Robert Greenlee, Ph.D., M.P.H., senior research scientist for the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Population Health at Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, was recently selected to serve a two-year term as the chair of the Health Care Systems Research Network (HCSRN) Board of Governors starting in 2021.
Dr. Greenlee has served as our primary liaison to HCSRN since the Research Institute joined in 2005. Since then, the Research Institute has participated in federally-funded research networks in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, pharmacogenomics, medical product safety and others. A dozen different Research Institute scientists have been awarded more than $12 million to support local staff and their work on HCSRN-based research projects.
More than half of Dr. Greenlee's research projects have been collaborations with HCSRN colleagues, including two new studies sponsored by the National Cancer Institute: a 5-year study to optimize lung cancer screening in health systems, and a 10-year cohort to identify genetic, environmental and behavioral risks for cancer.
“The Research Institute is a great place for a scientist to conduct health care research, and conducting that research in collaboration with individual and institutional colleagues from the HCSRN makes for a rich and rewarding career," said Dr. Greenlee. “I am honored to now have the opportunity to lead this national network's Governing Board."
HCSRN brings together the research departments of some of the nation's best and most innovative health care systems. Collectively, the HCSRN represents over 1,400 scientists and research staff with methodological and content expertise from an array of disciplines including epidemiology, economics, health disparities, care outcomes and quality assessment, clinical trials, genomics and more.
“HCSRN is an important network for the Research Institute to be a part of. By combining our electronic health records with other health systems across the nation, we have been able to discover some amazing things over the years," said Amit Acharya, Ph.D., B.D.S., executive director of the Research Institute. “Dr. Greenlee's leadership with this group is one of the primary reasons for that success and as chair he will continue to solidify that bond for us."