Experience

Clinical Experience

UC’s Outcomes Research Fellowship prepares Scholars for careers as clinician-researchers delivering evidence-based, personalized clinical care. The vast majority of a Scholar’s time is protected for research and coursework; however, Scholars do participate in clinical education activities, such as inpatient ward attending or outpatient clinic precepting.

Education Experience

Scholars begin their educational experience in their first summer with rigorous training in clinical epidemiology/clinical effectiveness research methods at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

The first year of each Scholar's program is dedicated primarily to a multidisciplinary core curriculum that leads to a Master of Science degree in Clinical and Translational Research upon completion of the required courses and a master thesis.
Scholars also attend regularly scheduled work-in-progress seminars and divisional and departmental conferences.

For additional information on the Master of Science degree please visit the Clinical Research Training Program website.

Research Experience

In order to succeed, outcomes research requires a knowledge-driven support system in which Scholars can contribute, generate, manage, and analyze data. At the University of Cincinnati, Scholars are given access to methodological expertise through the Center for Clinical & Translational Science & Training (CCTST), home to the University of Cincinnati’s Institutional Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA).

One of the key components to finding practical applications and producing meaningful health outcomes is a multidisciplinary approach and the CCTST provides just that. Established in 2005 as a collaborative effort among the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, UC Health and the Cincinnati Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the CCTST is a research resource and “academic home” for clinical and translational scientists and programs.

Projects

On average, Scholars work on 2-3 mentored projects during their training. Upon completing their projects, Scholars are expected to present their research at national meetings and publish their research in top-quality peer-reviewed journals. Funding for project-related costs is available through the DOIM for each Outcomes Research Scholar. Funding amounts can range up to $7,500 per Scholar per year.

Examples of past Scholar projects include:

• Cost-effectiveness of diagnostic and treatment strategies for women and infants with, or at risk for, HIV/AIDS
• Health status and utility assessment in patients with cystic fibrosis
• Cost-effectiveness of anticoagulation in pregnancy in women at risk of thromboembolic disease
• Severity of illness in patients in the ICU
• Decision support regarding therapy for sepsis
• Usability of a web-based decision support tool for patient-specific anticoagulation recommendations
• Underuse of controller medications among children with persistent asthma in the Ohio Medicaid population
• The relationship between alcohol and serum inflammatory biomarkers
• The cost-effectiveness of observation units in emergency care for patients with decompensated heart failure
• The cost-effectiveness of herceptin as adjuvant therapy in women with non-metastatic breast cancer
• Predictors of narcotic overdose in a non-surgical inpatient population