Evaluation and Tracking (ET)

The Delaware Valley Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (DVICTS) is a collaborative initiative of Thomas Jefferson University (TJU), the University of Delaware (UD), Christiana Care Health System (CCHS), and the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children (Nemours/AIDHC), which between them offer healthcare services throughout the entire state of Delaware, much of southeastern Pennsylvania, and parts of southern New Jersey and Maryland. This section of the application focuses on the ways in which DVICTS will track and evaluate its performance in implementing the proposed CTSA over time.

Introduction and Overview. DVICTS and its CTSA Steering Committee appreciate the critical importance of tracking and evaluating the process and outcomes in each of the key "Program Function" areas described in this proposal and in the CTSA collaborative as a whole. This includes data gathering, process evaluation of the design and implementation of the CTSA as a whole, and outcome evaluation of the products and effectiveness in each Program Function area. Even more important, evaluation requires assessing the collaborative efforts across the Program Function areas. Since translational science is, by nature, a dynamic and non-recursive process in T1 and T2 and ultimately T3 processes, evaluation has a critical role in (a) determining that these translation processes do in fact occur and (b) providing summary results that demonstrate effects and disseminate findings among the DVICTS partner institutions and across the region served. Evaluation will require both numbers and narrative to assess whether the DVICTS CTSA is successfully moving evidence into action in the Delaware Valley. The proposed DVICTS infrastructure will significantly impact the entire state of Delaware and the wider region of the Delaware Valley, bringing together campuses, hospitals, and communities in at least 2 separate states in a collaborative rather than an exclusionary or conflictive process. The evaluation must also involve all these elements in a dynamic and participatory fashion. Overarching questions guiding the evaluation include:

  • To what extent are translational processes occurring?
  • What is the nature and extent of collaboration within and across cluster areas?
  • What are barriers and facilitators of effective collaboration?
  • To what extent has DVICTS achieved its intended objectives?
  • What (if any) are the unanticipated outcomes of DVICTS?


DVICTS and its CTSA Steering Committee also recognize that, over time, its CTSA evaluation program will be shaped by collaborative efforts with other regional and national CTSA programs, by cooperation with the National Institutes of Health's national evaluators, and by participation in the national CTSA evaluation plan. Therefore, the process described below should be considered to be a proposal for an evaluation plan that will evolve iteratively as the CTSA initiative matures, locally and nationally. Moreover, this evaluation plan extends beyond the initial, proposed 5-year CTSA program and will form the basis for marking progress toward the larger aims of the DVICTS over the coming decades.

The DVICTS CTSA Tracking and Evaluation Plan has defined specific objectives, measures, existing and proposed data sources, and activities tied to the 3 core objectives of the DVICTS CTSA, taken as a whole. In each of the Sections the proposal, specific targets for evaluation have been delineated and carefully related to the specific key functional areas (translational technologies, biomedical informatics, training, etc). In this section of the proposal, our purpose is as follows:

  • To briefly review the overall evaluation strategy for each of the 3 core objectives of the DVICTS CTSA
  • To establish the specific objectives of the DVICTS CTSA Tracking and Evaluation Plan
  • To demonstrate how this approach will ensure regular tracking and review of progress and milestones against the predetermined objectives for each of the Program Function-specific evaluations, using a logic model approach
  • To delineate the process of building an evaluation framework and mindset that will guide and be sustained in the larger efforts of the DVICTS partner institutions in the future


The DVICTS CTSA Tracking and Evaluation Plan concludes with an overview of personnel and resources necessary to accomplish these tasks. In designing the DVICTS CTSA Tracking and Evaluation Plan, a modification of the logic model approach will be used as a heuristic device, recognizing that a comprehensive logic model structure will continually evolve as the DVICTS develops as an effective CTSA center. DVICTS and the DVICTS CTSA Steering Committee has a serious concern for issues of internal and external validity in the proposed evaluation framework. Translational decisions require evidence with high external validity and contextual relevance. Too often clinical trials with demonstrated efficacy in a "controlled climate" have been lost in translation and failed to work in community settings due to contextual confounds or implementation impediments. The DVICTS CTSA Tracking and Evaluation Plan has been developed with a clear awareness of these pitfalls and will seek to redress past shortcomings through real communication and collaboration among the partners.

The DVICTS CTSA Tracking and Evaluation function will be the responsibility of a small leadership group representing the 4 DHSA partner institutions and the Delaware Division of Public Health. The DVICTS CTSA Evaluation Leadership Group will include:

  • K. Rattay, MD, Director of the Delaware Division of Public Health
  • LA. Riesenberg, MD, Director of Medical Education Research and Outcomes at CCHS
  • L. Lane, MD, Pediatrics at Nemours
  • J. Gonnella, MD, Distinguished Professor of Medicine at TJU
  • L. Cooksy, PhD, Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in Evaluation at UD
  • S. Martin, MA, MSc, Senior Scientist and Associate Director at the Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies at UD