Team Science at Washington University: Creating culture and enhancing opportunities. Jennifer Lodge Associate Dean for Research

Transcription

1 Team Science at Washington University: Creating culture and enhancing opportunities Jennifer Lodge Associate Dean for Research

2 What is team science? Team science initiatives are designed to promote collaborative, and often cross-disciplinary (which includes multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary) approaches to answering research questions about particular phenomena. wikipedia

3 Team Science at WUSM Genomic medicine Tim Ley, Internal Medicine Rick Wilson, Genetics 100 s of others Cancer genomics Hundreds of genomes sequenced Mechanisms Diagnostic Personalized medicine changing treatments, predicting risk Process improvements

4 Team Science at WUSM Novel imaging technologies Lihong Wang Biomedical engineering Many SOM and engineering collaborators Came to WU specifically for the collaborations Photoacoustic tomography & other novel imaging appications Melanoma Breast cancer Gastrointestinal cancer

5 What are key drivers for successful collaborative team science? Recognized scientific need Personal interactions Respect Trust Common languages Physical proximity Resources (space, funds, time) Rewards tangible and intangible

6 Team Science at WUSM WU is a collaborative environment WU has a long history of interdisciplinary research culture Started with our graduate program Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences (DBBS) 35 yrs old Graduate training (PhD and MSTP) was done as programs rather than through dept.

7 Markey Human Pathobiology Cognitive, Comp. & Systems Neuro. Cancer biology Molecular Microbiology & Microbial Pathogenesi s Dev. Regen. and Stem Cell Biology DBBS 3 Schools 12 PhD Programs 7 Special emphasis pathways Biochemistr y Medicine Molecular Cell Biology Comp. & Molecular Biophysics Molecular Genetics & Genomics Arts & Sciences DBBS Engineering Human & Statistical Genetics Neurosciences Evolution, Ecology & Population Biology Plant Biology Immunology Comp. & Systems Biology Mol. Engineering & Biophysics Infectious Disease Kaufmann Entrepreneur ial Imaging Sciences

8 Faculty Affiliation by Department and Graduate Program Faculty Primary & Secondary Program Affiliations Comp School Faculty Prime Department Mol Biochem Biophys Comp Sys Bio Dev Biol EEPB HSG IMM MCB MGG MMMP NS PLANT A & S Anthropology 1 A & S Biology A & S Chemistry A & S Earth and Planetary Sciences 1 A & S Physics A & S Psychology 6 Engineering Biomedical Engineering Engineering Computer Science and Engineering 3 3 Engineering Electrical & Systems Engineering Engineering Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering Engineering Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science 1 1 Medicine Anatomy and Neurobiology Medicine Anesthesiology Medicine Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Medicine Cell Biology and Physiology Medicine Developmental Biology Medicine Division of Biostatistics 1 2 Medicine Genetics Medicine Internal Medicine Medicine Molecular Microbiology Medicine Neurological Surgery Medicine Neurology Medicine Neurosurgery 1 2 Medicine Obstetrics and Gynecology Medicine Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Medicine Orthopaedic Surgery Medicine Otolaryngology Medicine Pathology and Immunology Medicine Pediatrics Medicine Physical Therapy 1 Medicine Psychiatry Medicine Radiation Oncology Medicine Radiology Medicine Surgery

9 Distribution of Students by Department and Program Biochem Comp Mol Biophys Comp Sys Bio Dev Biol EEPB HSG IMM MCB MGG MMMP NS PLANT Student Department PhD MSTP PhD MSTP PhD MSTP PhD MSTP PhD MSTP PhD MSTP PhD MSTP PhD MSTP PhD MSTP PhD MSTP PhD MSTP PhD MSTP Anatomy Anesthesiology Biochemistry Biology Biomedical Engineering Biostatistics 3 Cell Biology Computer Science 2 1 Danforth Plant Science Center 2 3 Developmental Biology Genetics Internal Medicine Microbiology Neurological Surgery 1 Neurology OB\GYN Ophthalmology Orthopaedic Surgery 1 1 Pathology Pediatrics Physical Therapy (Program in) 1 Psychiatry Psychology 5 2 Radiation Oncology 2 1 Radiology Surgery 1

10 DBBS drives some of the fundamentals of collaboration Cohort of students are the advance guard that run across disciplines Faculty follow Development of training programs/coursework Teaching Mentoring students What s missing? What can the institution foster? Resources, proximity, tangible rewards

11 Biomed21 A transformative vision for research Launched in 2003 transform life sciences at WU Inspired by highly successful interdisciplinary graduate program Bridge between Danforth and Medical campuses Foundation of strengths in imaging and genomics Focus on new areas/approaches to research that will improve the human condition Increase clinical and translational research Basically creating an environment where team science is fostered and rewarded

12 What are the challenges? Highly federated system of governance Competition for limited resources Making hard choices yes to some things, no to others Developing rewards for faculty

13 Rewards: Tenure and promotion changes made in 2005 Faculty member must be responsible for an outstanding body of original, basic biological, biomedical or clinical research.. where the faculty member is typically the first or senior author. In cases where a major component of a faculty member s research accomplishments depend on collaborations with other investigators, it is essential that the quality and originality of the faculty member s individual contributions to the design, analysis, and interpretation of the published studies be carefully documented. These contributions should meet the high standards expected of faculty whose research is not collaborative in nature.

14 Did it work? Compared 19 faculty who were granted tenure at WUSM in 2002 to 16 granted tenure in Analysis of their publications in the 5 years preceding the tenure decision the 2010 cohort had almost twice as many unique co-authors included on their publications. Social network analysis showed an increase in number of nodes (investigators), edges (co-authorships), average degree (how many neighbors a node in the network has on average), and graph density (the ratio of the number of ties to the number of possible ties), with an increase in the number of nodes in the largest connected component per faculty from 27.3 to BUT informal poll suggests that more can be done

15 Enhance translational science: Establish the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS) Facilitate bringing science from the bench to the bedside The programs and services of the ICTS are designed to facilitate discoveries in clinical research and to speed the translation of research findings into improved prevention, diagnosis, and therapy in clinical practice. The ICTS brings together researchers representing a wide array of disciplines from several regional universities, in partnership with health care providers and industry. Training, cores, funding, partnerships CTSA award from the NIH, substantial institutional support

16 ICTS Grant Network (387 members who joined in the first year) Before ICTS (2007)

17 ICTS Grant Network (387 members who joined in the first year) Now (2010) Before ICTS (2007)

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19 Establish Interdisciplinary Research Centers (IRCs) Mission: assemble talented faculty and students to address key and emerging scientific problems, and to understand fundamental biological processes with broad implications for human health. Challenges: Resources Proximity rewards

20 Selection of IRCs First IRC was the Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology (Director - Jeff Gordon) Based on the success of that concept and the principles of Biomed21, a call for competitive proposals (2007) for centers that would be housed in a new building - 5 selected These five are now established in the BJC-IH Additional IRCs are considered on an ad hoc basis by the Dean and EF (CSI)

21 Center for Genome Sciences & Systems Biology DCDC (Diabetic cardiovascular disease) New Biomed21 IRCs H-PAN (protein misfolding and neurodegeneration) CIMED (ion channels) cwidr (women s infectious diseases) BRIGHT Institute (novel imaging and genomics of cancer) CSI (Center for the study of itch)

22 Governance of Centers Leadership directors and co-directors Faculty driven concepts Recruitment and mentorship of faculty work with dept Advisory steering committee Oversight Dean s office Membership at least 3 dept Faculty recruitment - dept Operating funds ($2.5M) from dean, dept. grants want endowments, more grants, more dept. support. Space ($46M) -

23 Evaluation of centers IRCs are not permanent Annual strategic plan Five year external reviews - are the IRCs adding value to research at WU? Challenge what to measure? Quality of faculty and trainees recruited to the center and the success of these scientists Development of new approaches to scientific problems, impact on the field, and on human health Enhance the intellectual life of the university - outreach Develop/increase funding for the IRC

24 Biomed21 IRCs benefits still too new to evaluate systematically Faculty retention/recruitment Trainee enthusiasm Intellectual cross-fertilization - creative science Increase in membership Publications and grants from pilot studies Some departmental support for operating costs of centers

25 Biomed 21 IRCs: Challenges Interplay/competition between departmental and center needs and resources funding, space Recruitment of faculty to centers requires high level of co-operation and trust between centers and departments Departments still need to be shown the value of centers Will faculty still be connected to department? How does a faculty member belonging to a center affect the evaluation of a department? Stable long term funding for Biomed21 in the face of declining resources needs What are unintended consequences?