Penn Implementation Science Center

As health and community settings grapple with resource-constrained conditions, the use of evidence-based strategies in routine practice will be critical to maximizing the value of care and improving health outcomes. Implementation science research plays a critical role in promoting uptake of these strategies. Penn is home to a rich network of implementation science expertise and activities across many fields in health care. Activities include grant-funded projects, an education program, an annual Implementation Science Institute, and regular works-in-progress meetings.

Leadership

Rinad Beidas, PhD

Founding Director, PISCE@LDI, and Associate Professor, Psychiatry, Medical Ethics and Health Policy, and Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine

Meghan Lane-Fall, MD, MSHP

Director of Acute Care Implementation Research, PISCE@LDI, and Associate Professor, Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Epidemiology, Perelman School of Medicine

Christopher Bonafide, MD, MSCE

Associate Director, PISCE@LDI, and Associate Professor, Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine

Katharine Rendle, PhD, MSW, MPH

Associate Director, PISCE@LDI; Assistant Professor, Family Medicine and Community Health, and Assistant Professor, Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics, Perelman School of Medicine

Amelia Van Pelt, PhD, MPH

Postdoctoral Fellow, PISCE@LDI

Courtney Benjamin Wolk, PhD

Associate Director, PISCE@LDI, and Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine

History

The Implementation Science Workgroup was founded in 2011 to create a community around implementation science at Penn. The working group situated Penn as a leader in advancing the science of implementation and provided training opportunities for the next generation of implementation science researchers.
In 2018, PISCE@LDI was launched, expanding and replacing the Implementation Science Workgroup. PISCE@LDI supports development of research to guide the implementation of evidence-based interventions across a range of healthcare settings. Past activities include a conference and speaker series. Bi-monthly works-in-progress meetings focus on research proposals, ongoing projects, manuscripts, and pilot grant funding.
In 2020, PISCE@LDI had over 300 members, a 35% increase since 2019, with members from ten schools and more than 50 different departments and institutes across Penn.
The Center’s research portfolio is robust—in FY 2020, Penn has 39 active NIH grants with over 27 million dollars in direct costs with a number of center grants dedicated to implementation science.
From 2012–June 2021, over 400 individuals have received training in implementation science through our educational offerings, including the MSHP courses and the Institute.

Past Year-in-Review Reports

Affiliated Working Group

In addition to PISCE@LDI, there are other efforts taking place to build out implementation science across Penn. For example, in 2020, the Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) Implementation Science in Philadelphia to end the HIV Epidemic Regionally Scientific Working Group (ISPHERE SWG) was launched. Led by Rinad Beidas, PhD; Florence Momplaisir, MD, MSHP, FACP; and Steven Meanley, MPH, PhD, the ISPHERE SWG aims to draw on the expertise in implementation science and HIV-related care at Penn Medicine, Penn CFAR, Philadelphia Department of Public Health, and the Greater Philadelphia community to create capacity for collaboration on work at the intersection of HIV prevention, HIV treatment, intervention, and implementation science throughout Philadelphia County in the service of ending the HIV epidemic collaboratively and equitably. Learn more here.

Training and Fellowship Opportunities

Postdoctoral Fellowships in Implementation Research in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment
Course: HPR 611: Implementation Science in Health and Health Care
- Taught by Meghan Lane-Fall, MD, MSHP, Associate Professor, Perelman School of Medicine, and Danielle Cullen, MD, MPH, MSHP, Clinical Instructor, Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
- Offered as part of Penn’s Masters of Science in Health Policy Research, this course is a survey of implementation science theory, design, and measurement, and its applications in health.
Course: HPR 612: Advanced Topics in Implementation Science
- Taught by Meghan Lane-Fall, MD, MSHP, Associate Professor, Perelman School of Medicine, and Rinad Beidas, PhD, Associate Professor, Perelman School of Medicine.
- Offered as part of Penn’s Masters of Science in Health Policy Research, this course offers an opportunity for students to advance their understanding of the thorniest methodological challenges in implementation science.
Implementation Science Institute
- This annual meeting on Penn’s campus offers a unique opportunity to learn the tools to design and execute rigorous implementation science research. During the institute, implementation science experts also provide tips for writing specific aims for Implementation Science grants.
- Dates for the 2022 Implementation Science Institute will be announced soon.

Get Involved

Interested in becoming more involved in implementation science at Penn/CHOP? Sign up to become a member of PISCE@LDI.
Membership is open to all members of the Penn and CHOP communities, and others by permission.
Connect with us on Twitter @PISCE_LDI

Featured Projects

Advancing the Quality of Cancer Care Through Behavioral Economics and Implementation Science
Rinad Beidas, PhD, Justin Bekelman, MD, and Robert Schnoll, PhD, received funding from the National Cancer Institute to use implementation science and behavioral economics to increase use of evidence-based practices in cancer care, with health equity as a focus across all projects. Penn becomes the 7th Implementation Science Center in Cancer Control (ISC3) funded by the NCI as part of the Cancer Moonshot.

Handoffs and Transitions in Critical Care – Understanding Scalability
Meghan Lane-Fall, MD, was awarded a R01 grant to study the implementation of a standardized handoff protocol in adult and pediatric ICUs. While standardized post-surgical handoffs are an intervention deemed high priority by the American Heart Association, there is inconsistent adoption of this by hospitals. This pragmatic Hybrid Type 2 effectiveness-implementation study will have a dual focus on demonstrating improvements in both short-term patient outcomes and implementation outcomes.

Validation of a Causal Model of Implementation
Emily Becker-Haimes, PhD, received an R01 award to test the generalizability of a conceptual model that posits the causal relationship among variables from organizational and social psychology – for example, climate, culture, attitudes, and workload – to predict clinician use of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Results will inform the development of implementation strategies that target modifiable factors explaining substantial variance in intention and in implementation that can be applied broadly across evidence-based practices.

Leveraging Implementation and Behavioral Science to Reduce Harmful Overuse of Diagnostic Testing in Critically Ill Children
Charlotte Woods-Hill, MD has been awarded this K23 from NHBLI. Using cognitive bias and the CFIR framework, she will investigate determinants of overuse of testing for bacterial infections in the pediatric intensive care unit, and then develop and test strategies for reducing overuse in a pilot hybrid trial. The ultimate goal is to reduce unintended harm to fragile pediatric ICU patients from unnecessary tests and treatments.

Fidelity and Adaptation of Breast Cancer Resource-Stratified Treatment Guidelines in Botswana
Yehoda Martei, MD, MSCE, received a K award that aims to investigate whether inferior outcomes for HIV-positive breast cancer patients in Sub-Saharan Africa are related to the quality or extent of evidence-based treatment guideline implementation or other unrelated factors. The study will be conducted in Botswana. The long-term goal is to improve survival outcomes in HIV-positive and HIV-negative breast cancer patients in Sub-Saharan Africa by designing targeted interventions to increase high-quality therapy delivery.