The Department of Information Sciences (DIS), consisting of the divisions of Biostatistics, Biomedical Informatics, and Clinical Research Information Management, collaborates in numerous facets of both clinical and basic science research throughout the Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute, including study design, data modeling, and computational analysis.
Major activities include collaborations in clinical, laboratory, and epidemiological research; development of statistical methodologies; and teaching in the Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences of City of Hope and in the Clinical Investigation Training Program (CITP). The faculty members within the department participate as co-investigators on City of Hope grants, in addition to conducting their own research.
Through the Biostatistics and Biomedical Informatics shared resource cores, Information Sciences faculty and staff provide services to other investigators.
Division of Biostatistics
The Division of Biostatistics, the first of the three divisions within the Department of Information sciences, houses faculty and staff statisticians. It also operates a data entry facility for research projects. Major activities include collaborations in clinical, laboratory, and epidemiological research; development of statistical methodologies; and teaching in the Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences of City of Hope and in the Clinical Fellows Training Program.
Division of Biomedical Informatics
Biomedical Informatics can be described as a discipline at the intersection of the biological, medical, and computer science disciplines. The division assists with acquisition, organization, analysis, and distribution of biomedical data.
Division of Clinical Research Information Management
There is widespread recognition of the barriers to clinical trial enrollment, and several strategies for minimizing them have been proposed. First and foremost is the need for increased public awareness of and access to clinical trial information accompanied by improved methods for its dissemination. To this end, DIS faculty and staff created a searchable database-driven Web site (Clinical Trials On-LineSM) to provide access to summaries of all active City of Hope protocols (clinicaltrials.coh.org). The site can be searched by disease type, adult or pediatric trials, physician or keyword; an online contact form facilitates communication with an oncology nurse who triages incoming requests. Our research has shown that this website has led to new patients at City of Hope and increased accruals to our clinical trials.
A secure internal version of the Clinical Trials On-LineSM Web site has been developed and deployed by DIS faculty and research staff to provide electronic document delivery for the full protocols, appendices, and informed consents for ongoing studies. This system provides for a single centralized electronic master document repository, allowing immediate simultaneous access from any workstation, and enabling change control, versioning, and audit trails in an efficient and accurate manner. A search feature electronically matches protocols and patients based on common eligibility criteria. This online tool has the potential to greatly improve the efficiency, safety, and quality of study conduct, and research into the diffusion of innovation surrounding this web-enabled system is ongoing.