ABSTRACT
Health systems struggle to consistently deliver care that is safe, effective, timely, efficient, equitable, and patient-
centered. Pragmatically leveraging science to provide quality health care efficiently and equitably can profoundly
impact population health. Undertaking the deliberate work of establishing a premier Learning Health System
(LHS), we will build platforms and integrate Cores to enable investigators to perform cutting-edge Patient
Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR), Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER), and Dissemination and
Implementation Science (D&I) to improve healthcare delivery, health, and health equity. These foundational
resources and services will also provide a nurturing environment to train the next generation of LHS Scientists.
To expand and reimagine LHS across NJ, we propose creating an innovative, impactful LHS Scientist Training
and Research Center in New Jersey (LHS STAR NJ) with distinct goals that: 1) trains the next generation of
LHS Scientists; 2) accelerate improvements in the quality, safety, outcomes, equity, efficiency, coordination, and
patient-centeredness of care delivered by a diverse alliance of health system and organizational partners (LHS
partners); 3) models the value of LHS Science in driving continuous learning and improvement into real-world
practice; and 4) improves the health and health equity of NJ. To accomplish these goals, we will develop the
structure, resources and services, and cultivate LHS and community partnerships to support LHS training and
science; create formal didactic and experiential education, training, mentorship and career development activities
in LHS science for a diverse group of embedded investigators, clinicians, and health system personnel tailored
to their professional interests to create the next generation of LHS Scientists in academia, industry, and
government; support LHS Scientists’ and other researchers conduct of rigorous, impactful PCOR and CER in
our LHS partners to improve the processes, outcomes, and equity of care among diverse patients, populations,
and settings; and promote the communication and pragmatic use of our findings in LHS partners and to
researchers, health systems, and other stakeholders regionally and nationally. As a natural laboratory, LHS
STAR NJ combines the expertise of established LHS investigators and mentors with the assets of a Big 10 health
sciences university with 7 health professions schools, 6 different health systems, the state’s largest insurer and
home care agency, and 2 government agencies. To increase our cohort of LHS Scientists, we will provide
disparate training pathways to expand and diversify our LHS workforce. In all endeavors, we will leverage
approaches that embrace diversity, inclusion, equity, and accessibility (DEIA) in trainees, mentors, and study
populations. LHS STAR NJ will also support scientist- and health system-generated LHS projects within which
we can embed Scientists overseen by a jointly governed committee of academic-health system representatives.
Our LHS projects will address the lifespan, diverse healthcare settings, populations, disease states, and
AHRQ/PCORI priority areas with the goal to improve health and healthy equity in New Jersey.