

JUNE 2022

Spectrum, Stanford’s Center for Clinical and Translational Research and Education, provides researchers, clinicians, and students from the School of Medicine and across the entire University with services that support, sustain, and enhance their work. Organized into 10 interconnected cores, these services are sponsored by the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).

In this issue of Stanford Spectrum News, we are pleased to introduce two more of our cores, Network Capacity and Research Methods. 

The Network Capacity Core ensures a seamless integration of CTSA Hubs as they participate in and carry out multi-site clinical trials. This core focuses on implementing a series of enhancements and improvements to our clinical research programs and supporting infrastructure by leveraging the Trial Innovations Network (TIN) and its associated Trial Innovation and Recruitment Innovation Centers. Services offered include participant engagement consultations, honest broker services, and social media outreach via StudyPages. Learn more at the Research Participation Program website.

The Research Methods Core promotes a user-centered support structure to assist clinical and translational investigators in identifying the best source of assistance in study design, analysis, and interpretation. The core consists of two programs: the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) and the Regulatory Knowledge and Support Program (RKS).

The BERD Program supports the design and analyses of clinical and translational research (CTR); facilitates a single-portal, user-centered support structure to assist CTR investigators in identifying the best source of assistance in study design, analysis, and interpretation; and develops new tools and methods, while disseminating such tools and methods across the national CTSA network as efficiently as possible. Read about BERD’s new Data Science Navigation initiative in the March Edition of Stanford Spectrum News, and visit the BERD website for more information.

The RKS Program coordinates the multiple units responsible for quality and compliance improvement. This program is responsible for identifying the most common regulatory and operational questions, as well as developing guidelines and formulating pathways to disseminate this information to faculty and staff. More information is available at the RKS website and at the Clinical Research Quality website.