Dr. Kaleab Z. Abebe has been appointed to the newly created position of assistant vice chancellor for clinical trials in the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences. Dr. Abebe will be responsible for standardizing the infrastructure and processes for clinical trials within the Pitt schools of the health sciences. Additionally, Dr. Abebe will develop networks for existing clinical and data coordination efforts.
Dr. Abebe joined the health sciences faculty in 2009 after receiving his MA and PhD in statistics from the University of Pittsburgh. Within the School of Medicine, he holds a primary appointment in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine. He also holds secondary appointments in the School of Public Health’s Department of Biostatistics and at the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Clinical Research Education (ICRE). In Dr. Abebe’s role as assistant vice chancellor for clinical trials, he seeks to standardize the infrastructure and processes for clinical trials as well as develop networks of existing clinical and data coordination efforts across the schools of the health sciences.
Dr. Abebe directs the Center for Research on Health Care Data Center as well as the Center for Clinical Trials and Data Coordination within the Division of General Internal Medicine. His collaborative research focuses on design, conduct, coordination, and analysis of multicenter randomized controlled trials. He is the PI of two, large NIH-funded consortiums: the COPE-AKI (Caring for OutPatiEnts after Acute Kidney Injury) Consortium Scientific and Data Research Center, which is developing and testing interventions to reduce morbidity and mortality in AKI; and the Data Coordinating Center for the REBIRTH Study, which will assess the effect of bromocriptine on left ventricular ejection fraction in women with peripartum cardiomyopathy. He is also the Co-PI for the CaRISMA study, which is a pragmatic trial examining the effectiveness of computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (vs. pain education) on pain intensity in adults with sickle cell disease. Dr. Abebe’s methodological interests revolve around the design and analysis of cluster randomized trials.
In addition to his research collaborations, Dr. Abebe is the director of the Clinical Trials Track for the MS in Clinical Research at the ICRE. He is also a standing member of the Population Sciences and Epidemiology Integrated Review Group for the Kidney, Endocrine, and Digestive Disorders Study Section at the National Institutes of Health. He serves on the board of the Society for Clinical Trials and as chair of its Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee.