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Director's Letter This issue of FORUM focuses on the important topic of Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER). Both clinicians and patients appreciate the limited benchmarks available to inform clinical decisions and treatment options. Policymakers find themselves in a similar situation—making health care legislation in an evidence vacuum. For clinicians, patients, and policymakers alike, however, CER has the potential to provide much needed evidence-based criteria for health care decision-making. Recently, CER activities have been expanding across the Federal Government. In March 2009, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) established a 15 member Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (FCCCER). Supported by funding of approximately $1.1 billion, the FCCCER will help guide, prioritize, and coordinate comparative effectiveness research across HHS and the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense. Joel Kupersmith, M.D., VA's Chief Research and Development Officer, represents VA on the council. In other news, HSR&D gave a warm send off to Shirley Meehan who retired from VA service on May 1. Dr. David Atkins, QUERI Director, will also serve as Acting Deputy Director of HSR&D until a new Deputy is named. And finally, I would like to note that we reviewed 124 proposals in the March review, of which we expect to fund 32 projects. In addition, we reviewed 30 Career Development Award applications and we expect to fund seven. Congratulations to all. Please keep your proposals coming. Seth A. Eisen, M.D., M.Sc. |
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