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Center of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare

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Newsbrief

The NEWSBRIEF is a publication written and produced by CINCCH staff. Its mission is to disseminate current directives from Headquarters, to update interested individuals on recent activities of CINCCH investigators, and to acknowledge professional accomplishments of our center staff.

Contents of our current Newsbrief  Volume 27, 2022

Dr. Evans Presents on Leveraging VA Partnerships for Rapid Data Collection and Analysis


Charlesnika Evans was a presenter for VIReC Partnered Research Cyberseminar Series on Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) Rapid Response Teams: Leveraging VA Partnerships for Rapid Data Collection and Analysis. QUERI Rapid Response Teams consist of embedded researchers that collaborate with VA clinical and policy partners to facilitate the goal of improving Veteran health by accelerating the adoption of evidence into health care practice and policy. When the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic brought an urgent need to rapidly develop and implement plans to vaccinate Veterans and employees against COVID-19, QUERI connected Dr. Evans and two other Rapid Response Teams with the VA National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention to address the critical and timely need for evaluation of a national COVID-19 vaccination program. The Cyberseminar describes experiences and lessons learned from collaborating with clinical partners to rapidly conduct small-scale studies on attitudes towards and intentions of Veterans and employees regarding COVID-19 vaccines and uptake.

 To view the Cyberseminar click on this link: https://www.hsrd.research.va.gov/for_researchers/cyber_seminars/archives/video_archive.cfm?SessionID=5177



Newly Funded QUERI Project  




Drs. Frances Weaver and Kevin Stroupe are principal investigators for CINCCH’s newly funded QUERI Evidence to Policy Evaluation Center for Veterans (EPEC-Vet).  This project will be one of CINCCH’s largest efforts, spanning 5 years and 4.1 million dollars with core leaders, co-investigators, and seasoned study team members from Edward Hines Jr VAMC in Hines, Illinois, Jesse Brown VAMC in Chicago, Illinois, William S. Middleton Memorial VAMC in Madison, Wisconsin, and James A. Haley VAMC in Tampa, Florida. 

The overall goal of EPEC-Vet is to improve Veteran care and outcomes by conducting rigorous evaluations that will provide evidence needed to support or modify VHA policies and practices to provide the best outcomes for Veterans.  EPEC-Vet will accomplish this goal by building an infrastructure that supports generation and dissemination of evidence from rigorous and timely evaluations of high priority programs and policies that affect Veteran care and outcomes. These evaluations will address effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability in accordance with the Evidence Act of 2018 (US Public Law 115-435).

EPEC-VET objectives:

  1. Establish and sustain a robust methods core that supports the planning and conduct of at least two evaluations per year, including expertise in research methods, database and pragmatic trial study design and construction, program evaluation and implementation, to form the foundation for addressing questions on multilevel impacts of programs or policies.
  2. To conduct rigorous evaluations that incorporate innovative methods, data collection and/or analytic strategies, including a set of common evaluation criteria (e.g., economic impact; variation and unintended consequences) across evaluations, and track common themes and lessons learned.
  3. Employ state-of-the-art knowledge translation methods to effectively disseminate evaluation results to key VA stakeholders and broader policy and scientific communities, and to facilitate the translation of new evidence into policies, programs, and practice.


Dr. Fischer Chosen for VA Kidney Medicine Field Advisory Board


Michael Fischer of CINCCH was chosen to join the VA Kidney Medicine Field Advisory Board. This advisory board provides independent advice to VA Specialty Care Services on clinical policy and program development related to kidney disorders, with a focus on quality of care and healthcare utilization for Veterans with chronic and end-stage kidney disease. Moreover, as part of this role, he was asked to lead quality metrics for the VHA National Kidney Program.



Dr. Burkhart Selected as Faculty Member of the Year at Loyola University 


Lisa Burkhart, a Research Health Scientist at CINCCH and Associate Professor at Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.  Dr. Burkhart was recently selected as the 2022 Faculty Member of the Year at Loyola.

Dr. Burkhart has been a member of CINCCH since 2012, began her career at the School of Nursing as an Assistant Professor in 2002, and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2009. Dr. Burkhart is funded as a principal investigator and co-investigator with research interests in spinal cord injury, preventive care, community health, and interprofessional collaborative practice.



Summer VA CINCCH-Academic (VACA) Research Program


Summer 2022, CINCCH held its first annual VA ORD Summer Research Program. The program better known as Summer VA CINCCH-Academic (VACA) Research Program provides the opportunity for undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds to obtain hands-on research experience in health services and outcomes research and team-based science to reinforce goals for pursuing a scientific research career.

 The goals of the Summer VACA Research Program are to:

  1. Provide a summer research experience to undergraduate students on VA topics and methods in health services research and the VA learning health system and how it relates to improving the health care of Veterans
  2. Prepare students for a graduate program in the health sciences. 

The purpose of this program is to increase diversity in the health sciences and enhance opportunities for future talented leaders from diverse backgrounds to pursue careers in health sciences. 

During the Summer VACA Research Program’s inaugural year, CINCCH had 3 students participate in the program.  During the program students were assigned a mentor to work with, participated on ongoing research projects, participated in seminars and online-trainings in public health, health services research, health equity, implementation science, and professional development.

More information about the application process for 2023 Summer VACA Research Program will be available later this year but please contact Marissa Wirth (email: Marissa.Wirth@va.gov) if interested.




Dr. Wilson's Newly Funded Project

Dr. Geneva Wilson is our newest junior investigator at CINCCH. She completed her graduate work at the University of Iowa’s College of Public Health in May of 2019. Her doctoral work focused on multi-drug resistant bacterial environmental contamination in the healthcare setting. Dr. Wilson started working for CINCCH in 2019 as a research health scientist, where she led several analyses as part of multiple large multicenter infection prevention projects. In 2020, she started at Department of Preventive Medicine in Fienberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University as an adjunct professor, where she redesigned the Introduction to Biostatistics course for the Master of Health Services and Outcomes Research program. 

This fall her first VA ORD Research Supplement to Promote Diversity “Examining Health Disparities in VA Outpatient Antibiotic Prescribing was funded. The proposed research has the potential to bring notable benefits to Veterans by using antimicrobial stewardship to improve antibiotic use in the care of Veterans, with the goals of decreasing the risk of infection with antimicrobial resistant pathogens, improved patient outcomes and enhanced patient safety. These efforts directly support the VHA Directive 1031 regarding Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs. This is a Supplement to Dr. Charlesnika Evan’s IIR, “Dissemination and Implementation of a Videoconference Antimicrobial Stewardship Team (VAST)”.




Bone Health and Osteoporosis Managment in Individuals with SCI Clinical Practice Guidelines Updated


"The Bone Health and Osteoporosis Management in Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury” clinical practice guideline was released this year with support from the Paralyzed Veterans of America and a Department of Defense (DOD) grant by Drs. Laura Carbone and Frances Weaver. Their work on these guidelines supported the inclusion of additional experts on the panel and integration of research findings2that Drs. Carbone and Weaver have conducted over the past 12 years in bone health and SCI. These guidelines are intended to help health care professionals in augmenting bone health and management of osteoporosis among adults with spinal cord injury/disease. The goals of these guidelines include reducing/preventing bone loss and prevention of fractures and fracture-related morbidity/mortality in persons with SCI. 

"The Bone Health and Osteoporosis Management in Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury” clinical practice guideline was released this year with support from the Paralyzed Veterans of America and a Department of Defense (DOD) grant by Drs. Laura Carbone and Frances Weaver. Their work on these guidelines supported the inclusion of additional experts on the panel and integration of research findings2that Drs. Carbone and Weaver have conducted over the past 12 years in bone health and SCI. These guidelines are intended to help health care professionals in augmenting bone health and management of osteoporosis among adults with spinal cord injury/disease. The goals of these guidelines include reducing/preventing bone loss and prevention of fractures and fracture-related morbidity/mortality in persons with SCI. 

To request a copy of this guidelines and other spinal cord injury/disease specific guidelines go to this web address:  https://pva.org/research-resources/publications/clinical-practice-guidelines/

updated 11-1-22