PROJECT SUMMARY
OVERALL
The overall objective of the proposed UCSD Learning Health Systems (LHS) Center is to provide didactic and
experiential training in learning health systems science to clinicians and other scientists from diverse
backgrounds. The three cores of the Center – Administrative Core, Research and Education Core, and
Research and Data Analysis Core – will operate as inter-dependent parts of the Center infrastructure to
support the professional development of scientists to conduct research that accelerates progress towards an
integrated learning health system. By design, the Center’s LHS infrastructure and workflow present holistic
opportunities for LHS Scientists to interact with their sponsors, with their cohort, and other member of the LHS
community. A LHS research project funded in the Center will also provide LHS Scientists a learning opportunity
encompassing the full circle of developing, executing, managing, and reporting a research project as an
embedded scientist. The proposed LHS Center will enhance diversity of both the LHS Scientists as well as
patients who will benefit from LHS interventions in a minimum of three safety net health systems, UCSD and
two federally qualified health centers, El Centro Regional Medical Center (ECRMC) and Family Health Centers
of San Diego (FHCSD), that serve disproportionally underserved and minoritized populations. Multi-channel
outreach efforts will cover underrepresented minority faculty and scientists both within and outside of the
UCSD health sciences programs. Healthcare professionals including nurses and social scientists such as
economists and sociologists are also eligible. The proposed Center has assembled faculty members
representing multiple disciplines, gender, race, and age. Many of them specialize in health equity and are
national leaders in reducing racial disparities in access to health services. All of them are engaged in research
efforts that are well aligned with AHRQ/PCORI’s priorities. Their projects offer LHS Scientists experiential
education opportunities that will be highly beneficial in preparation for their own research project. The proposed
Center aims to (1) mentor and train clinicians and other scientists in competencies of learning health systems,
organizational transformation, hypothesis generation and testing, data management and analysis, patient and
stakeholder engagement, and how to apply research insights to address health system priorities in real world
practice workflow; (2) to support and train LHS Scientists in sophisticated methods of deriving study-relevant
structured and unstructured data from the electronic health record system and gain competencies in mixed
methods research; and (3) to facilitate bidirectional asset-based community development opportunities for
implementation of learning health systems pragmatic research in resource constrained care environments with
diverse and underserved populations and in academic health systems with a broad range of deep expertise.