VACS Cores and Workgroups

February 15, 2012

REVISED CORE AND WORKGROUP MEMBERSHIP, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND WRITING GROUP MEMBERSHIP POLICY

Definitions:

The difference between a workgroup and a core is whether or not we have funding supporting the focus of the group and the number of projects currently underway.

Writing Group Membership

The only individuals eligible to join the writing groups other than the VACS PIs, the site PIs and individuals invited by the lead author will be members of the workgroup or core to which the proposal is assigned and the biostatisticians conducting the analyses.  As always, the Vancouver requirements apply, membership in a writing group does not guarantee authorship.

Core/Workgroup Assignment for New Proposals

All new proposals will be submitted to Teresa Bohan, she will then ask Amy Justice to assign the proposal to a workgroup or core. Once assigned, that group will be the first to review the proposal and to request initial clarification. The proposal will then be sent to assigned core and or workgroup chairs for assigning a recommendation and prioritization to the project. If at this time the chairs feel further response is needed from proposal authors, Teresa will send the responses up to that point to the author for further comment. Once chair(s) feel it is ready for the Steering Committee, the proposal will go to the steering committee for final rejection or approval and prioritization. 

Each group will be responsible for tracking the progress of all approved projects assigned to it. The designated Chair will keep me informed of any issues that need to be addressed by the leadership. If most of the members of a group participate in a particular writing group, the group call may also serve as the writing group call and outside members of the writing group will be invited to join calls in which this occurs. In some cases, a project may be assigned to two groups for initial evaluation, but only one will be tasked with charting its progress. It is my expectation that some proposals will not be recommended and/or will not receive a high priority from the initial workgroup review. Active groups will meet by conference call at least quarterly, some meet twice a month.  We have asked each member to confirm their ongoing commitment to the group. Anyone interested in joining these workgroups should contact the workgroup chair.  Please recognize that all these workgroups have or will have standing conference calls. As with writing committees, attendance will be tracked. Those who fail to participate and to give substantive feedback will not have fulfilled the Vancouver requirements for authorship. Please consider how many workgroups and cores to which you can reasonably commit.

NEW CORES AND WORKGROUPS

Cancer Core

(Chaired by Robert Dubrow, meets quarterly for now, supported through ARRA and NCI funds through NA- ACCORD): Includes all cancers both HIV and non-HIV related.  This group has gotten approval for the Cancer Registry data from the VA and will oversee its integration, cleaning, validation, and analyses.  The group is also working with NA-ACCORD to conduct cross cohort analyses of many types of cancer. (Statistician & Programmer: Mark Trentalange & Lesley Park)

Endocrine and Bone Disease Workgroup

(Co-Chaired by Julie Womack and Barb Gulanski, meets quarterly for now): This group will be working on validating data and outcomes involved in analyzing the role of fractures, BMD, testosterone, birth control medications, Vitamin D, Calcium, and other endocrinologic issues in morbidity and mortality. (Statistician: Julie Womack with Janet Tate as back-up; Programmer: Julie Womack)

Health Services Research Workgroup

(Co-chaired by Kathleen McGinnis and Emily Wang, meets every other month for now): Includes health care utilization and costs, hospitalizations, MICU stays, disparities research (racial, gender, rural/urban), adherence to treatment and visits, and health systems issues more generally (quality of care and access).  This group will oversee the request for and integration and analysis of the Medicare data including dialysis data.  Dialysis data will be cleaned and validated by both this Core and by the Renal Workgroup. (Statistician: Kathy McGinnis; Programmer: Melissa Skanderson)

Informatics and Data Management Core

(Chaired by Cindy Brandt, meets every two weeks): This group will handle all aspects of projects that are primarily informatics and methodological in nature including natural language processing, GIS, machine learning.  Will have primary assignment for informatics research papers.

Physical Function and Disabilities Workgroup

(Chaired by Kris Ann Oursler, meets monthly): This group will work to investigate the association of the VACS index with measures of functional performance and whether function improves prediction of mortality; in particular determine change in physical function in HIV-infected versus negative veterans. (Statistician: Janet Tate; Programmer: Janet Tate)

Uniform Services Workgroup

(Chaired by David Rimland, meets every other month): This group will be working in concert with Brian Agan of the Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program to pursue merging data on individuals who seroconverted while in active duty.  Once this task is completed, there will likely be a number of analyses of this very interesting group of seroconverters with long term follow up within the VHA. (Statistician: Kirsha Gordon; Programmer: n/a)

VACS Risk Index Workgroup

(Co-chaired by Amy Justice and Jan Tate, meets every two weeks, a primary aim of our NIAAA grant): This group will be working closely with outside cohorts and RCTs to validate the index and extend its application. (Statistician: Janet Tate; Programmer: Janet Tate)

ESTABLISHED CORES AND WORKGROUPS:

Alcohol and Behavior Core

(Chaired by David Fiellin, meets monthly, NIAAA supported): Manages all substance use and patient behavior change projects, supervises cleaning, interpreting and validating relevant data. (Statistician: Kathy McGinnis; Programmers: Kathy McGinnis)

ART Workgroup

(Co-chaired by Neel Gandhi and Janet Tate, meets quarterly for now) Will handle all aspects of projects that are primarily focused on the effects of antiretroviral treatment  including determining composition of first and subsequent cART, benefits from cART, exposure to treatment, viral resistance, and toxicity.  May often be assigned as a secondary reviewer of projects primarily assigned to other workgroups or cores that include this as a predictor variable but not the primary interest.  Will have primary assignment for papers with this as the primary focus.  Manages all antiretroviral treatment benefit projects, supervises cleaning, interpreting, and validating relevant data. (Statistician: Janet Tate; Programmer: Janet Tate with Melissa Skanderson as back-up)

Biostatistics Workgroup

(Chaired by Janet Tate): Will handle all aspects of projects that are primarily methodological in nature including marginal structural modeling, imputation, longitudinal analyses, and competing risk.  May often be assigned as a secondary reviewer of projects primarily assigned to other workgroups or cores.  Will have primary assignment for methods papers.

Cardiovascular Disease Core

(Chaired by Matt Freiberg, meets quarterly for now, NIAAA and NHLBI supported): Manages all cardiovascular projects, supervises cleaning, interpreting, and validating relevant data including QUERI database on MIs. (Statistician: Kathy McGinnis; Programmers: Kathy McGinnis)

Endpoint Arbitration Workgroup

(Co-Chaired by Kristina Crothers and Cindy Brandt, meets quarterly for now): This group works to fully inform the process of endpoint arbitration and to ensure a reasonable consistency in approach across diverse endpoints including the use of text processing.  In addition, the group has a methodological focus on improving text processing methodologies and other powerful informatics methods. (Statistician: n/a; Programmer: Cynthia Brandt)

Kidney Disease Workgroup

(Chaired by Chirag Parikh, meets quarterly for now): Manages all substance use and patient behavior change projects, supervises cleaning, interpreting, and validating relevant data including dialysis data. (Statistician: Kirsha Gordon; Programmers: Kirsha Gordon& Melissa Skanderson)

Liver Disease Core

(Co-chaired by Vincent LoRe and Joseph Lim, meets monthly, NIAAA supported): Manages all liver disease projects including those primarily focused on viral hepatitis, supervises cleaning, interpreting and validating relevant data. (Statisticians: Janet Tate& Harini Bathulapalli; Programmers: Vincent LoRe& Harini Bathulapalli with Janet Tate as back-up)

Pulmonary Disease Core

(Chaired by Kristina Crothers, meets monthly): Manages all pulmonary disease projects, supervises cleaning, interpreting, and validating relevant data. (Statistician: Kathy McGinnis; Programmers: Mona Duggal, Kathy McGinnis& Shahida Shahrir)

Translational Research Core

(Co-Chaired by Charles Rinaldo and Matthew Freiberg, meets quarterly for now, NIAAA supported): Will oversee all projects using banked specimens and the development and implementation of new initiatives to collect longitudinal samples and additional DNA or other specimens. (Statistician: Harini Bathulapalli; Programmer: Harini Bathulapalli)