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Surgery Health Services and Outcomes Research Center

The Surgery Health Services and Outcomes Research Center is a Department of Surgery research endeavor to advance the collaborative study of processes of surgical care, surgical outcomes, and provision of health services through a multidisciplinary approach. The mission of the Center is to enable Yale Surgery faculty, staff, and trainees to perform state-of-the-art surgical outcomes, comparative effectiveness, and health services research.

To carry out that mission, the Center provides access to research support including biostatistical/epidemiological services and data management help across the eleven divisions in the Department of Surgery. Our goal is to provide a secure, successful, and sustainable clinical research experience.

Research/Projects

The activities of the Surgery Health Services and Outcomes Research Center include:

  • Engage in quality research to advance studies of surgery outcomes.
  • Provide study design, biostatistical, and machine learning support services to assist surgeons in building the capacity for research, with a particular focus on developing funded studies.
  • Maintain a database library to empower surgeons and collaborators to utilize large datasets, assist users with the process of complying with all training and regulatory requirements for those datasets*, and streamline the research process by preparing analysis-ready data extracts.
  • Maintain a server equipped with statistical software that can be used to analyze data from any source in a secure manner that is compliant with relevant University, state, and federal policies, laws, and regulations.
  • Provide expertise in study design, database analysis, biostatistical methods and artificial intelligence (including machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing).
  • Provide a centralized service to support the computational needs of researchers within the department.
  • Mentor junior faculty with the aim of developing and executing a multi-year career plan culminating in R01-level funding.

*Note: Access to data will require documentation of completion of the following training courses, available through the Yale Training Management System:

  • HIPAA Privacy and Security for Researchers -OR- Foundational HIPAA Privacy and Security Training
  • Human Subjects Research (CITI) -OR- Human Research Protection Training by OHRP
In addition, there may be Data Use Agreements and/or training requirements specific to the database being requested.