Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design Core

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The goal of The Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) Core is to support NNE-CTR Cores and investigators in the appropriate use of methodologies and computationally-intensive approaches and technologies for their studies. In the four-plus years since the NNE-CTR was funded, the BERD Core has invested considerable resources and personnel in building out our computational and data infrastructures, with a major goal of supporting and facilitating collaborative research among investigators at the biomedical institutions of northern New England. Our success has enabled our participation in large national initiatives such as N3C and RECOVER, as well as numerous state-wide and regional collaborations. A critical element of our success has been the development of our data science capabilities that have enabled the collaborative data sharing needed to participate in these large projects. However, our primary mandate -- and strength -- is our ability to support, educate, facilitate, and train clinical investigators and basic scientists in carrying out successful clinical and translational research at all stages of the translational research cycle and at all stages of an investigator's career. A key piece of this effort has been the continued development of our Clinical and Translational Research Navigation team, which is critical to the support of our clinical investigators at all levels, but particularly those who are more junior. The valuable guidance and resources they provide on everything from conceptualization to study design, statistical and survey methods, ethics training, and beyond is fundamentally necessary for the engagement and success of clinical investigators. In fact, the unique and innovative Research Navigation model we implemented has been so successful that several of the clinical departments and service lines at MaineHealth have hired their own research navigators, whom we have supported and helped to train in the best practices we developed. The model focuses on building multidisciplinary teams composed of outstanding basic scientists and interested, engaged clinicians who share ideas and thereby identify common research interests. It has enabled both intra- and inter-institutional collaboration within and between our two healthcare organizations. As a natural outgrowth and extension of the Research Navigation model, we will develop and offer CTR Research Design Studio sessions in this next funding period. Further, we will enhance the integration of clinical, research, and administrative data, continue to participate in national initiatives such as N3C and RECOVER, provide more intensive training in use of the Palantir platform in the N3C Enclave and the analytic tools in the Enclave, and provide outreach and training to analysts and investigators on the use of tools, such as the ATLAS web interface for accessing our OMOP data, and dashboard development using R and SHINY. We will expand collaborations to bring more opportunities to investigators and work with the other Cores to provide technical support to spur successful research.