Research Profiles at WashU School of Medicine
With ongoing funding from the Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences, Office of the Dean, and School of Medicine Departments, Becker Library continued to lead further development and support of Research Profiles at Washington University School of Medicine. In FY21, that included creating a formal governance structure to ensure future changes to the Profiles platform meet the needs of and are informed by the constituency.
The Becker team implemented several significant enhancements during FY21, including:
- “Willing to mentor” notation on individual profiles to allow faculty to indicate that they are willing to mentor and specify which types of trainees they are willing to accept.
- Request form to streamline the creation and updating of profiles for School of Medicine centers and institutes in Research Profiles.
- Section for “education activities and interests” to allow faculty to describe their activities, interests and accomplishments as an educator. Activities such as designing a course, serving as a course master, directing post-graduate training programs, and other educational or professional interests can be provided in this section.
- Organization descriptions for organization profiles.
Collaboration with Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences
Becker staff continue to provide ongoing support for the Washington University Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences (ICTS) Tracking and Evaluation Team, including participating on the Translational Science Benefits Model (TSBM) project team. The website for the TSBM, a framework for assessing the health and societal benefits of clinical and translational sciences, was launched in 2019. Becker staff led the development of case studies used to provide a contextual narrative to illustrate the TSBM. Eight case studies have been completed by Becker staff as of July 2021, with additional case studies as well as case study templates and guidance in progress.
As part of their role on the ICTS Tracking and Evaluation Team, Becker Library staff continued to generate annual publication reports and citation analyses on ICTS members (3,400). Becker staff also continued to monitor compliance for ICTS-cited publications in accordance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
Systematic Review Service
The Health Information Services team at Becker Library, recognized as national experts in systematic review searching, successfully converted the fourth annual “Designing Search Strategies for Systematic Reviews” workshop to a synchronous, three-day format. The team instructed sixteen medical librarians from around the U.S. and Canada about best practices for creating reproducible systematic review search strategies.
All course participants provided very positive feedback and agreed they would recommend the workshop to a colleague. The HIS team completed work for 91 systematic review projects requiring over 1,000 work hours. Division staff co-authored twenty-four published systematic reviews.
