Brown University-based Advance Clinical and Translational Research Program (Advance-CTR) received a second five-year, $19.9 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to continue its work supporting clinical and translational research in Rhode Island. Advance-CTR is a partnership involving Brown, University of Rhode Island, Lifespan, Care New England, the VA Providence Healthcare System and the Rhode Island Quality Institute that began in 2016 and brings researchers and health care stakeholders together to collaborate and fund research projects to bring them from theory to actionable health care provided to those in need. The full story on this significant Project and its refunding can be found as a featured story in News From Brown.

Professor Chris Schmid, of Brown's Department of Biostatistics, is the Director of the Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design (BERD) Core, providing support to investigators designing studies, analyzing data and preparing manuscripts and abstracts. The Core also provides training in quantitative and qualitative methods and software through seminars, classes and online education. Members of the Core include its Associate Directors, Jason Machan, PhD, Associate Professor of Surgery (Research) and Associate Professor of Orthopaedics (Research), and Roichelle Rosen, PhD, Associate Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences, as well as Biostatistics faculty George Papandonatos and Tao Liu, in addition to other faculty at Brown's School of Public Health, University of Rhode Island and Lifespan. A complete description of services provided by the BERD Core can be found on their website.

Professor Schmid, who has directed the Core since its inception, noted that "It is wonderful to have another five years to build on the accomplishments of the first five. During that time, we have consulted with more than 250 investigators in Rhode Island, many of them junior faculty applying for pilot and mentored-research awards given out by the Advance-CTR. In this second award period, we will be focusing on establishing units throughout the participating partners that can stand on their own outside the NIH grant funding. Our goal is to create a network of experts to support clinical and health research throughout Rhode Island, funded as investigators on grants and as members of autonomous research units."