After six years of innovative research in the field of implementation science, Donna Spiegelman, ScD, Director of the Yale School of Public Health’s Center for Methods in Implementation and Prevention Science (CMIPS ), has recently completed the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Director’s Pioneer Award.
Awarded to Dr. Spiegelman in 2014, this grant supports “innovative researchers of exceptional creativity who propose high risk, high reward research projects with unusually broad scientific impact in important areas relevant to the mission of NIH.” Dr. Spiegelman's work focused on advancing the emerging field of implementation science by developing new methods and adapting existing methodologies in biostatistics, epidemiology, health economics, and computer science. To receive this prestigious five-year $500,000/year direct cost award, a pioneering proposal must reflect a substantively different scientific direction from that already being pursued by the investigator elsewhere. Consequently, the award has made it possible for Dr. Spiegelman to pivot her research, which had primarily focused on developing methods for reducing bias in estimation and inference in the presence of exposure measurement error, into a new direction of methodologic research motivated by implementation challenges and by large-scale public health evaluations. As the first biostatistician to receive the award, Dr. Spiegelman stated that she is “deeply honored by the confidence shown by NIH in the work I have accomplished.” She encourages public health professionals to “think creatively about how their research findings can be more broadly, effectively, and equitably implemented to improve public health.”
From 2014 to 2020, Dr. Spiegelman directed the funds awarded toward expanding existing implementation and prevention science methods and practice in three areas: 1) study design, including cluster randomized trials, stepped wedge designs, two-stage designs, and learn-as-you-go designs; 2) causal inference methods, including causal mediation analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, and population attributable risks; and 3) new directions in domestic and international health aimed at improving cardiometabolic health through worksite interventions, vitamin supplementation, HIV prevention, and cervical and colorectal cancer prevention.
The scientific output of the grant has been extensive, with 46 papers published, 11 more submitted, and 12 under preparation. Eighty-seven presentations were given in the US and around the world. The grant also supported the research of 14 senior faculty members, 7 junior faculty, 13 postdoctoral fellows, 9 doctoral students, and 6 master’s students. Throughout the six years of the grant, Dr. Spiegelman and her colleagues have expanded implementation science knowledge and methods and will continue to strengthen this emerging field by producing further insights and preparing the next generation of implementation science methods scholars.