Clinical Epidemiology Research

icon for clinical epidemiology research

Clinical epidemiology is the study of the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease in patient populations and the relationships between exposures or treatments and health outcomes. Areas of research include disease screening and prevention, systematic review methodology, comparative effectiveness research, developing evidence-based practice and policy guidelines, implementation of practices and guidelines in health systems, development of patient-centered registries and data marts within health information systems, creating and testing patient decision aids, and using patient data for quality improvement and research projects.

Among the areas of research expertise include:

  • Evidence-based medicine
  • Systematic reviews and meta-analysis
  • Screening and prevention
  • Clinical practice guidelines

Some grant-funded projects include:

Pacific Northwest Evidence-based Practice Center
Roger Chou, Marian McDonagh
The Pacific Northwest Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) conducts systematic reviews of healthcare topics for federal and state agencies and private foundations. These reviews report the evidence from clinical research studies and the quality of that evidence for use by policymakers in decisions on guidelines and coverage issues.

The Evidence-based Practice Center in the OHSU School of Medicine, Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology celebrated its 25th anniversary with a reception Oct. 7 2022 at Richard Jones Hall.  The reception was attended by School of Medicine Interim Dean David Jacoby, M.D., and OHSU Provost Marie Chisholm-Burns, Pharm.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., M.B.A. Here are the slides from the event.

Nationally recognized as one of the most successful centers of its kind, the OHSU Evidence-based Practice Center is the place where exhaustive reviews of literature and research are conducted to craft the gold standard for patient care and health policy in areas ranging from chronic pain to brain trauma. More on the Center here.  To view the presentations from the event please click here.
Funder: Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality

A Cluster-Randomized Trial Comparing Team-Based versus Primary Care Clinician-Focused Advance Care Planning in Practice-Based Research Networks
Annette Totten
A contract awarded to the Oregon Rural Practice-based Research Network (ORPRN) by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

Data Coordinating Center for Vitamin C and Smoking in Pregnancy Project
Cindy Morris
The beneficial infant outcomes of maternal vitamin C supplementation (500 mg/day) in pregnant smokers is supported by a robust pre-trial evidence in animal models and convincing human pilot data. This evidence served as the basis for the project's current multi-center double blind randomized trial “Vitamin C to Decrease Effects of Smoking in Pregnancy on Infant Lung Function.”