VICTR Biostats Meeting

2012 Aug 30

Participants: Dr. Bernard, Dr. Harrell, Jennifer Adams, Terri Edwards

• Standard $2,000 voucher—applicable for manuscript writing/revisions: The group agreed on the following processes regarding requests for Biostats services related to manuscript writing and requested revisions
  • For projects that appear to meet the $2000 for completion- no pre approval letter from the Department/Division would be required
  • For projects that appear to require greater than $2000 for completion- a letter from the Department/Division agreeing to cost the VICTR amount over the $2000 would be required prior to project approval
  • For Projects that were approved for $2000 but then needed additional funds:
    • An Amendment would need to be requested by the PI
    • In response to the amendment submission the SRC team would send an email to the PI stating work requiring more than $2000 would require cost sharing from the Department/Division and a letter containing a center would need to be submitted
    • Dr. Bernard, Dr. Harrell and the Division/Department chair would be cc’d on the email
    • VICTR SRC team will track the metrics associated with these resubmissions
• Starting Biostat work prior to VICTR approval: The group agreed that to maintain grant compliance no work that would be charged to a VICTR center number prior to VICTR approval. However, projects that have departmental support can begin work and have the department’s center number charged for the work at any time. Once the VICTR approval is obtained, the cost share rules/process would then apply; the investigator can receive a total amount of VICTR support equaling what would have been provided had VICTR support started before home department support applied. All work done before VICTR approval will be charged out to the department, then VICTR will pay for the next $2000 of work. If at that point work remains to be done (and this has been awarded by VICTR), VICTR will pay an additional amount up to what was paid by the department. Then, VICTR and the department would co-pay matching funds up to the usual limit of $10,000 of VICTR funding
  • The SRC team will monitor turnaround times and continue to try to improve those metrics
  • The SRC team will monitor the VICTR Biostats pre-review turnaround times and notify Dr. Harrell if any issues of concern arise
• Instant vouchers: The group agreed that providing an opportunity for Investigators to obtain “Instant Biostat Vouchers” would be of great value.
  • To qualify for this award:
    • Applies to VICTR clinics on Monday-Thursday
    • The work would be able to be completed in less than 12 hours of biostats time (>$1500)
    • An application would be completed in real time by the Investigator and the biostatistician
  • The SRC team will work with Li Wang on creating a new VICTR application model that will contain the necessary application elements and will be able to be signed off by the biostatistician
• Studio Applications: The group agreed that it might be helpful in some cases to have more detail included in the Studio application and that it may be apparent on a case-by-case basis. Plan will be to have Dr. Harrell respond to Tara when an application warrants additional information and that Tara will log those requests to obtain trends necessitating an application revision
• Meharry Biostats: To increase Meharry attendance at the VICTR Biostat Clinics the following efforts will occur:
  • Increase advertising to the Meharry research community, via Jared. Include the free lunch and the parking option at Medical Center East
  • Dr. Harrell will work with Dr. Agboto at Meharry to see if a centralized Skype option might be of value
• Clinic Lunches: VICTR agreed to pay for half the Biostat Clinic lunches using the Institutional budget