Britto Research Lab

Improving Outcomes in Chronic Disease Care

The long-term goal of Maria Britto’s research program is to improve the quality of healthcare and health outcomes for adolescents living with chronic conditions. She pursues this goal through a series of studies that includes measure development, interventions and descriptive epidemiology. Since 2006, she has directed the Center for Innovation in Chronic Care Delivery and Decision Making, which provides a forum for collaboration among investigators from multiple disciplines and departments that are interested in chronic disease. She has three current projects that have developed from the work of the Innovation Lab within the Chronic Disease Care Center. These projects are partnerships with consumer goods and technology companies.

In addition to the projects undertaken with the Innovation Lab, we are completing a multicomponent evaluation of web-based patient portals for families with chronic conditions at Cincinnati Children’s. A Cincinnati Children’s Outcomes Grant funded this work. In December 2008, the lab began work on an NHLBI funded multicenter study to develop inpatient quality-of-care measures for pediatric respiratory conditions. Britto is the site PI for this project, which is led by Rita Mangione-Smith, MD, MPH, at the University of Washington. Since October 2009, we have collaborated on an NIH / NIDDK-funded study to develop and build a system for transforming chronic care by designing, prototyping, optimizing and evaluating a clinical collaborative care network.

Our lab is also collaborating with other investigators on related projects. These include a multicomponent intervention to improve adherence in adolescents with asthma, a study of quality of life in patients with juvenile arthritis and a project to improve transition and primary care for adolescents and young adults with sickle cell disease. Britto also serves as mentor and collaborator on the K awards of five junior faculty members.