Project Summary / Abstract Many patient advocacy groups are working to improve care and outcomes within their specific context and there is great variability in their methods to achieve common goals. Implementation science (IS) studies methods and strategies to facilitate the uptake of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) into use by practitioners and policymakers and seeks to synthesize what works for whom and in what contexts and to close the gap between research and practice. We hypothesize that IS approaches will facilitate patient advocacy group-led research to increase implementation of EBIs and improve patient outcomes. A barrier to this approach is lack of implementation research skills among those involved. I am a Professor of Surgery at the University of Texas Health Science at Houston and have over 23 years’ experience conducting federally funded multicenter comparative effectiveness randomized clinical trials (RCTs). The impact of RCTs on clinical practice is often unknown (due to lack of treatment pattern data) but is likely less than desired by all stakeholders. IS may increase the impact of research findings on clinical practice, achieving improved patient outcomes. I am seeking AHRQ K18 funding to acquire new skills in IS and research methods, including knowledge about the rational selection of theories and frameworks to address specific research questions, mixed-methods, and qualitative research methodology, and in PCOR and CER methods outside of RCTs. Team science principles will be part of the training program given the large multidisciplinary teams in patient advocacy group-led research. Our proposed research projects involve patient-advocacy groups and IS teams as equal collaborators to increase implementation of EBIs within different contexts. We believe that an IS approach will facilitate advocacy group- led research efforts and investigating the effectiveness of these efforts (implementation and clinical outcomes) will increase our understanding of what approach works for various advocacy groups and in what contexts. Our Aims are to 1) develop and test strategies to increase implementation of consensus treatment plans for juvenile idiopathic arthritis in collaboration with the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance, 2) investigate implementation considerations in the multiple sclerosis (MS) implementation network and patient registry in collaboration with the MS Association of America, and 3) address gaps in knowledge that limit the use of EBIs in the surgical treatment of infants with necrotizing enterocolitis in collaboration with the NEC Society. The intensive training program will enhance my knowledge and experience in PCOR, CER, implementation science, and team science. I will apply these new skills in the proposed research projects and in future clinical trials, teach IS methods within clinical contexts, mentor faculty in these methods, and collaborate with other investigators to apply implementation r...