Q & A with Linwei Wang

What collaborations do you have with clinicians and/or healthcare organizations?

URMC; UPENN; Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA); Vanderbilt; UTSW

What was the clinical collaborator’s role in your research effort?

Patient enrollment, data collection and sharing, clinical expertise on research problems

Collaboration Cycle: Initiation

How did you find your clinical collaborators, and what was the process for starting your collaboration?

Some earlier ones were through introduction by senior colleagues in the field (UPENN/NSHA); more recent ones were through invited talks and visits (Vanderbilt/UTSW/URMC). The process mainly involves establishing initial common interest, then following up until you establish the ability to carry out preliminary results

What challenges have you encountered that may hinder or significantly delay the initiation of the clinical collaboration once interest is established on both ends?

1. Ability to carry out preliminary study without dedicated funding (mainly the availability of students to work on the project);
2. Ability to identify a concrete project and existing datasets on which preliminary data can be carried out;
3. Processes and logistics to establish data use agreement and collaboration agreement (long process);
4. Difficulty to get everyone together for meetings or kick off projects, time needed to wait for data, etc...in general the process is slow.

Do you have any additional comments for this stage of the collaboration cycle?

This is one of the most challenging stages in my mind. From my personal experiences, two things are important: 1) As a computing/technology PI, we need to have our own technical foundations that we're working on (that the various clinical applications can fit to), such that -- while the collaborative process takes time -- my team can work on and publish on methodological contributions in the meantime; 2) As the PI, program management skill is important to keep track of everything and make sure the collaboration does not die off over time because everybody got busy.

Collaboration Cycle: Exploration/Feasibility

Did you need to start a feasibility study with your clinical collaborator without having funding secured?

Yes, for almost all of them.

What resources did you leverage to support this phase of collaborative research with your clinical partner?

Availability of students to work on new projects is the most important; sometimes they have to be pulled from their main focus of research to take on a secondary project as a preliminary study. Sometimes seed funding was helpful, but it’s not always available.

Do you have any additional comments for this stage of the collaboration cycle?

Sometimes as a team we just have to pull together resources to get some preliminary data before the project is funded, and it could take some time to get funding. While both the PIs and students are working on such preliminary data "unfunded", it is important to keep in mind that the team is establishing a track record of publishing together, which will be beneficial for future grant applications.

Collaboration Cycle: Execution

How long have you been working with your clinical partners?

A range of 1 year to nearly 10 years.

How do you communicate with your clinical collaborators before and during the project?

We communicate via email and (mostly virtual) meetings.

What issues have you faced during the collaboration process, and how did you resolve them?

1. Most collaborations will face a challenge of communication latency, as in getting a response from collaborators and getting people to meet together. No tricks here, but just be organized and persistent, and keep following up until things are planned. Leadership is important as someone needs to be on top of everything; 2. In very occasional cases, I have had the personal experiences of collaborators that could not deliver their planned works as proposed. These are more difficult -- the general suggestion is to 1) keep it professional and speak to the facts, and 2) involve organizational authorities and delegate the actions to them as much as possible.

Collaboration Cycle: Evolution

What were the results of your clinical collaborations?

We've been fortunate to have generated funding, publications, etc., from these collaborations

How do you continue the collaboration or stay in touch for future projects?

Typically, when a collaboration is fruitful (or the collaborative dynamics rewarding), I continue them for the next stages of research and go for new/renewal of research grants.

Have you encountered challenges related to IP, credit, etc. in the dissemination of your results?

No, not myself personally.

Do you have any additional comments for this stage of the collaboration cycle?

Sometimes, one has to go through the collaboration process in order to know if the collaborative dynamics work out or not. If it does not, then it is best to not continue. When it does, really appreciate those collaborators and keep them as long as possible!