Vanderbilt University has received a contract from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for up to $28 million over four years to help more than 4,000 clinicians in the Southeast transform their clinical practices in ways that improve quality of patient care and hold down costs.

The Mid-South Clinical Data Research Network, led by Vanderbilt University’s Russell Rothman, M.D., M.P.P., has been approved for a three-year, $8.5 million funding award from the independent Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to expand its efforts to improve healthcare throughout the Southeast.

Russell Rothman, M.D., MPP, professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Health Policy, chief of the Section of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and director of the Vanderbilt Center for Health Services Research, has been named assistant vice chancellor for Population Health Research.

The question of what’s different about pragmatic research was aired in a well-attended panel discussion last week in Light Hall sponsored by the Vanderbilt Center for Health Services Research and the Mid-South Clinical Data Research Network (CDRN).

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has received an 18-month, $6.9 million award to set up a Clinical Data Research Network (CDRN) that can reach millions of patients and speed the translation of research findings into clinical practice.

Donald Brady, M.D., senior associate dean for Graduate Medical Education and Continuing Professional Development, will serve a one-year term as chair of the board of directors of the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare (AACH) for 2014. Brady spent this year serving as president and will transition into a one-year role as chair.