California Breast Cancer Research Program Call for Applications

CBCRP has a call for applications for Cycle 18 for research beginning August 1, 2012. They intend to invest up to $2.0 million dollars in IDEA and Translational Research Awards and another $2.0 million in CRC awards. A full description of the awards offered this year and the submission deadlines are described in their Call for Applications. Applicants need to submit a "letter of intent" (LOI) that must be approved in order to submit a full application for an IDEA or Translational Research Award.  LOI's submission deadline is October 25, 2011.

 How Health Care Reform Supports Innovation

One of the primary themes of the conference was the idea of "Liberation of Data" and how new data systems and protocols can expedite the process of sharing data across systems and disciplines. For me, the primary take home message was to consider how we could use similar ideas to advance our own work. There are so many tools already developed, that I want to make it a priority for our CTSI to promote access to these tools and build on what already exists. We hear all the time, "there is no need to reinvent the wheel". When considering technological advances, I think this is particularly true.

Some examples that I found most intriguing really focus on the idea of taking data available for companies and organizations and developing systems and infrastructure to program the data in a usable format. One example that I think we can all understand is how the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the warehouse and guardian of all weather-related data. We receive this information in a usable and relevant format through the local news, online weather sites and smart phone apps. Taking this idea of having a central depository of health data that can then be manipulated to share data in a meaningful way to health consumers is what I think nationally we want to strive for.

There is already movement towards this with a website I was introduced to called www.healthdata.gov. This data warehouse includes information related to clinical trials, patient education, and over 1,000 indicators of community health. The challenge is to get people to see this site and to get our technologically savvy colleagues to develop apps and other user-friendly forms of technology that can bring these data into the lives of all sectors of the community.

Locally, we already have some very usable data sources including the Los Angeles Health Survey(http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/ha/hasurveyintro.htm) and the California Health Interview Survey (www.chis.ucla.edu). Healthy City (www.healthycity.org) which has taken a local leadership role in making health-related data accessible to the larger community.

The OCE is organizing a training on October 6th on the use of Healthy City for program planning, grant development and identifying community needs in your area.  It is the hope that this will be the first of several trainings that we can offer our community partners to help us use technology efficiently and effectively to meet the various needs of our communities. Stay tuned for more information as we continue to navigate the waters of information technology and community health.

-Katrina Kubicek