University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information SciencesDecember 13, 2012December 11, 2012

Response to Criterion Three

3.0 CREATION, APPLICATION AND ADVANCEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE

3.1 Research. The school shall pursue an active research program, consistent with its mission, through which its faculty and students contribute to the knowledge base of the public health disciplines, including research directed at improving the practice of public health.

3.1.a. Description of the school’s research activities, including policies, procedures and practices that support research and scholarly activities.

All UofL research activities are governed by the policies and procedures established by the university’s Office of the Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation (EVPRII). In addition, SPHIS establishes school-wide policies and procedures as necessary to regulate, improve and encourage the research efforts of faculty, staff and students.

UofL

The mission of the Office of the EVPRI ( “to promote and support research, scholarship, and creative activities,to assist faculty and staff in obtaining intramural and extramural support,to serve as an advocate for the value of research in an educational setting,to enhance the vitality of campus-based research,and to encourage its use to enrich education, enhance technology transfer and serve the community.”

The Office of the EVPRI oversees the offices of Sponsored Programs Development, Sponsored Programs - Grants Administration, Sponsored Programs - Financial Administration, Industry Contracts, Technology Development, the Research Integrity Program and the Human Subjects Protection Program Office. The Offices of Grants Management and Industry Contracts are primarily responsible for proposal review and approval and post-award management of sponsored programs. Full descriptions of the services offered through these offices are available at

Selected policies established by the Office of the EVPRI include those affecting the following:

  • Conflicts of Financial Interest in Research: The university has established policies and procedures regarding oversight of both individual and institutional financial interests in research. In accordance with the highest standards of integrity and in compliance with legal, professional, ethical and other requirements that promote objectivity and protect against financial conflicts of interest in research, the university will identify possible financial conflicts of interest in research, whether apparent or real, and provide mechanisms for their management, reduction, or elimination.
  • Intellectual Property.Under the UofL Intellectual Property Policy, when faculty or staff members “create Intellectual property or obtain(s) exceptional research results that (in a reasonable opinion) may have commercial value and do not fall within the scope of the exception[s] of [the] Policy… the Creator shall notify the Technology Director in writing via an official Research Disclosure Form.” The Office of Technology Transfer(OTT) assists students, staff and faculty in this process.
  • Ownership of Data.The university is the administrative organization ultimately responsible for all tangible and intangible products resulting from activities at the university.As such, the university has the responsibility to ensure the preservation and availability of research data and can be held accountable for the integrity of research data even after the creator(s) have left the university.Therefore, except in special circumstances, all research data generated by personnel of the university or created with university facilities, regardless of the nature or sponsorship of such research, shall be owned by the university and its affiliates (e.g. University of Louisville Research Foundation, Inc.). In addition, as a public institution and in keeping with the traditions of academic freedom, all such research data and protocols shall be unrestricted as to its public dissemination, except in certain circumstances.
  • Proposal Clearance Requirement: All grants and contracts requesting extramural funding by full or part-time faculty, staff and students of UofL that represent academic responsibilities of any of the individuals listed as Applicants, and regardless of performance site, must be cleared by Research Administration.
  • Support for ongoing research activities through the Office of the EVPRI is provided by the Research Infrastructure Fund (RIF) programs. Under the RIF program, 10% of recovered indirect costs of grants are returned to principal investigators, 10% are returned to department chairs of PIs and 10% are returned to recognized centers within the university. By so doing, productivity in research is recognized and critical ongoing research activity is sustained.
  • Research Misconduct: The “University of Louisville Policy and Procedures for Responding to Allegations of Research Misconduct” establishes a framework of methods and principles for assessing and conducting inquiries and investigations regarding allegations or incidents of research misconduct, defined as fabrication, falsification, plagiarism or other practices that seriously deviate from those that are commonly accepted within the scientific community in proposing, performing and reviewing research, or in reporting research results.
  • Roles and Responsibilities for Research: The Office of the EVPRI maintains a matrix of the roles and responsibilities expected of researchers, departments, units and university administration (including the Office of the EVPRI).
  • Scientific or Scholarly Merit: In order to protect the rights and welfare of human subjects involved in research, all proposed research activities involving human subjects must be reviewed for scientific merit prior to initiation.

These policies are available at

Faculty and staff are encouraged to take advantage of resources provided by the Office of the EVPRI, including access to the Sponsored Programs Information Network, Grant Advisor Plus, the Grants Resource Center (GRC) and ResearchResearch.The Sponsored Programs Information Network is a database of over 6,000 programs from both the public and private sectors that provide funding for research and special projects across a wide variety of subject areas. The Grant Advisor Plus is an on-line information service for research administrators and faculty in higher education. It provides monthly newsletters, searchable listings of grant and fellowship opportunities and a list of program deadlines by subject area for institutions and faculty. The Grants Resource Center (GRC)offers a full range of services, including the tracking of both public and private resources and the latest sponsored programs news and information. ResearchResearch is one of the world's leading publishers of news and information for the international research community, providing three interlinked, searchable databases. Other sponsored programs development services provided by Offices of the EVPRI include grants writing workshops, legislative updates,one-on-one assistance,proposal editing and proofreading,coordination of multi-investigator proposalsand copying service for grant and contract proposals.

In addition to the services described above, the Office of the President offers intramural grants for researchers. Types of awards include Multidisciplinary Research Grants (MRG), Vice President for Research Undergraduate Research Scholar Grants (URS), Project Completion Grants (PCG), Research Initiation Grants (RIG), Research on Women Grants (ROW) and Undergraduate Research Grants (URG). For additional information, please see

Research!Louisville is an annual celebration of health-related research sponsored by the Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's Foundation, Norton Healthcare, UofL Health Care and the University of Louisville. The goals of Research!Louisville are to: (1) promote excellence in health sciences research,(2) promote public awareness of health sciences research,(3) promote the Louisville Medical Center,and, (4) generate additional funding for health sciences research. SPHIS faculty and students participate actively in this event by submitting papers and posters and by judging scientific merit of the submissions.

SPHIS

The SPHIS Research Committee, chaired by the Associate Dean for Research, consists of the five department chairs, the assistant and associate deans,and the Assistant Director for Sponsored Programs. The committee has created school-specific policies and procedures to address our evolving needs. Processes developed so far involve investigator compliance with research training, faculty consultation on sponsored programs and the establishment of monthly research incubation seminars to foster collaboration within the school and the larger university.

An office to support the preparation, review and submission of research proposals and the conduct of research activities has been established. Two staff members are available to assist investigators with proposal development and processing, and also review all outgoing research proposals with SPHIS collaboration and serve as the primary point of contact with the Offices of Sponsored Programs – Grants Administration and Industry Contracts (described below). These individualshave attended national conferences such as the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA)national meeting and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Regional Seminar on Program Funding and Grants Management.

To support university and community researchers, the Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics has established the Statistical Consulting Center (StCC), which provides fee-for-service consulting. StCC services include: extensive research into applications of statistical methodology,data management, including design of data collection instruments, data storage device set-up and testing and data manipulation prior to analysis,data analysis, including power and sample size calculation, statistical modeling, hypothesis testing, estimation and plot generation, and technical writing for grants and protocols, journal articles and summary reports. More information about activities conducted through the StCCare available in section 3.2.a.

SPHIS encourages collaboration with the research activities of state and local agencies in a variety of settings. These relationships encourage the development of innovative research projects in public health and health information sciences. Over the past three years, SPHIS has collaborated with the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, REACH of Louisville, Inc., Kentucky Office for Refugees/Catholic Charities of Louisville, Northern Kentucky Health Department, Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Kentucky Department of Education, and the University of Kentucky, among others.

A spectrum of strategies and objectives support the research activities of the school. These will be discussed in relationship to the research-related objectives outlined in the response to Criterion I. The SPHIS seeks to:

  • Acquire one new research position per year from university administration. As a rapidly expanding academic unit at the UofL, SPHIS looks to the university to provide endowments, new salary lines and other startup funds required to achieve the target level of full-time faculty within the specified timeline.
  • Provide funding to support travel to national meetings to present papers and further research networking. The provision of such support to new faculty who are productively engaged in research but who may not have sufficient independent support to travel to important regional and national meetings is critical to their development and to the recognition of the institution. Funding for such activities will be provided through the dean’s office to the department chairs and through the Research Infrastructure Fund (RIF) process described above.
  • Increase the number of published articles, books, book chapters and presentations by 10% per year. Evidence of scholarly activity is critical to the success of all faculty members as well as to the appropriate recognition of SPHIS and the university. Academic publications are expected to keep pace with the expansion of the faculty at an anticipated rate of 10% per year.
  • Increase total extramural funding by 10% per year. In addition to the essential support provided by the university, extramural funding from federal, state and non-governmental organization-based grants and contracts is critical to funding faculty salaries and supporting the research mission. Expansion of such extramural support is expected to be commensurate with the rate of faculty growth of approximately 10% annually. This will assure that average grant funding per faculty member will achieve a target level of approximately $100,000.
  • Hold monthly research incubation meetings to encourage faculty, staff and student involvement in collaborative research activities. These seminars were initiated in July 2005 to foster informal interaction with the entire UofL research community by the faculty, staff and students of the school. Such a forum promotes collegiality and awareness of research activities and interests and invites new collaborations. A listing of the research incubation meetings over the past three years is included as Table 3.1.3.

Table 3.1.1: Research Incubation Meetings Over the Past Three Years

Title / Presenter(s) / Date
Gene Expression, Aging and Mortality / Richard Kerber, PhD / 2/6/09
Local Healthcare Politics in Louisville / David Houvenagle, PhD / 3/23/09
Pb and Tobacco Smoke Exposure--Cellular and Molecular Effects / Rachel Neal, PhD / 4/29/09
An Overview of the Pandemic Planning and Preparedness Program / Ruth Carrico, PhD, RN
W. Paul McKinney, MD / 5/27/09
Research Computing at the University of Louisville / Harrison Simrall / 6/24/09
Pandemic Flu: Behavioral Health Preparations / A. Scott LaJoie, PhD / 9/30/09
Looking at Early Detection of Breast Cancer Using a Dynamic Software Modeling Tool / Lorena Canales, MPH;Natasha DeJarnett, MPH; and Alex Kerns, MHA / 1/20/10
Fluoroquinolone Resistance: Prevalence and Risk Factors in Newly Diagnosed TB Patients / Rose D. Anderson, MD, MPH / 1/27/10
High-Dimensional Data: A New Paradigm of Biomedical Research / SusmitaDatta, PhD / 3/17/10
Broadway Corridor Redesign / Natasha DeJarnett, MPH; SadiatuMusah, MPH; and Sarah Walsh, MPH / 5/26/10
Prevalence of Neonatal Jaundice and Associated Disabilities in Nigeria / Tina Slusher, MD; Frank Groves, MD, MPH; and Paula Radmacher, PhD / 6/1/10
The National Children's Study: Evolution of a Good Idea / David J Tollerud, MD, MPH / 8/25/10
The Communities Putting Prevention to Work Project: Capturing BMI as an Outcome / Richard Wilson, DHSc / 10/6/10
Measuring Functional Recovery under Locomotor Training in Neurorecovery Network / SomnathDatta, PhD and Doug Lorenz, MA, MSPH / 10/27/10
Prevalence of Neonatal Jaundice and Associated Disabilities in Nigeria (Follow-Up) / Tina Slusher, MD; Frank Groves, MD, MPH; and Paula Radmacher, PhD / 11/10/10
A Presentation of Findings from an Action Research Initiative / Bob Esterhay, MD and Judah Thornewill, PhD(c) / 2/23/11
Examining the Epidemic of Methamphetamine Use in Kentucky through Systems Thinking and Dynamic Modeling / Andrea Keatley; Jamie Long; and Steve Zimmerman / 5/25/11
A Fulbright Year at Sichuan University's West China School of Public Health / Robert Jacobs, PhD / 8/31/11
AUDIT Screening and Campus Alcohol Abuse / Richard Wilson, DHSc and
Scott LaJoie, PhD / 12/7/11
Quality Healthcare at the Right Price / Russell Bessette, MD / 3/28/12
Data Collection in International Settings / Linda Young, MA / 4/25/12
The Louisville Twin Study: Past, Present and Future / Deborah Davis, PhD / 05/30/12
The Rise of Childhood Obesity in America: The Causes, How It Has Led to the Rise of Type 2 Diabetes, and Its Impact and Implications for the US Healthcare System / David Johnson; Christine Swanson; and SrikanthTangelloju / 06/27/12
Health Impact Assessment on the Louisville Loop / Michael Ballard, Lynn Hannon, Matthew Rhodes and Nina Walfoort / 08/29/12
Informatics Infrastructure to Support Basic Research and Clinical Care / Ted Kalbfleisch, PhD / 09/26/12
Community-Based Research: Let’s Engage Louisville! / Kristina M. Zierold, PhD, MS / 12/05/12
TBD / David J. Tollerud, MD, MPH / 01/30/13

3.1.b. Description of current research undertaken in collaboration with local, state, national or international health agencies and community-based organizations. Formal research agreements with such agencies should be identified.

SPHIS collaborates with a number of local, state and national health agencies and community-based organizations. Over the past three years, SPHIS has collaborated with the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, REACH of Louisville, Inc., Kentucky Office for Refugees/Catholic Charities of Louisville, Northern Kentucky Health Department, Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, and Kentucky Department of Education, among others.A listing of formal research agreements is available in Table 3.1.2.

The Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness’ Center for Health Equity (CHE) works to eliminate social and economic barriers to good health, reshape the public health landscape, and serve as a catalyst for collaboration between communities, organizations and government entities through capacity building, policy change and evidenced-based initiatives.In 2011, CHE restructured under the leadership if of the new Director, Dr. Anneta Arno, creating three primary programs:(1) Health Equity Institute, (2) Community Engagement and Partnerships, and (3) Research and Evaluation.The Research and Evaluation program will ensure the utilization of data driven, evidence based practice, and timely awareness of emerging issues and trends to achieve health equity in Louisville Metro.Program activities include: Research, Policy Analysis and Evaluation; Community Data Tracking & Integration; and Community Based Participatory Research.While CHE currently host masters of public health candidates for the practicum experience, discussions are underway to expand the level of engagement between CHE and U of L SPHIS, primarily in the area of community based participatory research.

3.1.c. A list of current research activity of all primary faculty identified in Criterion 4.1.a., including amount and source of funds, for each of the last three years. These data must be presented in table format and include at least the following information organized by department, specialty area or other organizational unit as appropriate to the school: a) principalinvestigator, b) project name, c) period of funding, d) source of funding, e) amount of total award, f) amount of current year’s award, g) whether research is community based and h) whether research provides for student involvement. See CEPH Data Template 3.1.1;only research funding should be reported here. Extramural funding for service or training/continuing education grants should be reported in Template 3.2.2 (funded service) or Template 3.3.1 (funded training/workforce development), respectively.

Please see following page forThe current funded research projects of primary faculty are listed in Table 3.1.2 on the following page, while Table 3.1.3 shows current funded training/education activities. In addition, SPHIS faculty, staff and students are involved in a number of sponsored activities, for which the primary award is to another unit within the university.