JHEM Research Resources

RESOURCE REPOSITORITIES

As a member of the JHEM Team, you have access the Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR). The ICTR is an INCREDIBLE NIH-funded resource that provides a wide array of services to assist research teams to complete their work. Click above to learn about all the resources available to you through the ICTR including education, seminars, and support for study planning, study design, data management & data analysis.

SAFE Desktop is a HIPAA-compliant virtual computing environment optimized for research. Each JHU investigator (faculty, staff or student) can receive a free personalized virtual machine that can be accessed from anywhere (requires VPN) and comes with many research programs (eg, STATA, SAS, nVivo and more) already loaded and ready to use.

JHEM Research Vault - Individual JHEM researchers have shared documents from previously successful grant applications to make your application easier and more likely to be successful. Secure access to these files is managed by our Research Administrator, Gideon Avornu.

Data Analysis

Acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data form the core of every research project.  Success can be achieved through two approaches: internal expertise development and expert consultation. Which you choose will depend on available resources, project complexity, and your own desire for research independence.


INTERNAL EXPERTISE DEVELOPMENT: Analyses required for many clinical research projects are straightforward, and can be performed by clinician researchers with relatively limited training. More complicated projects require more extensive training. Many resources are available, through JHU and open access, to support you in the independent analysis of your data. Some of these are listed below, starting with the simplest and moving to the more complex - but most powerful - tools available: 

Qualitative Analysis - Most of the tools described below were designed to support quantitative data analysis, but there are many qualitative data analysis software (QDAS) options available as well, many free through open access or JHU subscriptions. This site, maintained by the JHU Library, is an excellent guide and a good primer on both qualitative research methods and QDAS. The Center for Qualitative Studies in Health and Medicine at JHSPH is another great resource and is discussed more in the Study Design section of this page.

jmovi - A free and open statistical analysis software, with functionality similar to SPSS. Many online resources are available to help you rapidly transition from novice to competent data analyst with jmovi. These include user-developed tutorials and videos that teach statistics using jmovi. 

R - A free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. It compiles and runs on a wide variety of UNIX platforms, Windows and MacOS. Requires time to learn, but it's extremely powerful and with almost unlimited potential for data analysis and visualization. RStudio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for R, available in open source and commercial editions. It makes working with R easy.


EXPERT CONSULTATION: Even the most seasoned researcher has limits, and will need to reach out for help at times. Fortunately, the depth of expertise in the JHU research community is profound and if you have a question or knowledge gap, there's almost certainly someone that can fill it. These are some of the resources available to you: 

JHU Biostatistics Core - JHU faculty with primary appointments can receive a maximum of 5 hours of free support per clinical and translational research project through the ICTR. Consultants can assist with: research study design, design of data collection systems and instruments, data entry and validation, data management and quality assurance, statistical analysis and data interpretation, and professional and scientific report-writing. More support can be obtained under a fee-for-service model.

BEAD Core - The Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Data Management (BEAD) Core is another JHU resource for expert data consultation. BEAD is run by faculty and staff across JHU and operates under a fee-for-service model. An estimate of costs for services can be provided after completing a pretty simple intake form. 

Academic Collaboration - The best approach to expert consultation may be recruitment of a new team member. Faculty, staff and students at JHU with expertise in particular fields are often excited to collaborate, especially if your project is aligned with their interests and they are engaged as true research partners. Below are a few of the places you might look for potential collaborators at JHU: 

STUDY DESIGN

JHU ICTR - The NIH-funded Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) offers a variety of programs and resources to members of the Johns Hopkins research community who are currently preparing or executing clinical research. Featured above, their resources are vast and their website is very good and easy to navigate. 

Center for Qualitative Studies in Health and Medicine - This Center within the JHSPH is focused entirely on qualitative research and offers a number of structured courses on qualitative methods. Other resources for qualitative research design & analysis are discussed in the Data Analysis section of this page.

 

Manuscript Preparation

JHU Editorial Assistance Services - The Johns Hopkins Editorial Assistance Services Initiative (EASI) provides editorial support, at no charge to faculty, for grant proposals and journal article manuscripts. EASI is open to all tenure-track JHU faculty, from every school, division, and rank. 

 

RESEARCH SKILLS ACQUISITION

Clinical research is extremely rewarding, but can at times feel challenging or even overwhelming. Fortunately, we now have access to a host of educational resources that can help you grow as a researcher, whether you are conducting your first independent research project or have been a full-time researcher for decades.

JHU Science of Clinical Investigation (SOCI) Training Program -The SOCI Training Program is designed to prepare clinicians and other biological scientists to participate in multidisciplinary clinical research. Courses are offered on-site and online, and can be accessed for free to JHU-SOM faculty and staff using the tuition remission pathway.

Hopkins Biomedical Informatics and Data Science Training Programs - Rapid expansion and adoption of the electronic health record (EHR) has created new opportunities to answer clinical questions with data and develop integrated digital solutions for problems in healthcare delivery. The JHU SOM offers numerous courses in this field including on topics such as medical database querying, analysis, and medical software design and development. Many of these can be taken or audited for free by SOM faculty and trainees.