AR² – Autism Replication, Validation, and Reproducibility Center

Page last updated May 11, 2026

Study Design: Retrospective Observational Trial
PCORnet Infrastructure: Common Data Model (CDM), Single IRB, Patient partners or engagement
Principal Investigator: Judy Zhong
Institution: Weill Cornell Medicine
PCORnet® Network Partner: INSIGHT
Funder: Federal (NIH)
Funding Date: 2025
Study Duration: 2025 – 2028
Participating PCORnet® Clinical Research Networks: ADVANCE, GPC, INSIGHT, PEDSnet, STAR
Therapeutic Area: Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDDs); Data Science
Status: Active, not recruiting

Research Question(s):

The study focuses on making autism research more reliable and widely applicable. We are creating the Autism Replication, Validation, and Reproducibility (AR²) Center to ensure that findings from autism data science projects can be independently verified and reproduced by providing complete, transparent packages, including data, code, and documentation.

By using diverse datasets from across the U.S., we aim to confirm that research results hold true for different populations and settings. This effort will promote best practices, share resources openly, and help translate autism research into real-world clinical care and policy.

Equity in Treatment for Asthma Between Latinos and Whites

Page last updated May 11, 2026

Study Design: Retrospective Observational Study
PCORnet Infrastructure: Common Data Model (CDM), Single IRB, Patient partners or engagement
Principal Investigator: John Heintzman
Institution: OCHIN
PCORnet® Network Partner: ADVANCE
Funder: Federal (NIH/NHLBI)
Funding Date: 2025
Study Duration: 2025 – 2028
Participating PCORnet® Clinical Research Networks: ADVANCE, REACHnet
Therapeutic Area: Pulmonology
Status: Active, not recruiting

Research Question(s):

  1. How does the quality of asthma care - including timely diagnosis, assessment, immunization, medication prescription, and access to testing - vary when comparing Latino adults to non-Latino white adults?
  2. Among adults with asthma, how do Latino adults vary from non-Latino white adults in how they utilize primary asthma care in Community Health Centers?
  3. How do Latino and non-Latino white adults with asthma vary in how they utilize acute care, including clinic visits, emergency department visits, and inpatient hospitalization?
  4. Do different subgroups of Latino-Americans, such as Latinos of Mexican, Dominican, or Cuban heritage, utilize asthma care at different rates and receive care of differing quality?
  5. Relatively, do individual factors (e.g., income, preferred language, insurance coverage, and migrant status) or community-level factors (e.g., community poverty, education, and environmental factors) contribute more to a person's (focusing on Latinos, but including others as well) likelihood of receiving primary asthma care, utilizing acute care, or experiencing asthma-related death?

Preserving Kidney Function in Children with Chronic Kidney Disease (PRESERVE)

Page last updated July 1, 2026

ClinicalTrials.gov#: NCT05169411
Study Design: Retrospective Observational Study
PCORnet Infrastructure: Common Data Model (CDM), Single IRB, Patient partners or engagement
Principal Investigator: Christopher Forrest and Michelle Denburg
Institution: The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
PCORnet® Network Partner: PEDSnet
Funder: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI); (project webpage)
Funding Date: 2021
Study Duration: 2021 – 2024
Participating PCORnet® Clinical Research Networks: GPC, OneFlorida+, PEDSnet, PaTH, STAR
Therapeutic Area: Nephrology, Rare Diseases
Condition: Chronic Kidney Disease Stage 2; Chronic Kidney Disease Stage 3; Pediatric Kidney Disease
Age Range: 1 Year to 17 Years (Child)
Status: Completed

Research Question(s):

  1. Which blood pressure monitoring strategies, urine protein monitoring strategies, and blood pressure medication strategies are most effective in preserving kidney function in pediatric patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), and what is the lived experience of families and patients living with pediatric CKD?

Primary Publication(s):

Denburg MRGoodwin Davies AJMaltenfort MG, et al. Comparative Effectiveness of Antihypertensive Medications in Children With Chronic Kidney Disease. JAMA Pediatr. 2026;180(5):546–555. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2026.0207

Choosing Immune Suppression in Renal Transplantation by Efficacy and Morbidity (CISTEM2)

Page last updated June 06, 2026

Study Design: Retrospective Observational Study
PCORnet Infrastructure: Common Data Model (CDM), Patient partners or engagement
Principal Investigator: Vikas Dharnidharka and David Axelrod
Institution: University of Missouri
PCORnet® Network Partner: GPC
Funder: Federal (NIH)
Funding Date: 2024
Study Duration: 2024 - 2029
Participating PCORnet® Clinical Research Networks: GPC, OneFlorida+, STAR
Therapeutic Area: Nephrology
Status: Active, not recruiting

Research Question(s)

  1. Can we identify optimal immunosuppression management strategies for kidney transplant patients leveraging real world data?

Understanding the Short- and Long-term Effects of Disasters and Other Big Events on the Overdose Crisis

Page last updated June 06, 2026

Study Design: Retrospective Observational Study
PCORnet Infrastructure: Common Data Model (CDM), Single IRB, Patient partners or engagement
Principal Investigator: Magdalena Cerdá
Institution: New York University Langone Health
PCORnet® Network Partner: INSIGHT
Funder: Federal (NIDA)
Funding Date: 2023
Study Duration: 2023 – 2028
Participating PCORnet® Clinical Research Networks:
GPC, INSIGHT, OneFlorida+, PEDSnet, PaTH, REACHnet, STAR
Therapeutic Area:
Infectious Disease, Substance Use
Population: 18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult )
Status: Active, not recruiting

Research Question(s):

  1. Did a community rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths contribute to an increase in the risk of overdose among PCORnet patients?
  2. What role did public health and economic policies enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic play in explaining whether a rise in community COVID-19 burden contributed to a rise in overdose?
  3. Did the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on overdose depend on the socioeconomic, social, and policy characteristics the community had in place prior to the pandemic?

Characterizing the ILD (interstitial lung disease) Care Continuum Using Real World Evidence

Page last updated May 11, 2026

Study Design: Retrospective Observational Study
PCORnet Infrastructure: Common Data Model (CDM), Patient partners or engagement
Principal Investigator: Aparna Swaminathan
Institution: Duke Clinical Research Institute
PCORnet® Network Partner: The Coordinating Center for PCORnet®
Funder: Industry (Genentech)
Funding Date: 2022
Study Duration: 2022 – 2024
Participating PCORnet® Clinical Research Networks: GPC, INSIGHT, PaTH, STAR
Therapeutic Area: Pulmonology
Condition: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF)
Age Range: 18 Years and older (Adult,  Older Adult )
Status: Completed

Research Question(s): Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive fibrotic lung disease, affecting over 3 million individuals worldwide and causing progressive lung function deterioration and death within a median of 3-5 years after diagnosis. This project will help to characterize the interstitial lung disease (ILD) patient care continuum across ILD subtypes.

Bariatric Surgery Impact on Cancer Screening (BASICS)

Page last updated May 11, 2026

Study Design: Retrospective Observational Study
PCORnet Infrastructure: Common Data Model (CDM), Patient partners or engagement
Principal Investigator: Kathleen McTigue
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
PCORnet® Network Partner: PaTH
Funder: Federal (NIH/NCI)
Funding Date: 2023
Study Duration: 2023 – 2025
Participating PCORnet® Clinical Research Networks: GPC, INSIGHT, PaTH, REACHnet, STAR
Therapeutic Area: Oncology
Age Range: Adults with BMI 35+ who have had bariatric procedures
Status: Active, not recruiting

Research Question(s):

  1. How are patients' cancer screening practices impacted by bariatric surgery for weight loss?

PANDA – MSD: Predictive Analytics via Networked Distributed Algorithms for Multi – System Diseases

Page last updated May 11, 2026

Study Design: Retrospective Observational Study
PCORnet Infrastructure: Common Data Model (CDM), Patient partners or engagement
Principal Investigator: Jiang Bian
Institution: University of Florida and University of Florida Health
PCORnet® Network Partner: OneFlorida+
Funder: Federal (NIH)
Funding Date: 2023
Study Duration: 2023 – 2026
Participating PCORnet® Clinical Research Networks: OneFlorida+
Therapeutic Area: Rare Diseases
Condition: Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA); Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA)
Age Range: 18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult )
Status: Active, not recruiting

Research Question(s):
Can the use of EHR data develop predictive tools to assist healthcare providers in reaching earlier diagnoses and interventions, and improve the diagnostic journey and clinical outcomes of patients with rare diseases?

Primary Publication(s):

Jian X, Zhang D, Yu Z, et al. Leveraging undecided cases in chart-reviewed phenotypes to enhance EHR-based association studies. J Biomed Inform. 2025;166:104839. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2025.104839

Tong J, Li L, Reps JM, et al. Advancing Interpretable Regression Analysis for Binary Data: A Novel Distributed Algorithm Approach. Stat Med. 2024;43(29):5573-5582. doi:10.1002/sim.10250

Wu Q, Tong J, Zhang B, et al. Real-World Effectiveness of BNT162b2 Against Infection and Severe Diseases in Children and Adolescents. Ann Intern Med. 2024;177(2):165-176. doi:10.7326/M23-1754

Understanding How Antibiotic Use Affects Childhood Obesity and Growth

Page last updated February 4, 2026

ClinicalTrials.gov#: NCT02744846
Study Design: Retrospective Observational Study
PCORnet Infrastructure: Common Data Model (CDM), Patient partners or engagement
Principal Investigator: Jason P. Block
Institution: Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
PCORnet® Network Partner: Other
Funder: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI); (Project webpage)
Funding Date: 2015
Study Duration: 2015 - 2018
Participating PCORnet® Clinical Research Networks: ADVANCE, GPC, INSIGHT, OneFlorida+, PEDSnet, REACHnet, STAR
Therapeutic Area: Metabolic Disorders
Age Range: up to 11 Years (Child)
Status: Completed

Research Question(s):
How does antibiotic use before age two affect weight and growth in children?

Primary Publication(s):

Block JP, Bailey LC, Gillman M, et al. Early Antibiotic Exposure and Weight Outcomes in Young Children. Pediatrics, 2018; 142(6), p.e20180290. doi:10.1542/peds.2018-0290

Heerman WJ, Daley MF, Boone-Heinonen J, et al. Maternal antibiotic use during pregnancy and childhood obesity at age 5 years. Int J Obes (Lond). 2019;43(6):1202-1209. doi:10.1038/s41366-018-0316-6

Comparing the Benefits and Harms of Three Types of Weight Loss Surgery — The PCORnet® Bariatric Study

Page last updated November 12, 2025

Study Website: The PCORnet Bariatric Study (PBS)
ClinicalTrials.gov#: NCT02741674
Study Design: Retrospective Observational Study
PCORnet Infrastructure: Common Data Model (CDM), Patient partners or engagement
Principal Investigator: David Arterburn
Institution: Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
PCORnet® Network Partner: Legacy PCORnet Partner
Funder: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI); (Project webpage)
Funding Date: 2015
Study Duration: 2016 – 2018
Participating PCORnet® Clinical Research Networks: GPC, INSIGHT, OneFlorida+, PaTH, PEDSnet, REACHnet, STAR
Therapeutic Area: Metabolic Disorders
Condition: Bariatrics, Body Weight, Diabetes, Gastric Bypass, Obesity
Age Range: up to 79 Years (Child,  Adult,  Older Adult)
Status: Completed

Research Question(s):
We don’t know much about the long-term effectiveness of bariatric interventions. Can we use PCORnet to compare compare weight loss and safety among three popular bariatric procedures?

Primary Publication(s):

Inge TH, Coley RY., Bazzano LA,. et al. Comparative effectiveness of bariatric procedures among adolescents: the PCORnet bariatric study. SOARD, 2018, 14(9):1374-1386. doi.org/10.1016/j.soard.2018.04.002

McTigue KM, Wellman R, Nauman E, et al. PCORnet Bariatric Study Collaborative. Comparing the 5-Year Diabetes Outcomes of Sleeve Gastrectomy and Gastric Bypass: The National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORNet) Bariatric Study. JAMA Surg. 2020;155(5):e200087. doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2020.0087