Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government

Office of Research & Development

print icon sign up for VA Research updates
Header - Big Data Scientist Training Enhancement Program (BD-STEP)

Coordinating Center

The BD-STEP fellowship is managed by a Coordinating Center based in Boston VA and supported by VA ORD. The Coordinating Center leads efforts for the fellowship, with the NCI partnership continuing to play a significant role in supporting Coordinating Center activities. The primary functions of the Coordinating Center include overall program organizational and administrative functions including establishment and management of program meetings, program national curriculum, fiscal management, and other related administrative activities.

Coordinating Center Staff

Coordinating Center Staff

Sites

The BD-STEP fellowship four funded sites: the VA Boston Healthcare System, the Durham VA Healthcare System, the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, and the VA Palo Alto Healthcare System. Each site has at least one clinician and one researcher serve as a director. Interested applicants should contact the site directors to discuss potential projects. Below please find more information about each site.

Sites

Site Directors

Palo Alto

Todd Wagner, PhD. Co-Director, BD-STEP Fellowship. Director, VA Health Economics Resource Center (HERC). Associate Director, VA Center for Innovation to Implementation COIN (Ci2i). Associate Professor of Research, Department of Surgery, Stanford University.
https://profiles.stanford.edu/todd-wagner
https://www.herc.research.va.gov/include/page.asp?id=staff-details&PersonID=14

Research Interests/Key Contributions to Science:

  • How information asymmetries affect consumers, purchasers, and markets so that we can improve the value of care
  • Value and efficiency of health care
  • Improving access to care and ensuring care is appropriate.

Jennifer S. Lee, MD, PhD. Co-Director, BD-STEP Fellowship. Associate Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology, Gerontology, Metabolism) and by courtesy, of Health Research & Policy (Epidemiology). Associate Chief of Staff - Research (ACOS-R), VA Palo Alto. Chief Medical Officer, Palo Alto VA Cooperative Studies Program Coordinating Center. Staff Physician, Medical Services, VA Palo Alto.
https://profiles.stanford.edu/JenniferSLee

Research Interests/Key Contributions to Science:

  • Population health, individual precision health, healthcare system management and quality in clinical practice
  • Molecular/genetic epidemiology, health services, big data health applications, patient centered decision making
  • Novel scalable clinical/translational study designs and methods to enhance efficiency and effectiveness
  • Use of electronic health records (EHR) and other data sources
  • Endocrinology and Metabolism (cardiometabolic diseases and glycemic dysregulation, bone and body composition, cancers, thyroid)
  • Aging and hormonal/metabolic transitions and dynamics

Durham

Christina Williams, PhD. Co-Director, BD-STEP Fellowship. Assistant Professor of Medicine, Duke University. Deputy Director, Cooperative Studies Program Epidemiology Center (CSPEC)- Durham.
https://medicine.duke.edu/faculty/christina-d-williams-phd

Research Interests/Key Contributions to Science:

  • Utilizing administrative data to monitor the quality of cancer care
  • Evaluating health disparities in cancer treatment and outcomes
  • Conducting comparative effectiveness and health services research

Michael Kelley, MD. Co-Director, BD-STEP Fellowship. Professor of Medicine, Duke University. Director, VHA National Oncology Program.
https://medicine.duke.edu/faculty/michael-john-kelley-md https://www.cancer.va.gov/CANCER/contact.asp

Research Interests/Key Contributions to Science:

  • Utilizing precision medicine to improve cancer care
  • Molecular genetics, experimental therapeutics of targeted therapies, and outcomes research

Houston

Aanand Naik, MD. Co-Director, BD-STEP Fellowship. Professor and Robert J. Luchi, MD, Chair in Geriatric Medicine and Section Chief, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, and Health Services Research, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX. Investigator, Health Decision-Making & Communication Program and Chief, Implementation Science & Innovation Core, Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center
https://www.bcm.edu/people-search/aanand-naik-27211

Research Interests/Key Contributions to Science:

  • Define patient-centeredness and characterize it as a dimension of health care quality
  • Evaluate interventions that augment patient-centeredness to improve outcomes of older adults with multiple morbid conditions
  • Cultivate the social, behavioral, and organizational sciences (sociomedical) human capital for health outcomes research

Kyler Godwin, PhD, MPH. Co-Director, BD-STEP Fellowship. Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Section of Health Services Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX. Investigator, Implementation & Innovation Program, Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.
https://www.bcm.edu/people-search/kyler-godwin-21964
https://www.houston.hsrd.research.va.gov/bios/godwin.asp

Research Interests/Key Contributions to Science:

  • Leadership for Healthcare Improvement
  • Quality Scholars
  • Interprofessional Health Professions Education and Training
  • Improvement and Implementation Science

Jessica Davila, PhD. Co-Director, BD-STEP Fellowship. Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Section of Health Services Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX. Chief, Methodology & Analytics Core, Investigator, Clinical Epidemiology & Comparative Effectiveness Program, Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.
https://www.houston.hsrd.research.va.gov/bios/davila.asp

Research Interests/Key Contributions to Science:

  • Guideline-based surveillance and treatment for hepatocellular cancer
  • Adherence to HIV care
  • Epidemiology of colorectal cancer

Boston

Nhan Do, MD. Co-Director, BD-STEP Fellowship. Assistant Professor, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA. Director, Boston Cooperative Studies Program Informatics Center, VA Boston Healthcare System.
https://www.bumc.bu.edu/busm/profile/nhan-van-do/

Nathanael Fillmore, PhD. Co-Director, BD-STEP Fellowship. Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Associate Director for Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics, Boston Cooperative Studies Program Informatics Center, VA Boston Healthcare System.
https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/Person/155111

Research Interests/Key Contributions to Science:

  • Using data science to build predictive models and characterize clinical outcomes, especially in cancer
  • Developing new machine learning methods for clinical applications
  • Improving data science infrastructure at the VA












Questions about the R&D website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.