Databases are Paul Litwin's business

Science Article

Collaborative Data Services expands database, programming possibilities, with expertise from the teacher who wrote the book

Paul Litwin's expertise is evident in his database management for the Public Health Sciences Division, the brown-bag seminars he leads on campus and his widely-read books on Microsoft Access and ASP.NET. Photo by Todd McNaught

Databases manage nearly every aspect of large studies in the center's Public Health Sciences (PHS) Division — from tracking study subjects to collating data for statistical analysis. But database-management technology advances at such dizzying speeds that PHS investigators find themselves turning more and more frequently to a programming specialist for help. The Collaborative Data Services (CDS) shared resource is meeting this need by hiring new personnel to expand existing programming capabilities.

"Often PHS studies need to track information on study participants, such as appointments and the location of blood samples, and so they rely on databases," said programming manager Paul Litwin, one of the newest members of the CDS programming team. "We can help with designing a system — a database or program — for tracking data."

A 'wealth of expertise'

Litwin has made databases his business for more than a decade — from managing his own consulting company and teaching courses in database programming to authoring software texts.

He joined CDS last year after he submitted an application for a programming position for which he was substantially overqualified.

"As we were looking through resumes, one really just jumped off the pile — and that was Paul's," said Scott Sutherland, director of CDS. "Paul was interesting enough that we stopped everything and tried to decide whether we had the need for a senior-level programmer with his expertise. His name was familiar, but at first we couldn't think of where we'd seen it before. Then as we were sitting in a programmer's office, David Rogers, the technology team manager, saw one of the books Paul had written on the shelf."

"What impressed me most was not only his level of experience and skill — we had a number of remarkable programmers apply for this position — but that he really wanted to work here, at the center."

Litwin's books on Microsoft Access and ASP.NET, a Web-based programming environment, are widely read by programmers. Litwin also helped found a national ASP.NET conference and coordinates speakers for the semi-annual meeting.

His wealth of expertise proved a key ingredient in the success of a recent initiative within the Cancer Epidemiology Research Cooperative (CERC), one of the research groups in the PHS Division, to improve database management.

According to Judy Kuskin, a project coordinator at CERC, databases are a vital component of CERC studies, which involve large numbers of individuals. Researchers investigate risk factors for various cancers and diseases by first interviewing people both with and without those cancers, then comparing their answers in hopes of finding differences between the two groups.

"We often collect blood and tissue specimens with the same goal in mind," she said. "In the process of collecting these data we need to develop elaborate tracking systems, questionnaires and databases to organize and record our information on and from individual participants. When we are so busy with the day-to-day conduct of our many research projects, it is hard to find the free time and wherewithal to look at emerging technology, so that's where CDS is able to help. They have the expertise in cutting-edge technology and can jump-start us with new database management software."

SQL Server

Originally, CERC studies relied on Microsoft Access — a desktop application — for managing their data. But as the number of investigators and technicians needing access to the database increased and the information entered became more complex, the system could slow down to the point of being virtually inaccessible. Kuskin and colleagues knew that solving the problem meant upsizing from Access-based models to SQL Server, a server-based database.

Kuskin's team tapped Litwin's expertise as lead programmer for the project. "He was very knowledgeable in the array of available software tools and was able to devise and execute a plan to convert our current systems. Work is just beginning on designing a prototype for future studies. Paul is extremely skilled technically and is an excellent communicator," she said.

Upsizing from Microsoft Access to SQL Server makes sense for not only CERC studies, but many other PHS projects as well.

Custom communications

One of Litwin's recent projects, for example, involved working with Dave Edelstein, database manager for the PHS Cancer Prevention Program's CORE Studies. CORE staff had been working on a new survey and telephone-call tracking system for use during the study's follow-up interview phase. To facilitate the interview, CORE staff envisioned sending each person a "Companion Guide" booklet documenting his or her responses to questions from the original interview. Since the study follows thousands of participants, manually generating the booklets would have been impractical. Edelstein and colleagues asked CDS to develop an application that would take information from the original interview and format it into a booklet customized for each study participant.

Litwin has merged his talent for programming with his enthusiasm for working as part of the center's team of researchers by offering courses in programming and database management. Drawn from the database-programming curricula he developed during his tenure as a consultant and trainer, the courses vary in length and breadth from weeklong, intensive sessions to monthly brown-bag talks open to all center staff.

"A lot of people who attend the brown bags aren't necessarily hard-core programmers, but just want to get over the hump and try to learn some of terminology and have a better understanding of the technology and issues," he said.

"I enjoy sharing information and training people," Litwin said. "We're all in this together: our mission not just in CDS but in PHS and the entire center is to alleviate the suffering caused by cancer, so I am happy to share these courses with fellow center employees."

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Study with Paul Litwin

Creating Web Apps with ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005
Paul Litwin
June 6, 12:30-1:45 p.m., Arnold Building, M5-C813/C-815

ASP.NET, released in February of 2002, was a big improvement over Microsoft's existing server-side technology (ASP). Later this year, Microsoft is set to release a significant update to ASP.NET and its development tool, Visual Studio. In this seminar, Paul Litwin will present an overview of ASP.NET and demonstrate how the new release will radically change how you develop Web applications. Topics will include: the new master pages; the new data controls including the GridView, FormView and Details View controls; themes and skins; membership services and the login controls; and Web parts.

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