Applied Health Research Centre (AHRC)
Case Studies
We facilitate discovery and measure our success in terms of our clients' success. To illustrate the range and breadth of work that we undertake, we have prepared a number of short case studies. We are pleased to share these with you.
Do it well . . . . do it fast!
Introducing a new drug to the marketplace is an important milestone for patients to gain access to the new treatment, for the pharmaceutical company that has spent many years and millions of dollars on research and development, and for government policymakers who must focus on ensuring safety, clinical benefit, and manage the economic impact of the new therapy. Patient registries are a critically important research tool in tracking and understanding these issues in real time.
The Observational Epidemiology and Qualitative Research Unit (OEQRU) at the AHRC brings together some of the brightest minds in database design, pharmacoeconomics, health policy and statistics, as well as clinical experts, to provide a unique and comprehensive approach to developing registries. Thus, when a pharmaceutical sponsor needed to coordinate a patient registry of over 1,000 patients for an important new cardiovascular medication in two months, the AHRC was up to the challenge.
The AHRC successfully arranged for logistics, partnered with a leading cardiology key opinion leader, and enrolled the patients from national sites… in record time and at a cost far lower than others had thought possible.
Speed, cost, and quality are key to successful clinical research and are core to the AHRC.
Innovate! Collaborate!
A stroke caused by bleeding in the brain is one of the most devastating medical emergencies that can occur. This type of stroke represents approximately 10 percent of strokes seen in the emergency room and occurs commonly in patients with high blood pressure, the elderly, or those with other important cardiovascular risk factors. Many patients die or are left permanently disabled requiring long-term care. To date no effective treatments have been developed.
In collaboration with the AHRC, Dr. David Gladstone – a leading stroke researcher and neurologist from Sunnybrook Hospital, is leading a large, national, multi-centered randomized controlled trial called SPOTLIGHT using Factor VIIa, a powerful blood clotting agent originally developed to treat hemophiliacs, in these stroke patients in the emergency room. Innovation and collaboration, core values at the AHRC, were key to launching this important effort. Methodologists from the AHRC helped develop the protocol which was ranked 1st in the national CIHR grant competition. The AHRC clinical operations team has built the study database and is ramping up quickly, getting new sites on board to help bring this important new study to patients.
AHRC wants to continue to keep the SPOTLIGHT on innovation and collaboration in clinical research.
Translating New Knowledge ... Global Ideas to Local Differences
Around the world healthcare systems are struggling under the enormous capacity pressures brought on by our aging population, growing burden of chronic diseases, and spiraling costs of delivering care. One major problem is helping frail patients transition home from hospital care. Research has shown that over 20 percent of patients who leave hospital are readmitted within ninety days of discharge. Many of those who return, go on to die.
In Croydon, England a small team of clinicians and researchers developed an innovative approach to help prevent these readmissions, save money and save lives. They developed a “virtual ward” of caregivers including doctors, nurses, and other allied health professionals who help manage the difficult transition period when a patient goes home.
At the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital, Dr. Irfan Dhalla, a general internist and medical researcher, wanted to help translate this new knowledge into his own community in Toronto, Canada. To help prove this experiment would work in Canada, Dr. Dhalla turned to the methodologists and data management experts at the AHRC. Testing and translating new knowledge to accelerate improvements in patient outcomes are critical in the modern healthcare era and core to our expertise at the AHRC.
Pandemics and the AHRC. When the world calls . . . .
When faced with a potential global crisis of a new flu virus that could infect over 1 billion people and cripple healthcare resources around the globe, physicians, public health agencies and governments turned to researchers from University of Toronto for help. After the SARS crisis of 2003, University of Toronto researchers like Dr. Rob Fowler, a critical care physician and epidemiologist, knew that rapid collection and analysis of patient data from around the world would be essential to mounting a coordinated response to H1N1.
Dr. Fowler turned to the AHRC to help build a web-based data collection system that was deployed rapidly nationally, subsequently garnering international interest. The AHRC system was so robust that it quickly became the platform for several drug trials set up in record time to combat severe H1N1 infections.
In today’s world, clinical research has global implications. AHRC was proud to help answer the call.
Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute
Bringing together leading edge research and education to shape the future of healthcare.
