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VISN 19 Denver

HSR&D and QUERI Centers, projects, Career Development Awards, and highlighted publications in Denver

include:

COIN (Center of Innovation): 

Center for Innovation for Veteran-Centered and Value-Driven Care (co-located with Seattle)

Director: Michael Ho, MD, PhD

This Center's mission is to conduct outstanding health services research that promotes Veterancentered and value-driven care, generate and disseminate knowledge that contributes to the wellbeing of Veterans, partner with VA policy and operational leaders to implement research findings 

into clinical care, and train the next generation of health services researchers and leaders.

QUERI (Quality Enhancement Research Initiative):

 Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD) QUERI Center

 Clinical Coordinator: Michael Ho, MD, PhD

The overall mission of the IHD QUERI is to improve the quality of care and health outcomes of 

veterans with IHD by working collaboratively with operational units and other QUERI groups to 

enable implementation of best practices in acute care, chronic illness care, and secondary 

prevention.

Currently Funded Projects at Denver

• Pilot Intervention to Improve Dabigatran Adherence – Michael Ho, MD, PhD

• Natural Language Processing to Ascertain Stress Test Data – Steven Bradley, MD, MPH

• Planning Palliative Care for Homeless Veterans Who Are at the End of Life – Evelyn Hutt, MD

• Pilot Intervention to Improve Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Control Among Veterans with CAD – 

Thomas Maddox, MD, MS

• Medical Foster Homes: A Safe, Cost Effective Substitute for Nursing Homes? – Cari Levy, MD, PhD

• Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Study to Improve Clopidogrel Adherence – Michael Ho, MD, 

PhD

Current Career Development Awardees

• David Bekelman, MD, MPH – Development of a Heart Failure Palliative Care Program

• Steven Bradley, MD, MPH – Appropriateness of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

• Liron Caplan, MD, PhD – Preventing Long-term Adverse Drug Reactions: Glucocorticoids as a 

Model

• Thomas M. Maddox, MD, MS – Cardiac Risk Factor Management among CAD Patients after 

Cardiac Catheterization

Highlighted Publications

• Study Examines Normal Coronary Rates for Elective Angiography

Bradley S, Maddox T, Stanislawski M, O’Donnell C, Grunwald G, Tsai T, Ho P, Peterson E, and Rumsfeld J. Normal 

Coronary Rates for Elective Angiography in the VA Health Care System: Insights from the VA CART Program. Journal of 

the American College of Cardiology October 30, 2013;e-pub ahead of print.

VA Office of Research & Development • Health Services Research & Development Service

www.hsrd.research.va.gov

1/24/2014
• Study Suggests Testosterone Therapy Associated with Adverse Cardiovascular Outcomes among 

Veterans

Vigen R, O’Donnell C, Barόn A, Grunwald G, Maddox T, Bradley S, Barqawi A, Woning G, Wierman M, Plomondon M, 

Rumsfeld J, and Ho P. Association of Testosterone Therapy with Mortality, Myocardial Infarction, and Stroke in Men 

with Low Testosterone Levels. JAMA November 6, 2013;310(17):1829-36.

• Multifaceted Intervention Improves Medication Adherence for Veterans following 

Hospitalization for Acute Coronary Syndrome

Ho P, Lambert-Kerzner A, Carey E, et al. Multifaceted Intervention to Improve Medication Adherence and Secondary 

Prevention Measures (Medication Study) after Acute Coronary Syndrome Hospital Discharge. JAMA Internal Medicine

November 18, 2013;e-pub ahead of print.

Search the full list of citations from the Denver Center at 

www.hsrd.research.va.gov/publications/citations/coe_generator.cfm

VA Office of Research & Development • Health Services Research & Development Service

www.hsrd.research.va.gov

1/24/2014
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VISN 19 Salt Lake City

HSR&D and QUERI Centers, projects, Career Development Awards, and highlighted publications in Salt 

Lake City include:

COIN (Center of Innovation): 

Informatics, Decision-Enhancement and Analytic Sciences Center (IDEAS 2.0)

Director: Matthew Samore, MD

IDEAS 2.0's mission is to advance scientific discovery, implement novel interventions, promote 

cross-center collaboration, increase research capacity, and engage operational partners in order 

to improve the health of Veterans.

CREATE (Collaborative Research to Enhance and Advance Transformation and Excellence):

 Improving Therapeutic Decision-Making through Veteran-Centered Population Analytics

 Director: Matthew Samore, MD

The goal of this CREATE is to implement tools and methods that will make VA medication 

management data accessible in a consumable form. Projects to be funded in this CREATE include: 

• Cognitive Support Informatics for Antimicrobial Stewardship – Peter Glassman, MBBS, MSc

(housed in Los Angeles)

• Cognitive Support Informatics for Nurse Medication Stewardship – Charlene Weir, PhD, RN

• Veterans Like Mine--Cognitive Support for Therapeutic Decision-Making – Matthew Samore, 

MD

• Natural Language Processing (NLP) Software Ecosystem – Qing Zeng, PhD

• Information Extraction and Visualization Toolkit (IE-Viz) – Wendy Chapman, PhD (housed in 

San Diego)

Currently Funded Projects at Salt Lake City

• Pro-WATCH: Epidemiology of Medically Unexplained Syndromes – Matthew Samore, MD

• Consortium for Health Care Informatics Research: Information Extraction – Qing Zeng, PhD

• Antimicrobial Use and Control of Clostridium difficile Transmission and Infection – Michael Rubin, 

MD, PhD

Current Career Development Awardees

• Richard Nelson, PhD – Using Economics and Epidemiology to Evaluate MRSA Decolonization in the 

VA

VA Office of Research & Development • Health Services Research & Development Service

www.hsrd.research.va.gov

1/24/2014