Funding will support the centering of racial health equality in systematic reviews through national consensus building.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is the largest American philanthropic organization focused solely on health and healthcare. The recent grant of $1 Million awarded to members and partners of the Cochrane US Network, including Texas Christian University (TCU), RTI International, Campbell Collaboration, Marymount University, and Georgia College, will support critical research to center racial health equity in systematic reviews through national consensus building.  

RWJF defines health equity to means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible, which requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, discrimination, and their consequences.  Systematic reviews—rigorous and comprehensive syntheses and critical appraisal of evidence—is a gold standard research tool to improve dissemination of evidence-based practices that can reduce or eliminate disparities.  To date, guidance documents for systematic reviews have not routinely considered health equity when- selecting topics, considering outcomes, conducting critical appraisal, assessing applicability of evidence to specific populations or settings, nor when communicating findings to key stakeholders and communities.

Cochrane Senior Officer Us Network, Tiffany Duque, states “by establishing standards to improve the methods, conduct, and reporting of systematic reviews specific to racial health equity, Cochrane can help reduce racial health disparities in the US. With this Robert Wood Johnson funding we will assess the gaps in primary and secondary research to help improve and guide future evidence synthesis toward improved racial health equity.”

This award is the largest to date for the Cochrane US Network, which was established in 2019. Catherine Spencer, Cochrane CEO states, “Racial health equality is a priority topic for Cochrane, the US, and globally. We encourage Cochrane reviews to include explicit descriptions of methods, effects of the interventions, and ability to reduce inequalities in health and to promote their applicability to all population groups. Cochrane is proud to lend its leadership and expertise to this project.”

This prestigious collaboration of investigators and institutions will undertake a comprehensive and ambitious effort to listen to stakeholders and communities, perform landscape analyses of existing resources, and prioritize next steps as the first phase to centering racial health equity in systematic reviews.  Principal Investigators include awardee Dr. Dru Riddle (TCU), Dr. Meera Viswanathan (RTI), Dr. Vivian Welch (Campbell), Dr. Patricia Heyn (Marymount), Dr. Damian Francis (Georgia College), and Tiffany Duque (Cochrane).

• Visit the Cochrane US Network website
• Learn more about equity methods at Cochrane

Cochrane London 2023: Forward together for trusted evidence
4-6 September 2023
Central London, UK

Cochrane is an international non-profit network that provides evidence-based scientific knowledge to improve healthcare for all people worldwide. Cochrane Reviews summarise all available research on a specific health question. They are up-to-date, follow a rigorous scientific methodology, and are free from commercial conflicts of interest. Health professionals, patients, and policy makers trust Cochrane Reviews for their healthcare decision-making. Cochrane works with researchers, health professionals, patients, policy makers, and media representatives from around the world to make Cochrane Reviews relevant and usable.

Cochrane holds an annual conference, known as a Colloquium, that brings together Cochrane researchers, clinical professionals, early career professionals, patients and carers, policymakers, and anyone interested in evidence synthesis and evidence-based healthcare. The events are a mix of keynote speakers, training opportunities, workshops, presentations, and a lively social and networking atmosphere. They are an exciting opportunity for a community of evidence synthesis enthusiasts to share, learn, and connect.  

Cochrane was founded 30 years ago in Oxford and to mark this anniversary the colloquium will be held in the United Kingdom. It will take place at the QEII Centre in Westminster, Central London, hosted by Cochrane UK. The main programme will run from the 4th to the 6th of September, with satellite events and meetings on the 3rd September 2023.

This will be the first time the Cochrane community has come together since 2018 and in recognition of this, it is being designed to celebrate the diverse, global and cohesive nature of the collaboration that is Cochrane. As in previous years there will be stipends to make it possible for students, early career professionals and those from low-and middle-income countries to attend. The Colloquium theme is forward together for trusted evidence. 

Martin Burton, Director of Cochrane UK, said: “After 30 years of producing and advocating for the use of high-quality evidence, Cochrane can look back on many significant achievements.  Now we need to look forward together.”

Catherine Spencer, Cochrane CEO said, “The 2023 Cochrane Colloquium is an event for everyone with an interest in the use of evidence in healthcare decision making. We welcome those engaged in evidence production, co-production, dissemination, implementation and policy making, as well as those making individual healthcare decisions to join us for this exciting event.”

Registration will open in early 2023. Scientific programme will be announced in the coming months.

• Find out more at the Colloquium website
• #CochraneLondon
• Press contact: Katie Abbotts, Cochrane UK

A new Cochrane Library Editorial  has been published about the overtreatment with multiple medications and potentially inappropriate medications use in frail, older adults, and people with multimorbidity. 

The editorial introduces the Cochrane Library Special Collection on deprescribing which provides a summary of Cochrane Reviews on the topic. This collection of reviews highlight that deprescribing is likely feasible and safe and can lead to benefits in prescribing and clinical outcomes. However, they also highlight significant gaps in the literature and methodological challenges to both conducting deprescribing studies and systematic reviews of deprescribing. The editorial calls on the deprescribing research field to focus on universally accepted standards, definitions, and checklists and work collaboratively with Cochrane Sustainable Healthcare. 

• Read the deprescribing editorial 
• View the Cochrane Library Special Collection on deprescribing 
• Visit the Cochrane Sustainable Healthcare website
• Register for free webinar on abandoning existing low-value care practices: 20 October 2022

In November 2022 Jimmy Volmink, the 'father of evidence-based medicine in Africa' and dedicated Cochrane member was the speaker for the 2022 Cochrane Lecture. 

Cochrane Lectures provide a forum for influential thinkers to deliver thought-provoking talks on the key challenges for the future Evidence-Based Medicine.

Cochrane’s vision is for a world in which “decisions about health and care are informed by high-quality evidence.” As a trusted source of evidence, the organisation is making a substantial contribution to the realisation of this ideal. Yet, more can be done to extend Cochrane’s global reach, and enhance its relevance and impact worldwide. In this year’s Cochrane Lecture, Professor James "Jimmy" Volmink called for the adoption of global health equity as a strategic priority for Cochrane, and explored ways this can be actioned through steps such as prioritising review topics, enabling participation and promoting diversity and inclusion.

Professor Volmink, the founding Director of the South African Cochrane Centre has a lifelong unwavering commitment to keep on 'banging the drum about inequality' to affect real change. Jimmy reflects on his personal and professional journey in this 'Recommended Dose' podcast.

• Watch other Cochrane Lecture recordings
• Professor Volmink on Twitter

The award supports critical research to help identify treatments to improve the lives of people suffering from debilitating eye diseases.

 The National Eye Institute (NEI) has awarded a $5 million grant to Tianjing Li, PhD, associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, in a continuation of the NEI’s support of the Cochrane Eyes and Vision US Satellite (CEV US Satellite) at the Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Eye Center.

The award is one of the largest grants the CU Department of Ophthalmology has received from the NEI and ensures the project will remain on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus for the next five years.

“We are very grateful for NEI’s continued support in the research we are doing,” says Li. “It will help us grow new partnerships, produce trustworthy evidence, and ultimately improve the vision care our patients receive.”

The Cochrane Eyes and Vision (CEV) US Satellite is a team of US-based researchers and practitioners who review medical literature for content covering interventions to prevent or treat eye conditions and visual impairments and to help people adjust to visual impairment or blindness. CEV is a member review group of the Cochrane US Network, which formed in 2019.  Cochrane Senior Officer Tiffany Duque states "this grant is an exciting achievement for the US Network, and we thank Dr. Li for her continued efforts and dedication not only to CEV but also to the US Network. We look forward to the high-quality evidence that will result from this grant, and to engaging other US Cochrane Centers in ensuring national dissemination of this important work."

“Cochrane systematic reviews are published in the Cochrane Library, which contains high-quality, independent evidence to inform health care decision-making,” says Li, principal investigator for the CEV US Satellite. “These reviews are valuable sources of information for those receiving and providing care, as well as for policymakers and researchers. Our reviews have been highly cited by national and international practice guidelines.”

Although the reviews are written for health care professionals, each review can also help to assist patients and the public in making informed health care decisions. Topics for reviews are identified based on gaps in the literature, importance of the topics to influence practice, and from interest and suggestions of patients and experts in the field. Once a review topic has been identified, Li’s team works with eye doctors to produce the review, which is then peer reviewed and ultimately published in the Cochrane Library.

 “We are very proud of the program Dr. Tianjing Li has built here in the Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Eye Center,” says Naresh Mandava, MD, chair of the CU Department of Ophthalmology and Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Endowed Chair in Retinal Diseases. “Evidence-based medicine is critical to our understanding of disease and identifying effective therapies that will ultimately improve the lives of people suffering from debilitating eye diseases. The Cochrane project centered here at CU leads the way in this endeavor and we appreciate the National Eye Institute’s continued support of this important work.”

The project’s mission to promote informed health care decision-making and research is critical amid the current climate of increasing health care disparities and growth of health care misinformation from online sources.

“Vision health care should be based on science,” Li says. “In this era of data deluge, evidence-informed practice is needed more than ever.”

Since 2002, the CEV US Satellite has published more than 120 systematic reviews and more than 90 methodological papers and book chapters. The project has also trained more than 120,000 individuals in methods for systematic reviews and has informed hundreds of clinical practice guidelines in the United States and internationally.

• Visit the Cochrane Eyes and Vision website
• Visit the Cochrane US website

Originally posted on the University of Colorado website

Location: Flexible location (remote working) – contract type dependent on location.
Specifications: Permanent employment contract if successful applicant based in UK, Germany or Denmark. Consultancy contract in other locations.
Salary: £36,000 per annum
Application Closing Date:  18 October 2022

Cochrane is a charity and a global, independent network of health practitioners, researchers, patient advocates and others, responding to the challenge of making vast amounts of research evidence useful for informing decisions about health. They do this by synthesising research findings to produce the best available evidence on what works. Their work has been recognised as the international gold standard for high quality, trusted information.

The core purpose of this role is to ensure that Cochrane systems are presented coherently to our users, are well-documented, tested, fit for purpose and that the user voice is heard in system development decision-making.

You will:

• provide second-line expert support on software used by Cochrane authors and staff to write and edit Cochrane Reviews:
  
  • Editorial Manager (third-party software from Aries Systems)
  • project management features in RevMan Web (in-house review development software)
• act as System Administrator for these systems, making configuration changes to optimise user experience
• update supporting documentation and run demos to educate users on system configurations
• input into projects and programmes of work which impact on Cochrane authors and staff
• represent the user voice in system development, based on feedback received from support cases and training
• use your knowledge to influence development priorities and project decisions that have an impact on system users

Cochrane welcomes applications from a wide range of perspectives, experiences, locations and backgrounds; diversity, equity and inclusion are key to their values.

How to apply

• For further information on the role and how to apply, please click here.  
• The deadline to receive your application is by 18 October 2022.  
• The supporting statement should indicate why you are applying for
• Read our Recruitment Privacy Statement

Specifications: Permanent
Salary: £45,000 per annum
Location: UK
Application Closing Date:  9 October 2022

Cochrane is a charity and a global, independent network of health practitioners, researchers, patient advocates and others, responding to the challenge of making vast amounts of research evidence useful for informing decisions about health. They do this by synthesising research findings to produce the best available evidence on what works. Their work has been recognised as the international gold standard for high quality, trusted information.

Cochrane is seeking a Publishing Operations Manager who will work with the technology vendors, the Head of Cochrane Library and Senior Editor (Publishing Operations) to ensure that Cochrane content is processed on time and to the desired specifications, and that any necessary development work or dependencies for new content types or workflows are captured and resolved.

Cochrane welcomes applications from a wide range of perspectives, experiences, locations and backgrounds; diversity, equity and inclusion are key to their values.

How to apply

• For further information on the role and how to apply, please click here.  
• The deadline to receive your application is by 9 October 2022.  
• The supporting statement should indicate why you are applying for the post, and how far you meet the requirements, using specific examples.
• Note that we will assess applications as they are received, and therefore may fill the post before the deadline.
• Read our Recruitment Privacy Statement

Location: Flexible location (remote working) – contract type dependent on location.
Specifications: Permanent employment contract if successful applicant based in UK, Germany or Denmark. Consultancy contract in other locations.
Hours: Full time/Part time considered (0.6 FTE - 1.0 FTE)
Salary: £41,191 per annum full time equivalent
Application Closing Date:  Wednesday 28 September 2022 (Midnight GMT).

The core purpose of this role is to ensure that the Cochrane Support Team is effectively managed, so that we can continue to provide the high levels of service that our users have come to expect from us. The role holder will be a Support Officer as well as the leader of the team, providing line management and team management for the whole support team.

The Cochrane Support team is the first point of contact for the international Cochrane community. We provide technical and user support to Cochrane editorial teams and review authors; and handle enquiries from members of the public about Cochrane’s work.

We pride ourselves on our timely and coordinated support service, covering a broad range of areas including Cochrane editorial processing and publication, review-writing software, Cochrane Account login, membership, training, and volunteering opportunities.

The team works closely with Cochrane’s Central Editorial Service and Editorial and   Methods   Department, as   well   as   IT   Services, to   ensure   accurate, consistent   responses   to   queries   on   Cochrane   technology, policies and methods

Cochrane is a global, independent network of health practitioners, researchers, patient advocates and others, responding to the challenge of making vast amounts of research evidence useful for informing decisions about health. We do this by synthesizing research findings to produce the best available evidence on what can work, what might harm and where more research is needed. Our work is recognised as the international gold standard for high quality, trusted information.

• For further information on the role and how to apply, please click here. 
• The supporting statement should indicate why you are applying for the post, and how far you meet the requirements, using specific examples.
• Note that we will assess applications as they are received, and therefore may fill the post before the deadline.
• Deadline for applications: Wednesday 28 September 2022 (12 midnight GMT).

Join Cochrane UK for a free webinar for anyone making health decisions: Thursday 20th October 2022.

All of us have to make health decisions, whether that’s to seek advice about a condition, buying an over-the-counter treatment or health product off the shelf, whether to take up an invitation to screening, or perhaps having to make many decisions relating to a serious illness or long-term condition. 

Brian, Heather, and Sarah have all had some big health decisions to make, though in different circumstances. They will come together with Becky, a doctor and former GP who is used to taking part in discussions about health decisions in her everyday work, to talk about some important elements of making health choices.

We hope that the webinar will equip you with some questions and considerations that you can reflect on and discuss with a healthcare professional – to help you make the best health decision for you. There will be time for questions and answers, too.

Time and date: Thursday 20th October 2022, 7-8pm (BST). Check the time in your time zone.

Please register in advance for the webinar, which will take place on Zoom. After you've registered, you will receive information about how to join the webinar.

Read more about our panel Heather, Brian, Sarah, Becky and our facilitators Rufaro and Emma.

This webinar is being held on World Evidence-Based Healthcare (EBHC) Day, an annual global initiative that raises awareness of the need for better evidence to inform healthcare policy, practice, and decision making in order to improve health outcomes globally. Cochrane is proud to be an official EBHC Day partner.

• Register for this webinar
• Visit the Cochrane UK website
• Visit the World EBHC Day website
• Learn about patient, caregiver, and consumer involvement in Cochrane's work

Location: Flexible location (remote working) – contract type dependent on location.
Specifications: Permanent employment contract if successful applicant based in UK, Germany or Denmark. Consultancy contract in other locations
Salary: £60,000 per annum
Application Closing Date:  2 October 2022

Cochrane is a charity and a global, independent network of health practitioners, researchers, patient advocates and others, responding to the challenge of making vast amounts of research evidence useful for informing decisions about health. They do this by synthesising research findings to produce the best available evidence on what works. Their work has been recognised as the international gold standard for high quality, trusted information.

Cochrane is seeking an ambitious individual who relishes a challenge, loves collaborative working, delivers results and has extensive experience of successfully delivering strategy.  The role will be to lead and manage communications, in particular:

• Developing a clear and robust communications strategy in support of our goals, and ensuring it is delivered to a high standard
• To work across the organization significantly enhancing our internal and external communications.
• Externally identifying opportunities to increase awareness of Cochrane.

Cochrane welcomes applications from a wide range of perspectives, experiences, locations and backgrounds; diversity, equity and inclusion are key to their values.

How to apply

• For further information on the role and how to apply, please click here.  
• The deadline to receive your application is by 2 October 2022. 
• The supporting statement should indicate why you are applying for the post, and how far you meet the requirements, using specific examples. Note that we will assess applications as they are received, and therefore may fill the post before the deadline.
• Read our Recruitment Privacy Statement

Cochrane is a global, independent network of health practitioners, researchers, patient advocates and others, responding to the challenge of making vast amounts of research evidence useful for informing decisions about health. We do this by synthesizing research findings to produce the best available evidence on what can work, what might harm, and where more research is needed. Our work is recognised as the international gold standard for high quality, trusted information.

We have official geographic Cochrane Groups in 50+ countries. These Groups represent Cochrane in that country, promote, and support the use of Cochrane evidence in health policy and practice, and support Cochrane's members and supporters who live there.

Cochrane Iberoamérica has two positions open at the Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre in Barcelona, Spain. 

Researcher/Systematic Reviewer

• Type: Full-time contract 
• Location: On-site at the Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre in Barcelona, Spain
• Knowledge of Spanish is not required
• Salary: 33,000-40,000 € gross per annum 
• Deadline for applications: 16th September 2022
• Full job description and apply 

Project Manager

• Type: Full-time contract 
• Location: On-site at the Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre in Barcelona, Spain
• Knowledge of Spanish is not required
• Salary: 30,000-35,000 € gross per annum 
• Deadline for applications: 16th September 2022
• Full job description and apply

Specifications: Part time or full time (0.6-1 FTE)
Salary range: USD$45,000-$55,000 (pro-rata as relevant)
Closing date for applications: Friday, 30 September, 17:00 EDT

Covidence is a standard author tool for Cochrane authors. Covidence online platform accelerates the production of systematic reviews. It helps systematic reviewers identify relevant research, appraise its quality, extract relevant data and prepare data ready for analysis. Covidence also helps users keep all their data in one place and enables remote teams to collaborate easily.

Covidence is seeking a North America Community Manager. To excel as a Community Manager, you will have excellent interpersonal skills, strong written and verbal communication skills, and be highly organised with proven ability to appropriately prioritise tasks and deliver on time in a busy environment. You will have demonstrated capacity to work independently and with others in a globally distributed team. And importantly, you’ll have proven ability working with online technologies and social media.

• Learn more about this position and apply
• Visit the Covidence website