Through the ICTR and the BIOS Clinical Trial Coordinating Center (BIOS CTCC), faculty at the Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Trials and Evidence Synthesis (CCTES) offer a consulting service on questions relating to study design and conduct.
Housed in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Center for Clinical Trials and Evidence Synthesis (CCTES) is one of the leading groups in the United States devoted to both performing clinical trials and teaching the science of clinical trial design and management. The CCTES aims to promote clinical trials as a method of evaluation for preventive and therapeutic approaches to health problems. The CCTES provides trials leadership and coordinating center functions for trials in areas as diverse as ophthalmology, pulmonary and cardiovascular medicine, infectious diseases, rheumatology, and dementia research. The CCTES is particularly strong in the conduct of National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded multicenter comparative effectiveness trials across domestic and international sites.
The goal of the CCTES consulting service is to provide JHU affiliates with assistance for designing, implementing, or analyzing clinical research studies. The CCTES provides intellectual and methodological input into clinical research studies and research synthesis through 1-3 hours of free consulting. CCTES faculty members review the materials you submit and meet with you to offer consultative suggestions on your project.
Areas Covered by the CCTES Consulting Service
The CCTES Consulting Service offers a thorough discussion and framing of the research question that can be addressed through a clinical study. Types of support offered are:
- Help in identifying appropriate study design, which is not restricted to clinical (randomized) trials.
- Input into protocol development, including eligibility criteria, definition of interventions, randomization, outcome measurement, masking, stopping rules, etc.
- Design of data forms, coordination of the study, data monitoring and reporting, including advice on registration of clinical studies and reporting and dissemination of protocols and completed clinical studies
Since systematic reviews of the literature including (network) meta-analysis are a core competence of CCTES faculty, we also offer consulting on any aspect of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
Faculty needing support in areas of statistical analysis and data management will be referred to the consulting service of the Biostatistics Center and Data Management service offered by the ICTR.
Format of the CCTES Consulting Service
The CCTES Consulting Service provides 1-3 hours of free consulting with JHU affiliates. JHU affiliates are strongly encouraged to submit a request for the service as early in the planning of the research project as possible to maximize potential benefit from the consulting. The CCTES may decline requests that are too close to a deadline, or requests that fall outside these areas of expertise.
JHU affiliates may request up to 3 hours of support from the CCTES Consulting Service. A collaboration beyond the support through the ICTR is welcome, but depends on the specific collaborations and potential grant support discussed between JHU affiliates and CCTES faculty members.
Our Consultants
Douglas A. Jabs, MD, MBA
Director, Center for Clinical Trials and Evidence Synthesis
Dr. Jabs is an experienced clinician scientist and uveitis expert with a long track record in clinical trials, cohort studies, and translational research. His current research focuses on multicenter randomized clinical trials of management approaches to the uveitides, classification criteria for the uveitides, and the role of systemic inflammation in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration. Dr. Jabs has authored over 370 articles and over 45 book chapters. He has received awards for research, scholarship, authorship, and physician practice, including the LXVII Edward Jackson Memorial Lecture (2010), the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars recognition (2015), the AAO Inaugural C. Stephen and Frances Foster Lecturer in Uveitis and Ocular Immunology Award (2016), and the AAO Lifetime Achievement Award (2019). He also is well-known for his scientific contributions in CMV retinitis and AIDS research, treatment of the uveitides, and research methodology in uveitis.
Taylor M. Binnix, MA, MPH
Research Program Manager, Center for Clinical Trials and Evidence Synthesis
Taylor supports a diverse team of researchers in management and outcomes of large international multicenter NIH-funded clinical trials as the Research Program Manager for Center for Clinical Trials and Evidence Synthesis (Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health). In addition, Taylor’s research focuses on suicide and mental health, exploring the socioenvironmental predictors and impact of suicidal ideation, suicide death, and suicide clusters within adolescent communities. With interdisciplinary training in the social sciences and public health, Taylor is committed to using evidence-based decision-making for translating research into action steps for devising clinical and social interventions.
