Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases

Established in May 2003, the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases is a center for research and learning in the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.  This Center is comprised of epidemiologists, clinicians, veterinarians, microbiologists, virologists, statisticians, laboratory technologists, laboratory technicians, undergraduate students, and graduate students from the University of Iowa, as well as their collaborators from other organizations.

The Center is conducting a wide array of research projects in studying emerging pathogens. These studies include international, national, state and local surveillance for emerging pathogens, risk factor analyses for pathogen infections, vaccine trials, evaluations of rapid diagnostic tests, and outbreak investigations. Center staff are collaborating with national and international experts in studying these emerging pathogens.  The Center also offers laboratory internship training, formal courses in infectious diseases, as well as study abroad opportunities.

Iowa Registry for Congenital and Inherited Disorders (IRCID)

The Iowa Registry for Congenital and Inherited Disorders was established by the Iowa General Assembly (Chapter 23 of the Iowa Code) in 1983. For over 20 years, the IRCID has received national attention for its role in birth defects surveillance and has served as a model for other states establishing surveillance programs.

The mission of the Iowa Registry for Congenital and Inherited Disorders is to:

• Maintain statewide surveillance for collecting information on selected congenital and inherited disorders in Iowa .
• Monitor annual trends in occurrence and mortality of these disorders
• Provide data for research studies and educational activities for the prevention and treatment of these disorders.

Nationally, the Iowa Registry for Congenital and Inherited Disorders is one of only twelve programs that conduct active, statewide surveillance for birth defects; active surveillance entails collection of data directly from medical records in hospitals and clinics, as compared to passive surveillance where data are generally collected only from hospital discharge diagnoses and birth and fetal death certificates. In addition, the Iowa Registry for Congenital and Inherited Disorders is one of only nine registries to receive an award from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a “Center of Excellence for Birth Defects Research and Prevention”.

In 2002, the IRCID expanded its surveillance activities to include monitoring the state of Iowa for cases of Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy (DBMD). DBMD is a genetic disease that is marked by progressive muscle weakness that usually starts in early childhood. The IRCID is one of six states to implement population-based surveillance for DBMD. In 2006, the IRCID began a pilot project to conduct statewide surveillance for all fetal deaths.  The pilot project is a joint effort between the IRCID and the Metropolitan Atlanta Congenital Defects Program.  Results from this pilot program will be used to guide the implementation of surveillance for fetal deaths at other state registries. In 2008, the IRCID was one of four state programs to be awarded a pilot grant to conduct surveillance and follow-up for children with a confirmed newborn screening disorder.

Health Effectiveness Research Center

The Health Effectiveness Research Center (HERCe) is a collaborative research enterprise between the Department of Epidemiology and the College of Pharmacy at the University of Iowa. HERCe focuses on understanding the reasons for and consequences of treatment variation in clinical practice. It is a center for research, learning, and education that is comprised of epidemiologists, economists, biostatisticians, clinicians, database specialists, geographers, and graduate students from colleges and departments across campus. The Center is directed by Dr. Elizabeth A. Chrischilles, Professor of Epidemiology in the College of Public Health and of Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy.

The center has a dedicated secure server that enables HERCe researchers and designated collaborators to access and analyze confidential information from approved work locations.  The server has Dual quad-core 2.83GHz Xeon processors with 32Gb of RAM and over 2 terabytes of server storage space.  Data holdings include multiple years of: Iowa Medicaid claims data, Iowa Medicare claims data, and SEER-Medicare linked databases.

Areas of expertise include conceptualization and measurement of preventive care and treatments from retrospective data; methodologies for addressing treatment selection bias including instrumental variables and direct statistical and design control for confounding; population-based sampling; analysis of complex sample surveys and longitudinal data; geographical analysis of healthcare access; data linkage and application of encryption methodologies to maintain confidentiality; and synthesis of drug information to evaluate medication safety. Examples of HERCe research projects include breast cancer treatments, complications of chemotherapy for lymphoma patients, invasive treatments for acute myocardial infarction, risk factors for adverse drug effects, assessment of personal health record systems impact on medication quality indicators, and an evaluation of the Iowa Medicaid Pharmaceutical Case Management program.

State Health Registry of Iowa

Since 1973, the State Health Registry of Iowa (SHRI) has been a member of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program. There are 15 state and/or regional cancer registries (and three supplemental targeted populations) throughout the United States that participate in this prestigious program (see www.seer.cancer.gov for more information). Currently, these geographic areas contain 26% of the total U.S. population. Iowa represents and provides data on the rural, agricultural and Midwestern population. For the years 1973-present, over 512,000 in situ and invasive cancers have been newly diagnosed among more than 450,000 Iowans and over 200,000 have died from cancer as their underlying cause of death. The SEER Program’s broad scope and rigorous standards make it the most authoritative source of cancer statistics in the United States. This national and international resource provides a vital, dynamic measure of progress toward cancer prevention and control and helps guide a vast array of research, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and planning efforts. The existence of the SHRI within the Department of Epidemiology in the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa allows for the study of the cancer experience of Iowans and focuses national attention and research dollars on this issue.

The goals of the SHRI include:

• assembling and periodically reporting measurements of cancer incidence, survival and mortality among Iowans and providing these data to the NCI;
• monitoring annual cancer incidence trends to identify unusual changes in cancer occurrence among various geographic or demographic subgroups;
• providing information on changes over time in the extent of disease at diagnosis, trends in therapy, and associated changes in patient survival;
• promoting and conducting studies designed to identify factors relating to cancer etiology, prevention and control;
• responding to special needs of the state of Iowa for cancer data and analyses; and
• providing data and expertise for cancer research activities, educational opportunities, and specialty training.

The SHRI is an expanded registry.  It uses its incidence, survival and mortality information to: 1) respond to data requests for frequencies, rates and trends; 2) initially evaluate potential cancer clusters; 3) provide educational information; 4) assess cancer burden and trends for addressing comprehensive cancer control issues; 5) assist with case-finding and data collection related to case-control and cohort studies including electronic linkages for cancer information; 6) provide tissue for studies involving molecular epidemiology; and 7) provide data for health services/outcomes research.

Lipid Research Clinic (LRC)

The Lipid Research Clinic is an academic resource for the College of Public Health and the Carver College of Medicine to facilitate studies that evaluate the effectiveness of new drugs or intervention modalities designed to prevent the occurrence and progression of cardiovascular disease, lipid disorders, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and diseases related to women’s health.

The goals of the LRC include:

• Maintain a core methodological unit for the design and conduct of intervention studies
• Develop new methods for testing and evaluating prevention strategies
• Participate in development of new drugs for prevention of chronic illnesses
• Maintain and extend intercollegiate and interdepartmental collaborations
• Develop inter-institutional collaborative efforts in evaluating new prevention methods
• Educate students and practitioners in coronary preventive intervention programs

Prevention Intervention Center

The University of Iowa ‘s Preventive Intervention Center (PIC) opened in 1992 with the specific goal s of conducting health research in clinical trials and health promoting interventions in lifestyle programs.

Since that time, almost 10,000 volunteers have participated in over 100 research studies at our clinics and hundreds of people have participated in our lifestyle change programs .  These studies and programs focus on the treatment and prevention of diseases that may affect you or your family members: cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes, and many more.  We have tested new, investigational medications, hormone replacement therapy, oral contraceptives, dietary supplements, vaccines, and exercise and nutritional needs. We have implemented research findings in our lifestyle change programs.

The Preventive Intervention Center participates in both government-sponsored and pharmaceutical company-sponsored research studies.   Our lifestyle intervention programs have been marketed to the local community and to companies across the nation.  The Center proudly draws on the multidisciplinary experience and expertise of University of Iowa faculty from the College of Public Health, Carver College of Medicine, College of Dentistry, College of Liberal Arts, and physicians from around the state of Iowa.  The Center includes the following activities: life style change including diet and exercise, behavioral medicine, nutrition intervention, administration, epidemiology, biostatistics, data management, recruiting, screening and evaluation, follow-up evaluation, compliance and protocol adherence, quality control, and regulatory adherence.

The Preventive Intervention Center has five principle goals:

1. To maintain a core methodologic unit for the design and conduct of intervention studies,
2. To develop new methods for testing and evaluating prevention strategies,
3. To educate students and practitioners in the evaluation and use of preventive intervention methods and programs,
4. To collaborate with practitioners, scientists, and government officials in evaluating new prevention methods, and
5. To evaluate and carry out prevention methodology, screening tests, and interventions in populations.