Academic medical centers such as Vanderbilt and the University of Minnesota have created centers to train health systems scientists and coordinate research projects. Now, the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine will establish a Center for Health Systems Science Learning to provide instructive and experiential learning opportunities for clinicians and researchers in learning health systems science. health.
A learning health system (LHS) is described as creating a virtuous cycle in which data collected in routine care is studied for variations and best practices, and that knowledge fuels changes in the system to create better performance. . The concept has been gaining momentum for several years, but since 2020, the pandemic has really given the movement a boost and more and more health systems are establishing infrastructure and training programs around it.
The UCSD School of Medicine received a $5 million, five-year grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to establish the center, which will include three cores, serving different functions.
Ming Tai-Seale, Ph.D., professor of Family Medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine and principal investigator on the new grant, will lead the Administrative Core, which manages and oversees the center.
Michael Hogarth, MD, professor in the Department of Medicine, will lead the Research Data and Analytics Center, which will provide data science expertise to the center’s scientists. Crystal Wiley Cené, MD, MPH, will lead the Research Education core, which will support research projects and provide mentoring opportunities to scientists within the center. Cené serves dual roles as administrative director of health justice, equity, diversity and inclusion at UC San Diego Health and associate medical director of health equity.
“Health systems around the world often face similar problems, such as poor resource utilization, rising costs, and disparities in access to care,” Tai-Seale said in a statement. “I envision the new center will help our researchers and clinicians understand and overcome these system-level challenges and accelerate our progress toward a highly reliable learning health system.”
“Improving healthcare is not always about developing new treatments,” Tai-Seale added. “It’s also about improving the way we deliver health care by improving communication between patient and provider, helping underserved populations access care, and even reducing burnout among health care workers. “In a learning health system, all of these complex factors that affect health care can be studied systematically while incorporating new knowledge into clinical practice.”
The new center will seek to foster collaboration among UC San Diego faculty in eight different departments, who will serve as mentors for health system scientists receiving training through the center.
“It is important to us that the center’s impact extends beyond UC San Diego Health and into the surrounding community,” Tai-Seale added.
Students at the center will take courses through UC San Diego to learn the principles and practices of learning health systems science. In their second and third years of training, students will be able to complete their own projects and put their findings into practice in the clinic.
“A true full-learning health system remains simply an ideal at this time, but this center will bring us significantly closer to achieving that ideal,” Tai-Seale said. “We hope this initiative will improve healthcare here in San Diego County and establish us as a global leader in this new and evolving approach to improving healthcare.”
