May 5, 2008

Featured CTSA Committee

Institutional CTSA Events

Announcements

Upcoming Committee Meeting Dates

Updated Information on CTSAweb.org


Featured CTSA Committee

The Education and Career Development Steering Committee (EdCD) believes that a necessary first step to transforming research training must be the creation of a unique academic discipline and a national scientific community of scholars and mentor-scientists committed to clinical and translational research. The identification and dissemination of core competencies leading to an advanced degree has brought together the EdCD, CTSA leadership, and NCRR staff in several efforts toward that goal.

First, in an NCRR workshop on January 30–31, 2008, representatives of NCRR-funded education and career development programs recognized the challenges to furthering translational research (e.g., workforce shortage, medical schools’ traditional focus on basic science) and the need for a new, discrete academic discipline for clinical and translational research. Beyond the skills and competencies needed to conduct basic scientific research, clinical and translational science requires the ability to identify major clinical/public health problems, develop relevant research questions to investigate those problems, and design protocols that emphasize translational research to address them.

Second, the committee hosted the 2008 National Annual Meeting for CTSA KL2, K12, and K30 Clinical Research Scholars on March 25–26, 2008. A record number of 225 scholars representing 33 national academic institutions attended the meeting. The Scholars’ Program agenda included “Looking Beyond the K Pathways to the R01,” “Career Development in Clinical and Translational Research,” “Writing Skills,” “Developing Successful Multidisciplinary Research Teams,” and “Research Networking Among Scholars” sessions with NIH program staff. Meeting participants also gave input on the proposed core competencies, pointing out that clinical and translational research requires investigators who can collaborate with other disciplines and also with commercial/industry representatives in an effort to make research findings more widely accessible. The EdCD is finalizing its recommendations and will present them next to a panel of education experts and the principal investigators of the NCRR-supported education programs for review.

On April 18, the EdCD named Frederick Meyers, M.D., M.A.C.P., as its new chair. Dr. Meyers is Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, where he also serves as the Program Director for the Clinical and Translational Science Center research training and education program. Dr. Meyers’ clinical, education, and research activities have focused on advanced malignancies. In recognition of his pioneering role in the hospice movement in the United States and his research to improve end-of-life care for cancer patients, Dr. Meyers has been elected a Master of the American College of Physicians. As chair of the EdCD, Dr. Meyers’ goal for the year is to work with the EdCD membership to develop global priorities that would be a blueprint for sustainable success in the transformation of the research education mission. Dr. Meyers will replace the outgoing chair, Sherine Gabriel, M.D., M.Sc., Co-Principal Investigator and Director of Education of the Mayo Clinic.


Institutional CTSA Events

Emory University—Ethics and Translational Research: From Discovery to Implementation Conference

This May 15, 2008, conference will focus on the challenges in maintaining patient safety, the integrity of research, and the public’s trust in research universities and institutions that are presented by the growth of translational research. CME credits will be offered.

For more information or if you wish to attend, e-mail translationalrsvp@emory.edu.


University of Rochester Symposium: Frontiers in Stem Cell Medicine

The May 23, 2008, symposium will bring physicians, clinical researchers, and basic science researchers together for a day of concentrated interaction.

More information, including registration details, is available at http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/ctsi/news/StemCellSymposium.cfm.


We want to post your CTSA-sponsored institutional event with open attendance in the CTSA e-Newsletter and on the CTSAweb.org Events page. Please send submissions to Kameha Kidd at kiddka@mail.nih.gov.

Announcements

NCRR Announces CTSA Administrative Supplements for Consortium Projects

The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) has announced a solicitation that requests administrative supplement applications to CTSA grants to support CTSA Consortium projects. The administrative supplements are to support projects of national scope for established CTSA-wide consortia, defined as CTSA Steering Committees, Work Groups, or Task Forces. Proposed projects must contribute to national efforts and relate to the mission of CTSA-wide consortia. The goal of this solicitation is to support projects within the focus areas of the CTSA-wide consortia that facilitate the transformation of 1) performance or 2) training in clinical and translational science on a national level. Additionally, projects are expected to collaboratively engage multiple CTSAs. 

The Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research Web Site Helps Spread the Word About Clinical Research

The Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR) at the University of Michigan developed Engage, a Web portal that links the community to a single gateway for clinical research. An integral piece of MICHR’s Community Engagement Program, Engage (www.UMengage.org) consists of several pieces—a study database, information on clinical research for the public, multicultural research pages, a public search tool, information for study teams, and a HIPAA and IRB Compliant Registry.

New Tool Helps Researchers Find Core Resources at University of California, San Francisco

The University of California, San Francisco’s (UCSF), Clinical and Translational Science Institute launched the Cores Search feature within its Web site, which enables searches of more than 90 cores at UCSF. Researchers can search and sort by campus location, resource category, and specific service or equipment. Information about the full range of services available for each core and who to contact for pricing is also accessible.

New Help Desk E-mail for the CTSA Web Systems

The CTSA Web systems have a new help desk e-mail, help@CTSAweb.org. Please contact the help desk if you have questions regarding the CTSA systems, including CTSA Wiki and password questions.

Upcoming Committee Meeting Dates
Key: CTSA Consortium Meeting  CTSA Consortium Workshop  NIH Staff Meeting
May 2008
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
      1
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Communications Communication Systems and Information Management Taskforce
3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.

CTSA Consortium Meeting
Communications Media-Public Relations Taskforce Agenda
11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
2
5
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Translational
3:30 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
Democracy 1, Room 987/989

NIH coordinator
Doug Sheeley

CTSA Consortium Meeting
Regulatory and Ethics IRB Taskforce
12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.

NIH coordinator
Daniel Rosenblum
6
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Administration
3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.

NIH coordinators
Elaine Collier
Kameha Kidd
Iris Obrams

CTSA Consortium Meeting
Evaluation Standardizing and Operationalizing Definitions Workgroup
4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
7 8
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Evaluation Shared Resources Workgroup
3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.
9
CTSA Consortium Workshop
Accelerating the Dissemination and Translation of Clinical Research into Practice
8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Natcher Conference Center (Building 45)
12
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Regulatory Knowledge Clinical Research Management Taskforce
1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m.

NIH Staff Meeting
Translational NIH Subcommittee
10:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m.
Democracy 1, Room 987
13
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Biostatistics/
Epidemiology/
Research Design Evaluation Taskforce

4:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
14 15
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Evaluation Social Network Analysis Workgroup
3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.
16
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Education/Career Development
2:00 p.m.–3:30 p.m.

NIH coordinators
Carol Merchant
Carol Shreffler
David Wilde

CTSA Consortium Meeting
Community Engagement Operations Committee
12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.
19
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Regulatory and Ethics IRB Taskforce
12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.

NIH coordinator
Daniel Rosenblum
20
CTSA Consortium Meeting
CTSA Consortium Oversight
1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m.
Democracy 1, Room 987

NIH coordinator
Anthony Hayward

CTSA Consortium Meeting
Clinical Research Ethics Operations Committee
1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m.

CTSA Consortium Meeting
Public Private Partnerships Aggregating Resources Workgroup
3:00 p.m.–4:30 p.m.
21
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Public Private Partnerships Agreements Workgroup
3:00 p.m.–4:30 p.m.
22
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Community Engagement Community-Based Academic and Practice Partnership Workgroup
12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.
23
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Community Engagement Regional Workshops Workgroup
1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m.

CTSA Consortium Meeting
Regulatory Knowledge
2:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m.
Democracy 1, Room 1037

NIH coordinator
Jody Sachs

CTSA Consortium Meeting
Community Engagement
12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.
Democracy 1, Room 1037

NIH coordinators
Betty Tai
Donna Jo McCloskey
26 27
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Administration Grants Management Taskforce
1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m.

CTSA Consortium Meeting
Biostatistics/
Epidemiology/
Research Design Evaluation Taskforce
4:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
28
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Communications Operations Committee
12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.
29
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Communications Communication Systems and Information Management Taskforce
3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.
30
CTSA Consortium Meeting
Public Private Partnerships
3:00 p.m.–4:30 p.m.

NIH coordinators
Mark Scheideler
Lili Portilla
Updated Information on CTSAWeb.org

CTSAweb.org was developed to ensure access to CTSA resources, enhance communication, and encourage sharing. The site continues to evolve with the CTSA in promoting this new direction of clinical and translational science.

Features and updates:

Access archived CTSA e-Newsletters on the CTSAweb.org CTSAs in the News page.

We hope you find this newsletter helpful and informative. If you have any questions or comments, or to remove yourself from this distribution, please contact Kameha Kidd, Office of Science Policy and Public Liaison, NCRR.