UCSF is one of 16 new Learning Health System (LHS) Centers of Excellence funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).
The Center supports the training of researchers to conduct patient-centered outcomes research within learning health systems.
UCSF's Embedded Scientist Training and Research (E-STAR) LHS Center will produce the next generation of researchers to conduct patient-centered outcomes research and implement the results to improve quality of care and patient outcomes.
Newly trained clinicians and research scientists will work within health systems by collaborating with systems' leaders and conducting studies to address how healthcare organizations can improve patient outcomes.
The LHS E-STAR Centers support LHS operations, outcomes, and quality improvement by:
- Strengthening research training in comparative effectiveness research (CER) and patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR)
- Enhancing diversity in the LHS research workforce
- Strengthening partnerships with community partners, health systems, and patients
- Conducting patient-centered clinical CER projects to improve health system operations, quality, and health outcomes.
UCSF LHS E-STAR Core Components
Administrative Core (AC)
The Administrative Core (led by Ralph Gonzales MD, MSPH) provides overarching Center leadership, stakeholder engagement and coordination, program evaluation, and internal and external communications.
In particular, the AC cultivates and coordinates E-STAR Center partnerships with health care systems throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Fresno. E-STAR Health System partnerships support research and training for LHS scientists, particularly in areas of embedded research, patient and stakeholder engagement, informatics, and outcome evaluation in health systems.
Research Education Core (REC)
The Research Education Core (led by Mary Whooley MD) directs the LHS research education and training for the E-STAR Scholars program.
Unique training elements include an Engagement Science seminar series, a 2-day LHS Workshop, and LHS Grand Rounds. The Research Data and Analytics Core (led by Andrew Auerbach MD, MPH) is designed to enable practice data access, analysis and interpretation within health system partners, and to leverage electronic health record (EHR) systems for intervening and continuous monitoring of improvement initiatives. The RDAC ensures that patient-centered outcomes are measured, captured, and aggregated across embedded research projects, and guides the dissemination of results to local and national audiences.
Resarch and Data Anlaysis Core (RDAC)
The Research Data and Analysis Core (led by Andrew Auerbach MD, MPH) is designed to enable practice data access, analysis and interpretation within health system partners, and to leverage electronic health record (EHR) systems for intervening and continuous monitoring of improvement initiatives.
The RDAC ensures that patient-centered outcomes are measured, captured, and aggregated across embedded research projects, and guides the dissemination of results to local and national audiences.