NHLBI BEE member Robert M. Califf, M.D., speaks on innovative approaches to clinical trials

Office of the Director - March 15, 2012

The NHLBI was pleased to co-present the March 8 installment of the NIH's Medicine: Mind the Gap seminar series. NHLBI Board of Extramural Experts (BEE) member Robert M. Califf, M.D., vice chancellor for clinical research and director of the Duke Translational Medicine Institute, professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center, and editor-in-chief of the American Heart Journal, delivered a lecture entitled "Innovative Approaches to Clinical Trials."

Califf began by stating that most clinical trials currently fail to provide the necessary evidence to inform medical decision-making, and that it is critical to obtain such evidence for a growing number of available treatments. He went on to argue that "incremental changes will not be sufficient" and that a mix of technological and social changes—including a better use of informatics, more open data sharing, and greater linking of investigators with trial participants—are necessary "if we want to make the next set of advances in health care."

The NHLBI will also be co-presenting the March 19 Mind the Gap lecture by Stanford Prevention Research Center Director John Ioannidis, M.D., about biases in biomedical research.