Knowledge Integration Team
- Overview
- Mission
- Vision
- What is Knowledge Integration?
- Knowledge Integration Activities and Resources
- Key Publications
- Contacts
Overview
The Knowledge Integration (KI) Team resides in the Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program (EGRP)'s Office of the Associate Director (OAD). The Team is tasked with systematically integrating the rapidly accumulating knowledge base and tools for cancer epidemiology and genomics to accelerate research, evidence-based recommendations, and translation into prevention and clinical practice. It accomplishes this by creating and maintaining online information and databases, meta-research projects, and conducting systematic scientific literature reviews.
Mission
The KI Team's mission is to develop, coordinate, and evaluate:
- Integration of existing and new knowledge across the disciplines of cancer epidemiology and genomics;
- Development of tools to facilitate the communication and presentation of the body of evidence on cancer epidemiology and genomics; and
- Publication of synthesized findings to aid evidence-based clinical practices and policy recommendations.
Integral to its mission is an on-going collaboration with all EGRP staff and researchers across governmental, academic, and non-governmental institutions.
Vision
The KI Team's vision is to foster the advancement of cancer epidemiology research across the translational continuum by systematic integration and synthesis of findings to reduce the burden of cancer.
What is Knowledge Integration?
KI is the systematic process of combining information from many sources (and disciplines) in order to accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into health benefits for both individuals and populations. The process involves three components:
- Knowledge management (KM) - a continuous process of identifying, selecting, storing, curating, and tracking relevant information from multiple disciplines;
- Knowledge synthesis (KS) - the process of applying technical methods for the systematic review of published and unpublished data using a priori rules of evidence. It may include meta-analysis, decision analysis, and modeling; and
- Knowledge translation (KT) - the process of using synthesized information to influence policy, guideline development, practice, and research.
These three components complement one another, and in concert, inform the translational research continuum from discovery to population health impact.
Knowledge Integration Activities and Resources
In data-intensive fields such as epidemiology, KI is an essential process to systematically identify what we know and/or don't know about cancer causes and outcomes. EGRP has a history of involvement and engagement in collaborative efforts to promote KS activities and resources across multiple branches. The creation of the KI Team is a reflection of this commitment. The Team expands EGRP's efforts through a variety of collaborations to integrate and synthesize knowledge, such as:
- Development of databases to serve as research resources related to genes and cancer.
- Convening workshops, such as Trends in 21st Century Cancer Epidemiology: From Scientific Discoveries to Population Health Impact, to identify barriers and gaps in cancer epidemiology and advance solutions to a wide range of scientific areas.
- Participating as members of Federal advisory committees and interagency working groups, such as the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Roundtable on Genomics and the NIH Public Health, and the trans-NIH Public Health Genomics Interest Group (PHGIG).
- Monographs and workshops sponsored by the International Agency for Research on Cancer
on topics such as gene-environment interactions and disease and the evaluation of carcinogenic risks to humans, especially tobacco products. - NCI and NIH Interest Groups and Working Groups for epigenomics and epigenetics, pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacogenomics, and more.
- Posts on EGRP's Cancer Epidemiology Matters blog, including the following:
- How Can We Use Epidemiology to Integrate Knowledge Emerging from Basic, Clinical, and Population Sciences? (October 2012)
- How Can We Use Epidemiology to Bridge Evidence Gaps in Translating Research Discoveries into Clinical and Public Health Practice? (September 2012)
- Leveraging Existing Biospecimen Resources to Advance Cancer Epidemiology Resources? (March 2012)
Key Publications
- Ioannidis JP, Schully S, Lam TK, Khoury MJ. Knowledge Integration in Cancer: Current Landscape and Future Prospects. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2012 Oct 23. [Epub ahead of print]
- Khoury MJ, Gwinn M, Dotson WD, Schully SD. Knowledge integration at the center of genomic medicine. Genetic Med. 2012 May 3;14:643-7.
Contacts
- Sheri D. Schully, Ph.D., Team Lead, Knowledge Integration Team
- Tram Kim Lam, Ph.D., M.P.H., Program Director
- Christine Chang, M.P.H.M, Cancer Research Training Award Fellow
