As more Americans of all ages use smartphone and web-based technology to manage their lives, there is increased pressure to use digital media to bring health care services to patients. While many software companies develop attractive and sophisticated apps, the development of apps grounded in evidence and behavioral science theory lags behind. The (BITS) Core will create an infrastructure that will bring together those with diabetes specific knowledge and skills and people who can develop, evaluate, and deploy digital technologies. Vanderbilt currently has a critical mass of clinical, translational, and behavioral scientists who have external funding to develop and test web-based and mobile technologies that will enhance diabetes self- management and health-related behavior change. Three units are proposed within this core. Unit 1 will work with junior and senior investigators to develop innovative, evidence-based mobile and web applications that take advantage of cutting edge technology and that are firmly grounded in best practices in clinical management and behavior change. Unit 2 will work with investigators to find ways to leverage their developed applications into productive pathways to additional research funding and publications. Vanderbilt, with the largest biomedical informatics department in the nation, is rich with resources to support these efforts including the StarBRITE research portal, the Vanderbilt Institute of Clinical and Translation Research (VICTR) studio system for giving scientists constructive feedback on all phases of their research study, VICTR community engagement studies which provide feedback from patient and community experts, a number of expert industry consultants, and the REDCap platform. Unit 3 will provide training and professional development to support young investigators interested in integrating mobile and web technologies into their developing research programs. To accomplish this, we will offer a two-day national conference to funded NIDDK Junior investigators with sessions covering the full range of design, implementation, and deployment problems associated with successful use of these technologies. The core will have clear criteria for identifying users, will screen projects to prevent funding overlap, will monitor delivery of services, and will deliver these services through the existing VICTR system of StarBRITE and studio sessions. The BITS core addresses the growing need to bring scientists and developers together to create tools that improve patient care, reduce risk of complications, improve quality of life, and provide high quality data for research.
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