Improving Decision-Making for Patients with Asymptomatic Carotid Disease (Halm)
This Foundation for Informed Medical Decision-Making grant will conduct a web-based randomized control trial to assess the impact of several different decision aid design features on knowledge, comprehension and decision-making.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Long-Term Outcomes of Carotid Endarterectomy (Calvillo-King, Halm)
This NIH-funded grant will identify the underlying patient, system, physician and hospital-level factors that might explain disparities in clinical outcomes for carotid endarterectomy.

Applying Electronic Risk Scoring to Reduce Readmissions for Heart Failure (Amarasingham)
This UT System grant will examine whether a new program, "Parkland Intelligent e-Coordination and Evaluation System", combined with a patient-tailored program of clinical, nursing, and case management interventions will reduce rates of all-cause, all-hospital readmission for patients admitted to Parkland Hospital with heart failure.

Understanding how well you have been prepared to leave the hospital (quality of care transitions) (Eubank)   This UT Southwestern Clinical and Translational Science Award pilot grant aims to assess the predictive value of a care transition measure to predict risk of readmission, ER visits, and other adverse events. Researchers want to know how well key information on discharge is communicated to the patient and their outpatient provider.

Long Term Outcomes of Carotid Endarterectomy in the Elderly (Halm)
This NIH funded project will determine the long term outcomes of carotid endarterectomy by examining the 5 and 10 year death and stroke-free survival in a large, population-based, statewide cohort of 10,000 Medicare patients.

Self-Management Beliefs and Behaviors in Inner City Asthmatic Adults (Halm)
This NIH funded project is a prospective observational cohort study aimed to identify self-regulation beliefs, medication adherence, self-management behaviors, and outcomes among inner city, minorities with persistent asthma.  It also seeks to examine the impact of age and age of asthma onset on asthma beliefs, behaviors and outcomes.

An Automated Model that Predicts Risk of Readmission for Heart Failure: Importance of Social Factors and Implications for Pay-For-Performance (Amarasingham, Calvillo-King)
This project shows that a multivariable model that incorporates information on clinical, laboratory, vital sign, and social factors in the first 24 hours of admission from available computerized health information systems can predict the risk of readmission in patients with heart failure cared for in a safety net hospital.

Impact of Social Factors on Risk of Death or Readmission in Heart Failure, Pneumonia and Myocardial Infarction: A Systematic Review (Calvillo-King, Halm, Amarasingham)
This is a systematic review and methodological critique of the literature examining the effect of a broad variety of social factors on death and readmission following hospitalization for heart failure, myocardial infarction or pneumonia.

Effective Medication Management in Older Hospitalized Patients (Eubank)
This is a T. Franklin Williams Scholar project funded by the American Geriatrics Society Foundation for Health in Aging, the Association for Subspecialty Professors, and the Atlantic Philanthropies and is investigating whether geriatric consultation, focusing on medication management using a structured tool that focuses on geriatrics principles, will decrease inappropriate prescribing and improve the safety and medication management of inpatient older adults on the hospitalist service at a safety net hospital.

Cancer Risk Intake Survey (Leach, Halm)
This is an NIH-funded randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of a computerized questionnaire completed by patients to improve completion of cancer screening.

Racial Disparities in Cancer Care at the End of Life (Paulk, Stieglitz)
This is a pilot longitudinal cohort study to assess doctor-patient communication practices related to discussions of cancer outcomes including: curability, life expectancy, and end-of-life care decision making.

Long Term Complications of HIV Disease (Peterson)
This NIH funded project in collaboration with the Human Nutrition Division is studying the HIV Associated Lipodystrophy Syndrome and other complications that are identified in patients on successful long term treatment for HIV disease.

Anticoagulation clinical trial title (Sam)
“A prospective, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, parallel-group, multicenter, event-driven, non-inferiority study comparing the efficacy and safety of once-daily oral Rivaroxaban with adjusted-dose oral warfarin for the prevention of stroke and non-central nervous system systemic embolismin subjects with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (ROCKET-AF).” This is an industry sponsored randomized controlled clinical trial to compare warfarin to an oral Xa inhibitor in atrial fibrillation patients with CHADS risk factors.

Inborn errors of metabolism (Cox, Wynn)
This work focuses on the molecular genetic basis of mitochondrial multienzyme complex deficiencies, e.g. Maple Syrup Urine Disease

Mitochondrial multienzyme complexes  (Cox, Wynn)
These grants examine the structure and function of mitochondrial multienzyme protein complexes including X-ray structural analysis of the catalytic and regulatory subunits. Related questions assess: the role of chaperone proteins (heat shock proteins-Hsp's), and how they regulate the folding and assembly of these multi-subunit complexes, and coordinate regulation of the genes encoding mitochondrial multienzyme protein complexes.