On May 16-17, 2023, over 100 members of the NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory met in Bethesda, Maryland, for its annual Steering Committee meeting—an opportunity to network and hold rich discussions on key issues related to pragmatic research. In an interview with Wendy Weber, NIH Project Officer, and Lesley Curtis, co-principal investigator of the Coordinating Center, the pair reflected on the state of the field and opportunities for the program to further contribute.

“The landscape continues to evolve for doing pragmatic trials,” said Weber. “There are a lot of things that we need to take into consideration.” Weber described recent FDA Guidance on Clinical Decision Support Software and updates to the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy as examples of these changes, both of which were topics at the meeting. Curtis pointed to the use of artificial intelligence in our everyday lives as an example of how our environment is rapidly evolving. “We’re in for some challenging times, and I can’t think of a better group [than the NIH Collaboratory] to figure out how to navigate those challenges,” said Curtis.

Presentations at the meeting described several resources for confronting challenges that pragmatic trial investigators may encounter. The FDA shared a Digital Health Policy Navigator, the NIH Collaboratory presented its new intervention complexity tool, and ClinicalTrials.gov described recent changes and tips that make it easier to register pragmatic trials and share their results. Future NIH Collaboratory Trials could help the program learn more about the complexities of doing pragmatic trials with devices.

The meeting also included keynote presentations and panel discussions on health equity and implementation science, topics which the program has expanded into with the launch of two new Core Working Groups earlier this year. In hearing about several cross-Core collaborations during the meeting, a new era for the program became evident. “More of the issues that we need to address really span multiple Cores. I see so much opportunity to advance the field by bringing those experts together,” said Curtis.

Reflecting on the success of this year’s Steering Committee meeting, Weber encouraged the program to continue widening its dissemination efforts, including via national conferences. “We learn so much when we’re together as investigators, but how do we share that knowledge with different groups?” she noted.

In the coming weeks, we will share more interviews with program leaders from the 2023 Steering Committee meeting. All of the materials from the meeting are now available.