On Aug. 15, the National Institute of Health awarded the Geisel School of Medicine a $12 million grant to open the Dartmouth Center for Implementation Science, a new research center on campus that will bridge research findings and the implementation of healthcare policy, according to center director Jeremiah Brown.
The field of “implementation science” aims to promote evidence-based practices to improve healthcare quality and research efficiency. The field has seen substantial growth over the last 15 to 20 years, according to Brown. According to the NIH, $3 billion of federal funding is now annually allocated to implementation research.
New Hampshire, which receives low levels of NIH support due to the small number of research institutions, is eligible for NIH Institutional Development Awards, which build research capacity in underserved states. The new research center at Dartmouth is a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence — a NIH designation that provides resources to propel innovative biomedical and behavioral research in IDeA-eligible states.
The grant comes after the federal government has cancelled research grants across the country, including four at Dartmouth.
“This award indicates that … [implementation science] is a safe area of research investment and not politically divisive,” Brown said.
Each of the COBRE project leaders — who are currently graduate school professors at Dartmouth — is supported for two to three years until they gain “independence,” assistant epidemiology professor and project leader Caitlyn Howe said. Additionally, the grant is dedicated to paying half of each project leader’s salary so that they can “focus on doing their implementation research projects,” Brown explained.
“The purpose is to provide a very robust training environment to support the growth and independence of these junior faculty … to the point that they are independent investigators in implementation research in their respective areas of study,” he said.
Co-director of the DCIS Sarah Lord said the funds from the Center will “accelerate” progress across multiple fields at Dartmouth. The program was intended to “build capacity and learning opportunities” by providing early-career professionals with interdisciplinary resources, she explained.
Examples of these resources include mentors, training sessions, seminars and mock NIH “study sections,” Brown said.
Howe, who had no prior “training” in implementation research before this program, said the center’s work has made her think differently about her research on exposure to toxic metals. Part of her ongoing project on contaminated drinking water from private wells has focused on implementing low-cost filtration technology.
“People have to actually use it [the filtration system] for their drinking water and their cooking water. They have to change the filters, which can get clogged over time,” Howe said.
There are many opportunities for students, faculty and other affiliates to get involved with implementation science at Dartmouth. For example, a “Fundamentals of Implementation Science” seminar series will be held on the second Wednesday of each month. The first speaker, postdoctoral fellow in implementation science Margaret Crane, will host a webinar on policy and research considerations. Additionally, virtual training lessons, toolkits and modules are provided on the DCIS website.
Geisel also launched a fully online Master’s Degree program in Implementation Science this fall, according to Lord. It is one of the first degree programs in the field in the United States.
