By Kate Rauch
In his pursuit of better ways to treat and prevent heart disease, Mark Pletcher, MD, MPH, associate professor in the UCSF School of Medicine, admits that he had a key advantage over his colleagues in one important way.
As a member of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics department, top-notch biostatisticians were always right down the hall. When stymied by a vexing data problem, he would pick the brains of office colleagues, he says.
Consultation Services is actively looking for the choke points in translational research, and trying to develop the resources researchers need to overcome those challenges.Mark Pletcher, MD, MPH, director of CTSI's Consultation Services program
Now the director of Consultation Services, a program of UCSF’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), Pletcher is helping other UCSF investigators get similar help by connecting them with experts in fields ranging from global health and biostatistics to study design, regulatory knowledge and participant recruitment.
“When I asked others for advice, I always felt like I needed to be very careful not to take too much of their time,” says Pletcher. “Now I can submit a consultation request and they get paid to help me. It's really a win-win situation.”
Impressed by how well the service works, Pletcher not only runs the program but is also a user and a consultant, offering his skills to colleagues he can help.
The service is designed to support investigators at UCSF and affiliated institutions in all fields and at all stages of research, from brainstorming a grant application to running an advanced statistical test to pulling together a cogent conclusion.
Read more at UCSF.edu