Coordinating Centers for Multisite Studies

Multicenter research programs are the most efficient way to investigate various interventions or conditions by using a shared study design and methodology across different sites; these programs produce more generalizable and impactful data and insights to transform the research landscape. The support of a coordinating center for biostatistical leadership, data management, or study administration can make a critical difference in the success of multicenter research programs.

Coordinating center capabilities often overlap, but whether your study requires a Data Coordinating Center, Administrative Coordinating Center, or Research Coordinating Center, RTI has experience managing for single or multiple studies within multicenter programs in the U.S. and around the world. RTI has served as a coordinating center for more than 40 complex multicenter research studies—relying on the expertise of close to 120 statisticians, 50 epidemiologists, 130 programmers, and numerous research professionals from a myriad of disciplines to quickly and efficiently reach study goals.

What are coordinating centers?

Coordinating centers serve as central hubs for managing critical functions of clinical and survey research, managing details such as:

• Creating the rules and scaffolding that govern the collection, use, and dissemination of information;  

• Managing study design and implementation;  

• Conducting data analysis and reporting on findings, coordinating centers are essential components of multisite research; 

• Supporting administrative requirements, such as budget management, regulatory filings, site selection and investigator trainings, and development of forms and records.  

How can experienced data management impact your study?

Succesful implementation and management of coordinating centers allows you to complete your study, identify results, and publish findings faster. 

RTI blends the capacity and system infrastructure of a large research institute with the innovative research and knowledge of a university setting and has served as a coordinating center for multisite studies since 1975. With our decades of expertise in implementing biostatistical analysis for multisite studies and building systems for data management and broad multisite coordination, we are poised to serve as the coordinating center for data, administrative, and research needs for a variety of clients—including federal, state, county, and private clients.

We support various therapeutic areas—including opioids and substance use disorders, cancer, COVID-19, and maternal and child health—and we partner with dozens of federal institutions across at least 13 of the 27 institutes within the National Institutes of Health.  Our experience includes more than 33 years serving as the Data Coordinating Center for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Neonatal Research Network. We continue to successfully manage and drive technological innovation to remain on the cutting edge of science.

RTI’s support has also led to thousands of research publications in high-profile journals—such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and The Lancet—and has led to policy changes at the World Health Organization for global health practices, such as policies around the use of misoprostol for new mothers experiencing excessive blood loss after birth.