About CERTs

Annual Report Year 3

The CERTs Organization

The CERTs program is administered by the AHRQ, in consultation with the FDA. Two bodies offer unique support to the CERTs on their quest to improve the nations healthcare—the Coordinating Center and the Steering Committee.

The Coordinating Center at Duke University Medical Center provides overall CERTs support through strategic planning, program development and outreach. The Steering Committee offers scientific and operational guidance to the Coordinating Center and research centers.

The heart of CERTs success is its collaboration with a diverse host of partners. Establishing relationships with agencies and organizations that will provide valuable opportunities for improving the use of medical therapies through CERTs research is one of the most important roles for the Coordinating Center. For example, the wide range of views and expert opinions brought together for the Risk Series workshops demonstrates the ability of the Coordinating Center to concentrate the efforts of many partners on a single, critical mission.

Once research is underway, the Coordinating Center rolls up its sleeves and provides the infrastructure necessary for the most important aspect of any study—dissemination—in collaboration with AHRQ and other partners. Results are meaningless if no one learns of them and the Coordinating Center provides the information management and the communications expertise necessary to see hard-won evidence put into practice.

Simply putting results on the printed page is not enough, however. The Coordinating Center develops and manages outreach programs such as the PATHs. These ensure that not only are CERTs research findings reaching critical ears, but also that future CERTs projects will be responsive to national needs and continue to pursue a focused, effective research agenda.

Guiding all of this activity is the Steering Committee. The embodiment of the multi-sector, collaborative CERTs model, the Steering Committee is comprised by each center's principal investigator and by representatives of government agencies, as well as leaders in private industry and consumer advocacy. The blend of academia, government, the public, and business means the intellectual and strategic leadership of the Steering Committee is well rounded and on the cutting edge of emerging healthcare issues.

Together, the Coordinating Center and the Steering Committee both anchor and pilot the CERTs ship.

Steering Committee

Hugh H. Tilson, MD, DrPH
(Chair)

Lynn Bosco, MD, MPH
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

M. Miles Braun, MD, MPH
U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Robert M. Califf, MD
Duke University Medical Center

William H. Campbell, PhD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Lisa C. Egbuonu-Davis, MD
Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group

Linda F. Golodner
National Consumers League

Judith M. Kramer, MD, MS
Duke University Medical Center

Richard Platt, MD, MSc
HMO Research Network

Wayne A. Ray, PhD
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Kenneth G. Saag, MD, MSc
University of Alabama at Birmingham

Marcel E. Salive, MD, MPH
National Institues of Health

Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH
University of Pennsylvania

Karen Williams
National Pharmaceutical Council

Raymond L. Woosley, MD, PhD
University of Arizona Health Sciences Center

Adminstration

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD.
www.ahrq.gov

Program Coordination

Duke University Medical Center, Durham NC
www.ahrq.gov/certs

Centers

Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
http://medschool.duke.edu/
HMO Research Network, Boston, MA
University of Alabama at Birmingham
www.uab.edu/certs
University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, Tucson
www.arizonacert.org; www.qtdrugs.org; http://medicine.iupui.edu/flockhart/; www.torsades.org
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
http://www.sph.unc.edu/health-outcomes/certs/index.htm
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN

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