NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases

Embargoed for Release
Friday, October 16, 2009
12:00 p.m EDT

Contact: Trish Reynolds
(301) 496-8190

The National Institutes of Health announced today that it is awarding 15 new grants to further develop and test the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). Managed by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), PROMIS aims to revolutionize the way patient reported outcome tools are selected and employed in clinical research and practice.

PROMIS utilizes advances in computer technology and modern measurement theory to assess outcomes such as pain, fatigue, and other aspects of quality of life in a standardized manner. An important goal of the initiative is to develop valid and reliable clinical instruments that will allow the measurement of patient-reported symptoms more efficiently and effectively.

"Due to the success of PROMIS and growing interest of various research and health care communities, the NIH Roadmap mechanism has allowed an additional four years of funding for this initiative," said Raynard S. Kington, M.D., Ph.D., deputy director, NIH. "The second phase of PROMIS will continue to advance the field of patient self-reporting by conducting large-scale validation studies in a variety of clinical populations."

"These outcomes have a major impact on quality of life across a variety of chronic diseases and are often the best way to judge the value of treatments," said NIAMS director Stephen I. Katz, M.D., Ph.D. "An important priority during the second funding phase of this initiative will be to strengthen assessment of patient-reported outcomes in all relevant population groups, including minorities, women, underserved individuals, and children."

The PROMIS network will support a comprehensive, integrated approach to data collection, storage, and management and will consist of three administrative centers and 12 research sites. The initiative is designed to be a vital resource for the clinical research community. According to Josephine P. Briggs, M.D., director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), "PROMIS holds potential to provide very valuable standardized measurement tools that will allow greater comparability of studies, and substantially reduce the burden on patients participating in research studies."

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The PROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) initiative is part of the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Roadmap for Medical Research funded through the NIH Common Fund and is managed by the Office of the NIH Director, the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The Roadmap is a series of initiatives designed to pursue major opportunities and gaps in biomedical research that no single NIH institute could tackle alone, but which the agency as a whole can address to make the biggest impact possible on the progress of medical research. 

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) - The Nation's Medical Research Agency - includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

Some activities described in this release are being funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). More information about NIH's ARRA grant funding opportunities can be found at https://grants.nih.gov/recovery/. To track the progress of HHS activities funded through the ARRA, visit www.hhs.gov/recovery. To track all federal funds provided through the ARRA, visit https://grants.nih.gov/recovery/.

PROMIS Award Recipients

PROMIS Administrative Centers:
PROMIS Statistical Center: David F. Cella, Ph.D., Northwestern University, Chicago, Ill. 
PROMIS Technology Center: Richard C. Gershon, Ph.D., Northwestern University, Chicago, Ill.
PROMIS Network Center: Susan D. Keller, Ph.D., American Institutes for Research, Washington, D.C.

PROMIS Research Sites:
Darren A. Dewalt, M.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Christopher Forrest, M.D., Ph.D., Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia
James F. Fries, M.D., Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
Stephen M. Haley, Ph.D., Boston University, Boston, and David Scott Tulsky, Ph.D., Kessler Research Center, West Orange, N.J.
Dinesh Khanna, M.D., and Brennan Spiegel, M.D., M.S.H.S., University of California, Los Angeles
Esi M. Morgan Dewitt, M.D., Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati
Heidi M. Crane, M.D., M.P.H., Paul K. Crane, M.D., M.P.H., and Donald L. Patrick, Ph.D., University of Washington, Seattle
Paul A. Pilkonis, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
Carol M. Moinpour, Ph.D., Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, and Arnold L. Potosky, Ph.D., Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Lisa M. Shulman, M.D., University of Maryland, Baltimore
Joan E. Broderick, Ph.D., and Arthur A. Stone, Ph.D., State University New York, Stony Brook, N.Y.
Kevin P. Weinfurt, Ph.D., Duke University, Durham, N.C.

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