BIRMINGHAM, AL — The creation of a national electronic network connecting physicians, medical centers and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the aim of a new initiative involving the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the Alabama Practice Based Research Network (APBRN).

The project is part of NIH’s Roadmap for medical research, a series of initiatives designed to transform the nation's medical research capabilities and speed movement of research discoveries from bench to bedside. It’s funded by a three-year, $3 million grant awarded recently to the Federation of Practice Based Research Networks (FPBRN), in association with the American Academy of Family Physicians and the University of Minnesota.

APBRN, created by UAB, is one of only 10 regional networks under the umbrella of FPBRN selected to participate in the initiative to build the Electronic Primary Care Research Network (ePCRN). “The new electronic infrastructure will potentially connect every primary care physician in the nation with researchers at universities and NIH,” said Myra Crawford, Ph.D., director of the Division of Research within UAB’s Department of Family and Community Medicine and member of the FPBRN Steering Committee.

The goal of the electronic network is to accelerate the pace of discovery and application of knowledge to develop new primary care prevention strategies, diagnostics and treatments. “It will provide access to study participants throughout the country and accelerate the application of research findings in communities that may not have direct access to research institutions,” Crawford said.

FPBRN governs 60 regional networks, 54 in the U.S., including APBRN, and six abroad. “The Alabama network is composed of 40 mostly family physicians who conduct research in clinics throughout the state,” said T. Michael Harrington, M.D., chair of UAB’s Department of Family and Community Medicine and APBRN director. “It’s the only operative medical practice-based research network in the state and a leader among networks nationally.”

For thirty years, primary care practice-based research networks have conducted research in academic and community-based practices devoted principally to the care of patients. “Typically, networks draw on the experience and insight of practicing clinicians to identify and frame research questions whose answers can improve patient care,” Harrington said. “By linking these questions with rigorous research methods, the network can produce research findings that are immediately relevant to the clinician and, in theory, can be more easily translated into everyday practice.”

The Department of Primary Care Clinical Sciences at Birmingham University, England, and the Collaborative Research Network, University of California San Francisco, also are collaborating on the project. “Ultimately, the plan is for the ePCRN to become a global project,” Crawford said.