Strategies for Team Science Success: Handbook of Evidence-Based Principles for Cross-Disciplinary Science and Practical Lessons Learned from Health Researchers

Collaborations that integrate diverse perspectives are critical to addressing many of our complex scientific and societal problems. Yet those engaged in cross-disciplinary team science often face institutional barriers and collaborative challenges.  Strategies for Team Science Success offers readers a comprehensive set of actionable strategies for reducing barriers and overcoming challenges and includes practical guidance for how to implement effective team science practices. More than 100 experts--including scientists, administrators, and funders from a wide range of disciplines and professions-- explain evidence-based principles, highlight state-of the-art strategies, tools, and resources, and share first-person accounts of how they've applied them in their own successful team science initiatives. While many examples draw from cross-disciplinary team science initiatives in the health domain, the handbook is designed to be useful across all areas of science. 

Strategies for Team Science Success will inspire and enable readers to embrace cross-disciplinary team science, by articulating its value for accelerating scientific progress, and by providing practical strategies for success. Scientists, administrators, funders, and others engaged in team science will also leave equipped to develop new policies and practices needed to keep pace in our rapidly changing scientific landscape. Scholars across the Science of Team Science (SciTS), management, organizational, behavioral and social sciences, public health, philosophy, and information technology, among other areas of scholarship, will find inspiration for new research directions to continue advancing cross-disciplinary team science. 

Kara L. Hall is Director of the Science of Team Science (SciTS) and the Theories Initiative at National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr. Hall helped launch the SciTS field and provides on-going leadership to build an evidence base for effective team science approaches, translate the emerging SciTS knowledge into new policies and practices. She served as a member of The National Academies Committee on the Science of Team Science, which produced the report, Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science and as a founding board member of International Network for SciTS (INSciTS). At NCI, Dr. Hall supports cross-disciplinary research in areas including health behavior research, implementation science, systems science approaches, and healthcare teams. Prior to joining NCI, her research focused on advances in behavioral science methodology, applications of health behavior theory to multiple content areas, and the development of personalized interventions to enhance health and reduce disease. Shereceived her Ph.D. at the University of Rhode Island in Psychology with specializations in clinical psychology, neuropsychology, and behavioral science.

Amanda L. Vogel is Global Health Evaluation Specialist at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.  Dr. Vogel is a national expert in the SciTS field, conducting innovative empirical research on science teams; contributing to the conceptual and theoretical SciTS literature; and developing resources that help users apply practices for effective team science to their own initiatives. She has provided longstanding leadership for the Annual SciTS Conference and is Founding Membership Chair of the International Network for the Science of Team Science (INSciTS). Her expertise spans cross-disciplinary science teams, international and cross-institutional teams, and community-engaged scholarship.  Prior to working at the NCI, her research focused on service-learning in health professions education and community-based public health interventions for underserved populations. She earned her Master’s degree in Health and Social Behavior at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and PhD in Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Robert T. Croyle is Director of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences and Interim Director of the Center for Global Health at the National Cancer Institute. He formerly served as the division’s first Associate Director for Behavioral Research. Prior to joining NCI, he served on the faculty of the University of Utah, the University of Washington, and Williams College. His research has focused on psychological responses to risk factor information, including genetic test results. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award of the American Society of Preventive Oncology and a Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association. Hereceived his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Princeton University.