# Durham Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation (ADAPT)

> **NIH VA I50** · DURHAM VA MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · —

## Abstract

The goal of the Durham Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation
(ADAPT) is to enhance the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) ability to continually improve health care
and optimize Veteran wellbeing and independence. We approach this goal by generating and applying
evidence to spur innovation in health care organization, finance, and delivery for Veterans and their families. In
its 35-year history, Durham’s Health Services Research and Development Center, now named ADAPT, has
conducted hundreds of policy-relevant studies influencing Veterans’ health care, trained 143 physician and
postdoctoral fellows, and supported 32 VA Career Development Awardees. Comprising a large group of
experienced investigators nested within a mature research infrastructure, ADAPT is ideally suited to continue
to provide scientific leadership across the continuum from basic health services to implementation research. In
this way, we will play a vital role in helping VHA meet the challenges of providing timely, coordinated,
consistently high-quality care to more than 9 million Veterans each year.
 While proud of our track record, we recognize that new methods and models are required to meet the ever-
changing needs of VHA and our Veterans, who experience a disproportionately high burden of disease related
to poor health behaviors and other clinical and social factors, face challenges to accessing health care, and
have greater need of long-term care services and supports than at any time in history. Based on a 1-year
planning process involving extensive input from VHA leadership and other stakeholders, and drawing from the
World Health Organization’s conceptual framework of resilient, or adaptive, health care systems, we have
selected 3 focused areas of research for the next 5 years that align with VA strategic priorities: (1) promoting
and sustaining healthy behaviors; (2) enhancing access through virtual care; and (3) optimizing function
and independence. We have formed investigator teams to focus on each priority area in close collaboration
with health system partners. Each team will support a portfolio of externally funded projects, catalyze new
ideas through pilot studies and grant development workshops, provide intellectual leadership in the larger
research community, and be a national resource to inform VA clinical care and policy decisions. To continue
our longstanding commitment to training and career development, each research area will also attract and
support promising junior investigators and provide individual mentorship to foster their scientific development.
 Scientific rigor, an essential underpinning of the work to be done in each research focus area, will be
reinforced and advanced by the formation of 3 cross-cutting methods labs: 1) the Pragmatic Clinical Trials Lab
will facilitate application of methods to evaluate effectiveness of interventions in real-life routine practice
conditions; 2) the Non-Randomized Design L...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11094679
- **Project number:** 5I50HX002733-02
- **Recipient organization:** DURHAM VA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Susan Nicole Hastings
- **Activity code:** I50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-10-01 → 2023-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11094679

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11094679, Durham Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation (ADAPT) (5I50HX002733-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11094679. Licensed CC0.

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