Components of Responsive Health Research System in COVID-19 Crisis: Lessons Learned by Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a major challenge to health systems all over the world. All countries have realized that they have no choice but to apply research findings to achieve real growth and development and solve their problems.Method: A descriptive and analytical type of study was conducted with the help of experts in the field of health research. The components affecting the research system were obtained via process approach and content analysis method, and then the position of each component was identified by Mic Mac technique.Results: Seventeen influential structural components on the health research system were identified. The leadership and management component had the most direct and indirect impact among other components. The health promotion component had a greater impact than other components.Conclusion: All health systems need to provide adequate financial resources and manpower to provide a useful research system. Human resources are the most important inputs to such a system. Components of the research process, research Sustainability, quality, or innovation in researches can play a balancing role. The existence of appropriate infrastructures for the creation, transfer, development, and access to knowledge makes it possible to produce systematic science; it can be hoped that this science will be used in other outputs of the health research system, such as effectiveness or health promotion.

Researchers’ and Research Users’ Experiences With and Reasons for Working Together in Spinal Cord Injury Research Partnerships: A Qualitative Study

Background: Research partnership approaches are becoming popular within spinal cord injury (SCI) health research system, providing opportunities to explore experiences of and learn from SCI research partnership champions. This study aimed to explore and describe SCI researchers’ and research users’ (RU’) experiences with and reasons for conducting and/or disseminating (health) research in partnership in order to gain more insight into potentially ways to build capacity for and foster change to support research partnerships within a health research system. Methods: Underpinned by a pragmatic perspective, ten semi-structured timeline interviews were conducted with researchers and RU who have experiences with SCI research partnerships. Interviews focused on experiences in participants’ lives that have led them to become a person who conducts and/or disseminates research in partnership. Data were analysed using narrative thematic analysis. Results: We identified three threads from participants’ stories: (1) seeing and valuing different perspectives, (2) inspirational role models, and (3) relational and personal aspect of research partnerships. We identified sub-threads related to experiences that participants draw on how they came to be a person who engage in (health) research partnerships, and sub-threads related to participants’ reasons for engaging in research partnerships. While most sub-threads were identified from both researchers’ and RU’ perspectives (eg, partnership successes and failures), some were unique for researchers (morally the right thing to do) or RU (advocating). Conclusion: Using a narrative and pragmatic approach, this study provided a new understanding of SCI researchers’ and RU’ partnership experiences over time. We found that participants’ research partnership experiences and motivations align with components of leadership theories. The findings from this study may be used to inform strategies and policy programs to build capacity for conducting and disseminating (health) research in partnership, within and beyond SCI research.

How the US Sanctions Are Affecting the Health Research System in Iran?

Background: In November 2018, the United States withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal, and imposed severe sanctions on Iran. This study explores the impact of US sanctions in Iran’s health research system. Methods: This phenomenological study interviewed 24 Iranian health science scholars through purposeful sampling to learn about their experiences and thoughts regarding the impact of US sanctions on Iran’s health research system. Results: The impact of sanctions on Iran’s health research system were classified into five categories: (a) financial issues, (b) difficulty in supplying laboratory materials and (c) equipment, (d) disruption in international research collaboration and activities, and (e) other issues (e.g., increased stress and workload). Conclusion: This study indicated that since research centers in Iran are highly dependent on governmental budgets, sanctions have greatly affected the health research system in Iran. Financial and economic problems, restrictions in transferring funds, and the disruption in political and international relations have created many challenges for supplying medical laboratory materials and equipment for medical and health research centers in Iran.

Health research system resilience: lesson learned from the COVID-19 crisis

Producing evidence in epidemics is crucial to control the current epidemic and prevent its recurrence in the future. Data must be collected and analyzed rapidly to recognize the most efficient and feasible methods with proper timelines. However, there are many challenges a research system may encounter during a crisis. This article has presented lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic for health research system (HRS) to deal with current and future crises. Therefore, a HRS needs to produce and use evidence in such a situation. The components Knowledge Translation Self-Assessment Tool for Research Institutes (SATORI) framework was used to review the actions required and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in a national HRS. This framework consists of four categories of defining the research question, conducting research, translating the research results, and promoting the use of evidence. The work is proposed actions in response to the COVID-19 crisis and improving a HRS's resilience. While COVID-19 has serious harm to the health and broader socio-economic consequences, this threat should be accounted for as an opportunity to make research systems more accountable and responsible in the timely production and utilization of knowledge. It is time to seriously think about how HRS can build a better back to be resilient to potential shock and prepare for unforeseen emerging conditions.

‘All the stars were aligned’? The origins of England’s National Institute for Health Research

Background In 2006, the research and development (R&D) activity of England’s national healthcare system, the National Health Service, was reformed. A National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) was established within the Department of Health, the first body to manage this activity as an integrated system, unlocking significant increases in government funding. This article investigates how the NIHR came to be set up, and why it took the form it did. Our goal was a better understanding of ‘how we got here’. Methods We conducted oral history interviews with 38 key witnesses, held a witness seminar, and examined published and unpublished documents. Results We conclude that the most important forces shaping the origin of NIHR were the growing impact of evidence-based medicine on service policies, the growth of New Public Management ways of thinking, economic policies favouring investment in health R&D and buoyant public funding for healthcare. We note the strong two-way interaction between the health research system and the healthcare system — while beneficial for the use of research, challenges for healthcare (such as stop-go funding) could also produce challenges for health research. Conclusions Understanding how and why England came to have a centralised health service research system alongside a long-established funder of biomedical research (the Medical Research Council) helps us interpret the significance of the English health research experience for other countries and helps English policy-makers better understand their present options. Learning lessons from the features of the English health research system calls for an understanding of the processes which shaped it. Firstly, the publicly funded, nationally organised character of healthcare promoted government interest in evidence-based medicine, made research prioritisation simpler and helped promote the implementation of findings. Secondly, the essential role of leadership by a group who valued research for its health impact ensured that new management methods (such as metrics and competitive tendering) were harnessed to patient benefit, rather than as an end in themselves. A policy window of government willingness to invest in R&D for wider economic goals and buoyant funding of the health system were also effectively exploited.

Envisioning the Health Research System in the Philippines by 2040: A Perspective Inspired By AmBisyon Natin 2040

Background and Objective. This paper aims to describe long-term visions for health research in the Philippines. Ambisyon Natin 2040, an overarching vision for a dynamic country by the year 2040, is its main inspiration as this enables innovation and sustainable development. Methods. The health research profile conceptual framework developed by Tugwell et al., (2006) was utilized to structure the articulation of these visions. Review of related literature, reports, and documents and in-depth interviews with key players in health research were conducted. Results. In view of economic and technological developments in the country, it is expected that in 2040, health research priorities shall be more trans-disciplinary and more advanced. Research on health regulation and ethics will continue to be of importance. A more enabling environment for health research is also envisioned, since majority of research funding is expected to come from government, in addition to more research-friendly laws. More innovative platforms will be utilized to disseminate research results. The increasing international exposure and impact of academic work in the Philippines is also envisaged. Conclusion and Recommendations. Health research in the Philippines has been benefitted by a lot of gains and advances in the past years. Thus, to create an enabling health research system in the Philippines by 2040, focusing on innovations in health research, increased number of funding sources, and crafting of better policies on health research should be pursued. Sustaining these gains and advancing health research in our country entail collective effort from different stakeholders, both public and private.

Tx ™: An Approach and Philosophy to Advance Translation to Transformation

The translational science spectrum consists of phases or types of research, from dis­coveries that advance our understanding of the biological basis of health and disease to interventions that engage individuals and social systems toward improved popula­tion health. The health research system has widely acknowledged flaws that delay (or even deny) the fruits of research findings for the population and for chronically disad­vantaged groups. Coined and patented at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), Tx TM symbolizes an approach and scientific philosophy that intentionally promotes and supports the convergence of interdisciplin­ary approaches and scientists to stimulate exponential advances for the health of diverse communities. While the Tx TM patent is new, this approach to research transla­tion is embedded within the MSM tapestry with historically aligned research from the Translational Collaborative Center exem­plars as well as newly funded scholars. Tx TM scholarship is characterized by the five te­nets and practices that ultimately culminate in the conduct of research with results that broaden the evidence-base through data-driven proof of impact on health equity in underserved or special populations. Tx TM is a destination that is ever-evolving and responsive to the research, priority popula­tions and partners through translational research and corresponding approaches that transform health, thereby advancing health equity.Ethn Dis. 2019;29(Suppl 2): 349- 354. doi:10.18865/ed.29.S2.349