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The idea of the Internet World Health Research Center was triggered by
work done by the UCSF/SFGH Latino Mental Health Research Program
to test whether randomized controlled trials could be conducted via the
Web. The specific proof-of-concept study was the UCSF/UCSD Stop smoking
Internet study, funded by the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program.
- The proof-of-concept studies were carried out in English and Spanish.
- The LMHRP Stop Smoking Website (www.stopsmoking.ucsf.edu
or www.dejardefumar.ucsf.edu)
has attracted
- 263,217 visits from September 2003 to September 2006
- from 132 countries
- 65,000 visitors have entered some data on the site,
- 17,757 have provided informed consent and joined our stop smoking
studies.
It is hard to stop smoking. For example, six-month quit rates for the
nicotine patch range from 14% to 22%. Our best quit rates so far range
from 20% to 26%. We can “match the patch” using a Web-based
stop smoking program. (See: Muñoz RF, Lenert LL, Delucchi K, Stoddard
J, Pérez JE, Penilla C, Pérez-Stable EJ (2006).Toward evidence-based Internet interventions: A Spanish/English Web site for international smoking
cessation trials. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 8. 77-87).
It occurred to us that if we could conduct research to help such a large
number of individuals across the globe to stop smoking, we could repeat
this process for other health problems.
- The Director of the Latino Mental Health Research Program (Muñoz)
and a small group of colleagues were granted a planning grant to study
the feasibility of creating an Internet Health Research Center by the
UCSF School of Medicine Research and Evaluation Allocation Committee
in 2003.
- The faculty members who submitted the grant were: Ricardo F. Muñoz,
P.I., Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, Kevin Delucchi, and Connie Weisner.
Carlos Penilla, Staff Research Associate for the Latino Mental Health
Research Program, and John Perez, Postdoctoral Fellow, also were part
of the team.
- Elizabeth Miller and Armando Valdez joined us as consultants
- Based on our deliberations, the team decided that to create such
a center, we need a unifying resource that would bring like-minded investigators
together and provide them with tools to carry out Internet research.
- A larger group of investigators submitted a multiple users grant
to the School of Medicine Research and Evaluation Allocation Committee
and were granted funds to purchase a software system, DatStat Illume, that was specifically made for conducting clinical research
via the Web. The system consists of two major parts: An application
to create, publish, and manage Web surveys without having to learn HTML
programming, and a “Console” to review, query, and download
the data gathered.
- The faculty investigators were: Ricardo F. Muñoz, P.I., Eliseo
J. Pérez-Stable, Kevin Delucchi, Neal Benowitz, Ginger Carrieri-Kohlman,
Gary Humfleet, Mort Lieberman, Charlie Marmar, David Mohr, Janice Tsoh,
and Connie Weisner. Other members of the team included Carlos Penilla,
John Perez, and Larry Van Cantfort (Assistant Director for Web Services,
School of Medicine Dean’s Information Services Unit).
- The UCSF/SFGH IWHRC Executive Committee is formed
to administer the center, an executive committee was formed composed
of: Ricardo F. Muñoz, Chair, Mort Lieberman, David Mohr, Janice
Tsoh, and Carlos Penilla (Administrator, IWHRC).
David Mohr (Acting Chair)
Mort Lieberman
Janice Tsoh
Carlos Penilla
(administrator)
Margaret Kemeny, Ph.D.
Morton Lieberman, Ph.D.
Charles Marmar, Ph.D.
David Mohr, Ph.D.
Ricardo F. Muñoz, Ph.D.
Janice Tsoh, Ph.D.
Ricardo F. Muñoz, Chair
Mort Lieberman
David Mohr
Janice Tsoh
Jeff Belkora
Carlos Penilla (administrator)
Jeff Belkora
Mel Heyman
Janet Wojcicki
Alinne Barrera
Leandro Torres
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