On behalf of PCORI’s Board of Governors, leadership, and staff, it is my pleasure to invite you to join us for the 2020 PCORI Virtual Annual Meeting, Accelerating Impact on Care and Patient-Centered Outcomes.

 

I am looking forward to attending my first Annual Meeting as PCORI’s Executive Director. This meeting marks PCORI’s decade of service to the nation as a leader in advancing patient-centeredness throughout the clinical research enterprise and comparative clinical effectiveness research. We have an exciting and information-rich agenda planned, and I hope you will be joining us for updates on how patients, caregivers, and the broader healthcare community are working together to enhance patient-centered research and healthcare delivery.

 

Our partnerships with patients, researchers, policy makers, and others during our first 10 years have already influenced how health care is delivered. Results from studies on the benefit of finger sticks for people with type 2 diabetes who are not using insulin, shared decision making for people with advanced heart failure, antibiotic use in children, and more have been reported in leading medical journals and guided approaches in care that can improve outcomes for millions of Americans.

 

At this year’s meeting, we will explore the remarkable potential of data and technology in comparative clinical effectiveness research, critical to supporting the rapid, iterative cycle of innovation to implementation PCORI is pursuing.

 

We will also examine context-specific dissemination efforts in various settings to improve outcomes for diverse health conditions and populations, and mitigate health disparities. The meeting is also an opportunity to hear from you, as we discuss bold and innovative opportunities for this next phase for PCORI and work to refresh PCORI’s national priorities and research agenda. Your participation in this process is vital to shaping our future areas of focus, just as it was in shaping our first 10 years. We have dedicated part of the agenda to these important conversations. We will also highlight the latest developments in our COVID-19 research portfolio, which continues to grow as we fund research to help provide answers to difficult questions faced by patients, providers, health systems, and the broader healthcare community.

 

Several timely topics of critical importance for health and healthcare will be featured in plenary and breakout sessions, including the following: