Collaborative Health Studies Coordinating Center
The Collaborative Health Studies Coordinating Center (CHSCC) provides study management and data collection for observational studies and randomized trials, collaborates with foundations and associations to establish national patient registries, and supports statistical analysis and methods development toward a better understanding of the prevention and treatment of disease.
We are the coordinating center for the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a medical research study involving more than 6,800 men and women from six race/ethnic groups in the United States. MESA is sponsored by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
About us
The Collaborative Health Studies Coordinating Center is a non-profit, academic organization with over 20 years of experience running multi-site epidemiologic studies and clinical trials spanning multiple disciplines and employing a variety of approaches and methods. Our center prides itself on the collaborative effort of faculty, staff and students from the departments of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Washington. Our team of programmers, biostatisticians, epidemiologists and project managers provides expertise in study design, data collection and management, and statistical analysis. Our mission is to support studies that further scientific inquiry in areas that will ultimately impact public health. We also support the next generation of researchers by offering assistantships to current students and postdoctoral fellowships to recent graduates.
Leadership
Members
What we do
- Study communications such as providing leadership for study organization, establishing a website for public and investigator interactions, developing study-wide brochures and newsletters, and planning/organizing all meetings and conference calls;
- Operational activities including development of study protocol, strategies for recruitment and retention, data collection forms, manual(s) of operations, and quality control procedures;
- Development of integrated data collection systems using various formats as needed including computer-assisted interviewing, scanned data forms, and web-based transmission of data from sites linked together for recruitment and tracking of participants;
- Provision of systems for randomization and distribution of study medications for clinical trials;
- Reports to monitor study progress and provide interim clinical results;
- Implementation of quality control activities and standardization of procedures through centralized training, site visits, and programming/statistical techniques to maximize data accuracy;
- Provision of statistical expertise for all design and analytic issues of studies including power estimations, interim monitoring, reporting of final results, manuscript analyses and preparation, and consultation on all statistical aspects of the study.
Studies
Larger studies facilitated by the Center include:
- Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS)
- Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)
- Pulmonary Hypertension Association Registry (PHAR) Study
- STTR-HIV: Seek, Test, Treat and Retain Harmonization Study
- CF-SHIP: 001 Clinical Trial
See more details about our past and current studies.