and industry to rapidly conduct innovative, high-impact, clini-
cally relevant orthopaedic rehabilitation research. Using an
NIH capacity-building model approach that provides essen-
tial infrastructures and project funding to conduct impactful
research, the BADER Consortium has further strengthened
MTF/VA efforts to establish and support a growing ortho-
paedic rehabilitation research culture.
The mission of the BADER Consortium is to help establish
sustainable world-class programs in orthopaedic rehabilitation
research at MTFs and VA sites that result in evidence-based
orthopaedic rehabilitation care. Our vision is for wounded
warriors and civilians with limb loss and limb difference to
routinely bene
fit from significant orthopaedic rehabilitation
advancements, and as a result obtain optimal functional clini-
cal outcomes and fully re-engage in life and work activities.
These goals are being realized through three primary
objectives:
(1) Establish infrastructures to support the advancement
of orthopaedic rehabilitation research capabilities at
ARCs and VA sites that promote optimal functional
outcomes and QoL;
(2) Conduct a variety of innovative, high-impact, and
clinically relevant BADER-funded initiative-launching
studies that lead to sustainable externally funded
research programs; and
(3) Preserve advancements in orthopaedic rehabilitation
research by establishing an externally funded, self-
sustaining clinical research enterprise.
METHODS
The BADER Consortium framework (Fig. 1) is modeled
on the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Network of
Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) program
—a com-
ponent of the research capacity-building IDeA program of
the NIH.
12
Established in 1993 by congressional mandate, the
IDeA program aims to increase research competitiveness and
sustainment of select states. This is accomplished through
support for two major programs: Centers of Biomedical
Research Excellence and INBREs. The INBRE program cre-
ates infrastructure to administratively support a broad research
network
—typically multiple disparate research, academic, and
patient care centers geographically dispersed across a state or
region. The activities conducted by an INBRE Program
—
while broad in nature and containing policies and procedures to
ensure full compliance with human subject protection, scienti
fic
integrity, and administrative federal regulations
—generally
reside in three categories: research capacity-building, research-
support, and INBRE-funded studies for launching scienti
fic
careers in research focus areas. The BADER Consortium used
this unique model to enhance the capacity at MTFs and VA
sites, making it possible for more innovative, high-impact
research to be conducted.
Research Capacity-Building Infrastructures
General principles of the INBRE Program were implemented
by the BADER Consortium to construct a broad, nationwide
orthopaedic rehabilitation clinical research network across
FIGURE 1.
BADER Consortium Framework as indicated by the light blue region with coordination and oversight components above.
MILITARY MEDICINE, Vol. 181, November/December Supplement 2016
15
BADER Consortium: Partnering for Optimal Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Outcomes
government, academic, and industrial partners. The Consor-
tium
’s research capacity-building components consist of three
Scienti
fic and Technical Cores; a Clinical Research Core (CRC);
a Research Advisory Committee (RAC)
—groups of scientific
experts providing research reviews, advice, and expertise;
and access to graduate training in Biomechanics and Move-
ment Science.
Three Scienti
fic and Technical Cores provide strategic
support to orthopaedic rehabilitation scientists and partnering
clinicians at the MTFs and VA sites. The Biomechanics Core
provides the Consortium expertise and support in biomechan-
ics and human movement analysis methodologies. The
services of the Core include assistance with solving on-site
problems with hardware and software, expert advice for
research proposals and the development of new strategies and
methods in support of clinical research areas. The Biostatistics
Core at Christiana Care Health System provides episodic
biostatistics support under a fee-for-service mechanism
—
where BADER pays the costs of incurred fees in order to be
cost-effective. The Core provides pre- and postaward support
to BADER-supported investigators, including but not limited
to power analysis, statistical modeling, and specialized data
analyses. Located at UD, the Rehabilitation Outcomes
Measurement Core works directly with Principal Investigators
to ensure that adequate outcomes measurement techniques
are introduced and followed in the research process. The
speci
fic aim of the Rehabilitation Outcomes Measurement
Core is to assist investigators in the selection, use, implemen-
tation, analysis, and interpretation of relevant outcomes vari-
ables for studies that are proposed and implemented within
the BADER Consortium.
The CRC provides on-site staf
fing support necessary to
develop, conduct, and monitor clinical studies under the direc-
tion of MTF administrative directors and clinical research
leaders in support of MTF, the EACE, and/or CRSR scienti
fic
staff. The CRC is central, offering
“boots on the ground”
support staff to assist with research efforts at MTFs and VA
sites. It is the Consortium
’s central body of study execution
and provides MTF-led research teams with resources to
develop, conduct, and monitor clinical studies, as well as
day-to-day support, education, and training. Two full-time,
on-site CRC staff members are dedicated to each of the
MTFs. The highly skilled individuals provide MTF staff
with on-site technical assistance, protocol management, and
human subject recruitment support. The CRC research support
infrastructures are further organized to develop and support
a research-intensive culture by assisting MTF investigators
with establishing a uniform and sustainable research capability
that facilitates ongoing and new clinical research protocols
across all participating study sites.
Research expertise and mentorship are provided through
the RAC, comprising experts specializing in DoD research
and priority clinical gap areas. The overall purpose of the
RAC is to assure the quality and impact of BADER Consor-
tium research. The team conducts scienti
fic reviews of pro-
posed projects and performs reviews of research project
progress reports. Efforts of the RAC are bolstered by an
extensive group of BADER Consortium af
filiates from which
MTF and VA research partnerships are formed.
Access to a graduate training program in Biomechanics
and Movement Science has been made available to MTF and
VA center staff. Under an agreement with the College of
Health Sciences at UD, the BADER Consortium provides
graduate stipends for select MTF and VA research staff to
enhance their skills and research expertise through the pur-
suit of graduate education degrees.
Research Support Infrastructures
The Consortium
’s research support components are designed
to ease the burden of administrative overhead, ensure data
safety, and facilitate the forming of research partnerships. They
consist of a single, Consortium-wide master Cooperative
Research and Development Agreement (Consortium CRADA),
a centralized protocol and data management system (PDMS),
and administrative support for forming and sustaining DoD
and VA research partnerships with academia and industry.
To accelerate the establishment of clinical research pro-
jects and research partnerships, BADER Consortium leader-
ship worked with the Medical Research Law Of
fice of the
Staff Judge Advocate, USAMRMC to develop the BADER
Consortium CRADA. The goal of this initiative was to jetti-
son the traditional project-speci
fic CRADA format—where
CRADAs are customized to each project
—in favor of a sin-
gle consortium CRADA model that outlined the breadth of
policies and procedures encountered by the activities of a
national consortium.
To establish the Consortium CRADA, a selection of
CRADAs from the Navy, Army, and the NIH were gathered.
The content of each example CRADA was reviewed and
categorized. Like categories were then combined and sys-
tematically reduced to generalized guidelines in each
CRADA activity category. Each category was then tested
against applicable federal regulations and active policies.
The resulting
“master” Consortium CRADA was virtually
exercised using an array of Consortium-related scenarios.
The resulting policy and implementation procedures, such as
on-boarding projects and the declaration and approval of
amendments, were developed. Before full implementation,
the Consortium CRADA was trialed at two government sites.
Implemented via a collaborative agreement with the NIH
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health
and Human Development, the NIH
’s Clinical Trials Database
serves as a rehabilitation outcomes data collection tool with
patient self-report and a secure centralized web-based portal
for the management of clinical study data and tissue repository
information. This PDMS is a Federal Information Security
Management Act
–compliant tool that simplifies data sharing
among member sites by standardizing research methods while
simultaneously facilitating protocol tracking and compliance
monitoring. While fully customizable, it uses standardized
forms, common data elements, and a common vocabulary.
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BADER Consortium: Partnering for Optimal Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Outcomes