Singh first UAB researcher to garner PCORI funds

Jasvinder Singh, M.D., associate professor of medicine in the Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has been approved for a $1.5 million, three-year funding award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Singh is the first member of the UAB faculty to be funded by PCORI.

The award was one of 71 extended nationally, totaling more than $114 million over three years, to fund comparative clinical effectiveness research designed to answer questions most important to patients and those who care for them.

Singh’s project, titled “Individualized Patient Decision Making for Treatment Choices among Minorities with Lupus”, will develop a computer tool called a decision aid to help doctors and their African-American and Hispanic lupus patients with kidney disease choose the best treatment for each individual patient.

Lupus most commonly affects young women and occurs more frequently in minority women. African-American and Hispanic women have more severe disease and are more likely to die of lupus compared to white women. Kidney disease caused by lupus can lead to kidney failure and the need for dialysis if not treated early with strong medications.

Singh’s team will compare all published studies on the treatments available for kidney disease in patients with lupus, then use statistical analysis to come up with the best estimates of the risks and benefits for lupus medications. The decision aids will be developed with input from patients at all stages to be sure the information created is helpful, practical and relevant to patients facing treatment decisions for lupus.

Singh is the first member of the UAB faculty to be funded by PCORI. His project will develop a computer tool called a decision aid to help doctors and their African-American and Hispanic lupus patients with kidney disease choose the best treatment for each individual patient.

“Our long-term goal is to make sure that minority patients with lupus have the information they need to make informed decisions, at the right time, so they may actively participate in their health care,” said Singh. “Use of decision aids will improve patient care and decrease racial/ethnic disparities for lupus patients in the United States.”

With these latest awards, made under PCORI’s five National Priorities for Research, the institute has approved more than $303 million since 2012 to support patient-centered clinical effectiveness research and is on track to commit more than $400 million in research support in 2013.  Singh’s project is one of 24 funded awards made in PCORI’s priority area of assessment of prevention, diagnosis and treatment options. All awards were approved pending completion of a business and programmatic review by PCORI staff and issuance of a formal award contract.