RCMI Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus

ResDAC Investigators Visit the Medical Sciences Campus RCMI Program

Dr. Richard M. De Andino, Chairman of the Department of Family Medicine, U.P.R. School of Medicine; Dr. Emma Fernández-Repollet, RCMI Program Director; Dr. Marshall McBean, Principal Investigator of ResDAC and Head of the Division of Heal th Management and Policy at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health; Dr. Thomas A. Bubolz, Director of Outreach and Training for ResDAC and Associate Profesor at Dartmouth Medical School, and Professor Sandra Santos, Director of the Medical Sciences Campus Information Systems Office, during a meeting held at the RCMI Clinical Research Center. 

Investigators from the Research Data Assistance Center (ResDAC) visited the RCMI Program during January 15 and 16 to explore potential areas of research using computer databases. They met with faculty from the Schools of Medicine and Public Health to discuss research interests as well as opportunities for research using files from the the Health Care Financing Admnistration.

The Research Data Assistance Center (ResDAC) is a consortium of faculty and research staff from the University of Minnesota, Boston University, and Dartmouth College. ResDAC is funded directly by the Hea lth Care Financing Administration (HCFA) under a contract. The goal of ResDAC is to assist the HCFA in increasing the number of new researchers skilled in accessing and using HCFA data for studies which will improve the Medicaid and Medicare programs and add value to current HCFA activities. Activities include assistance to new researchers through the World Wide Web and a Help Desk backed up by academic researchers currently engaged in the use of HCFA Data; outreach and training using specially designed training databases and training modules; development and evaluation of enhanced HCFA databases; help in building the research data capacities of small schools and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
ResDAC serves as a focal point for researchers in pursuing studies on Medicare and Medicaid and provide the expertise of faculty and others who are knowledgeable and experienced in both HCFA's data and program history.

Dr. Marshall McBean, Principal Investigator of ResDAC and Head of the Division of Health Management and Policy at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and Dr. Thomas A. Bubolz, Director of Outreach and Training for ResDAC and Associate Professor at Dartmouth Medical School, also met with Professor Sandra Santos, Director of the Information Systems Office at the Medical Sciences Campus, and with staff from the Computing Center to assess research computing infrastructure available in that facility. They also met with personnel of Compucentro and were very impressed by the center's computer training facilities.

The visit was coordinated by the RCMI Program staff. Both visitors and faculty were very positive about areas of research at the Medical Sciences Campus. Before and after their visit, Dr. McBean and Dr. Bubolz collaborated actively with Dr. José G. Conde, Associate RCMI Program Director and Coordinator of the RCMI Research Informatics Unit, and with Dr. Emma Fernández-Repollet, RCMI Program Director, in the submission of a supplemental RCMI grant application to provide Medical Sciences Campus investigators with the necessary infrastructure to pursue research initiatives using HCFA data.