HOW WE WORK WITH PROVIDERS AND CLINICIANS
At PaTH, we are committed to developing practices by which research can be integrated within clinical practice in a way that is acceptable to clinicians and, ideally, adds value to the care that they provide. For example, investigators who work with PaTH are encouraged to respect clinicians' limited time. We aim to integrate study design with normal workflow (e.g. using standard referral processes to refer patients to interventions) and to require minimal clinician effort in study recruitment. PaTH seeks feedback from clinicians engaged in PaTH-affiliated studies and will use their feedback to refine our advice to investigators.
FEATURED PROVIDER
Dr. Alex Chang
Dr. Chang is a physician-scientist, practicing nephrologist and professor of Clinical Research at Geisinger. His research is devoted to preventing and decreasing the burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and related cardiometabolic complications.
Dr. Chang’s research program encompasses common and rare, genetic causes of CKD. Projects funded by the NIH and industry sponsors include:
- Examining gaps in care and developing clinical decision tools to maximize benefits of therapy in patients with CKD
- Epidemiologic research using electronic health record (EHR) data from Geisinger and other large cohorts to study risk factors and the burden of CKD
- Health services research identifying barriers to appropriate evaluation of hematuria
- Using smartphone-enabled urine albumin testing to improve CKD screening
He also co-leads the Center for Kidney Health Research and has substantial clinical trials expertise. In recent years, Dr. Chang has used his epidemiologic and EHR expertise to examine kidney genetics with publications in JAMA and other top journals on the genotypic and phenotypic spectrum of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, Alport syndrome and other genetic kidney conditions.
Dr. Chang has served on national committees and scientific workshops for the National Kidney Foundation, the American Society of Nephrology and the American Heart Association. He serves on the editorial board for the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. His clinical duties include helping lead systemwide efforts to improve hypertension care at Geisinger. Dr. Chang regularly collaborates with Geisinger’s Population Health and Innovations teams to more rapidly translate clinical research findings into practice, improving the health of our population. His research has influenced national and international clinical guidelines, gene-disease validity classification by ClinGen and National Committee for Quality Assurance-recommended measures for health plans.
"It has been amazing to to collaborate with the PaTH network, which provides so many opportunities for researchers and clinicians to network with other sites with shared interests and common goals. I have learned a great deal from patient partners, data scientists, epidemiologists, and others from PaTH in various venues such as our Hypertension Learning Community. Research these days is all about team science, and the PaTH network linking diverse health systems is an essential resource for our research communities."
- Dr. Alex Chang
GET INVOLVED
If you’re interested in engaging in clinical research in your practice, sign up here. We’ll be in touch when research opportunities come up. Thanks!
GIVE YOUR FEEDBACK
Have you participated in clinical research as a provider in the past?
Let us know about your experiences! Go to our contact form or email us and let us know your thoughts.
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