On Aug. 3rd, nine academic members of the CCTS Regional Community Engagement (CE) Consortium gathered in Tuskegee for a strategic planning meeting. The CE leaders represented four CCTS partners, including Tuskegee, UAB, University of Alabama, and University of South Alabama. The agenda addressed both new and ongoing initiatives such as the PURE research database, an R13 grant, and a region-wide Community Engagement Institute (RCEI).
The PURE database, which launched this past spring, is entering “phase 2,” in which community organizations will be asked to document their active projects. Meeting attendees explored the idea of an interview template to make it easier to increase the number of profiles of community projects in the system.
Discussion turned next to exploring what an RCEI might look like and the need for Planning Committee volunteers. During the working lunch attendees received updates on the simulation model proposal at the heart of the R13 grant and proposed changes to the Consortium web page. The last part of the meeting was spent developing a timeline for developing the grant, including its budget and associated roles, which will be executed over the next 9-10 months.
All are welcome to attend the next quarterly Regional Community Engagement Consortium meeting, stay tuned for details. Click here for more information on CCTS Community Engagement activities and visit our Events and Recurring Events pages to stay up-to-date on all of our CCTS activities.
map was provided to familiarize attendees with our domains (Research Commons, Training Academy, Clinical Translation, Partner Network, Community Engagement, and Special Modules) and the broad array of supports offered by each.
More than 130 people converged on PCAMS last Wednesday for our latest Open House, which featured nine stations highlighting the Center’s latest initiatives in support of clinical and translational science. ATraffic was heaviest around our newest stations, where attendees learned about the upcoming implementation of OnCore Enterprise at the Hub, the benefits of I-Corps training for scientist-entrepreneurs, the innovative ways CCTS is using the Kaizen training platform, the opportunities for multisite studies via our SHARe consortium, and the availability of project collaborations via the Informatics Gateway, a joint CCTS-UAB Informatics Institute endeavor.
Attendees enjoyed the opportunity to engage with our science-savvy CCTS experts and each other and to enter a drawing for CCTS give-aways (the grand prize is a CCTS-engraved power bank). Ample refreshments, including a dessert tray at the Media table, kept the energy level high. Feedback was highly positive, with nearly everyone discovering a new opportunity that would benefit their research, career, or trainees.
“There were so many things I had never heard of!”
“I will be making use of these services during my next four years.”
“It was wonderful to hear about all the opportunities that are available to students.”
“Best event ever!”
If you missed our Aug. Open House, stay tuned! In the past year, the CCTS has welcomed several hundred investigators and staff from all parts of the Hub and across the southeast to the Center’s Open House events. We look forward to welcoming you to our next one!
Aug. 2017 Open House Drawing Winners
Vice Chair of Clinical Research
Associate Professor, Abdominal Imaging Section
UAB Medicine
Harshvardhan Singh, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
UAB Department of Physical Therapy
Melanie Turner
Director, Clinical & Patient Financial Applications
UAB Health System Information Services
Assistant Professor of Genetics
UAB Informatics Institute
Vicki Hogan
Clinical Information Systems Specialist
UAB Health System Information Services
Claire Auriemma
Program Coordinator
UAB Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases
Open House Resources
SHARe
ClinicalTrials.gov
I-Corps™ Info Sessions Flyer
Kaizen Flyer
SPAN and Biorepository Poster
Bionutrition Poster
Clinical Research Unit Nursing Services
Informatics Institute Gateway Poster
Informatics Institute Gateway Form
Data Access
Project Panels
CHIA 2017 Reception
Community Engagement Institute Flyer
Clinical Research Training Program (1-year TL1)
Summer CER/PCOR Program (8-week TL1)
Auburn University
HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Tuskegee University
Master of Science in Clinical Research Brochure
LACaTS Professional Development Core Brochure
Thank you list of links
The 2017 cohort of the CCTS Summer Enrichment Program, our 8-week training to prepare students early in their clinical education for a possible career in translational research, recently presented their final projects. Trainees spend the summer learning the general principles of research, with a specific focus on patient-centered outcomes and comparative effectiveness, while working with a mentor to conduct a formal research project.
This year’s cohort included seven trainees at UAB and four trainees at Tulane. Their mentors and presentation titles are listed below. CCTS thanks Dr. Ken Saag (UAB), Dr. Tonette Krousel-Wood (Tulane), and Rachel Ruiz (Tulane) for leading and organizing the Summer Enrichment program this year.
Trainee | Mentor | Institution | Research Project | ||||||||||||
Chenchen Feng | Allison B. McCoy, PhD | Tulane | Using Electronic Health Records to Measure Ambulatory Adverse Drug Events |
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Alexander Niculescu | Lydia Bazzano, MD, PhD Alessandro Bazzano, PhD, MPH |
Tulane | Understanding How People Who Inject Drugs Experience Relationships with Healthcare Professionals |
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Christine Petrin | Jylana Sheats, PhD, MPH | Tulane | mHealth Intervention to Improve Eating Behavior among African Americans in New Orleans |
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Shana Zucker | Edward McCoul, MD | Tulane | Recovery from Rhinitis Medicamentosa: A Systematic Review |
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Anooshah Ata | Burel Goodin, PhD | UAB | Risk Factors for Chronic Pain and HIV | ||||||||||||
Sellers Boudreau | Amelia Sutton, MD Sarah Gould, MD Lorie Harper, MD |
UAB | Effects of Exercise on Pregnancy Outcomes | ||||||||||||
Jenny Combs | Sarah Gould, MD Lorie Harper, MD |
UAB | Abdominal Trauma in Pregnancy | ||||||||||||
Chase Cox | James Galbraith, MD | UAB | Universal Screening for Hepatitis C in a Psychiatric Patient Population |
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Alex Dombrowsky | Courtney Balentine, MD, MPH | UAB | Why is Hyperparathyroidism Underdiagnosed and Under-Treated in Older Adults? |
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Winston Joe | Ellen Eaton, MD | UAB | Cost-Effectiveness of Syphilis Screening Algorithms | ||||||||||||
Kaitlyn Merrels | Gregory Kennedy, MD, PhD | UAB | Attentiveness to Care |
Are You Interested in Becoming a CCTS Summer Research Trainee?
Over the course of eight weeks, trainees receive mentored research experience and attend seminars in study design, responsible conduct of research, team science, information finding and evaluation of literature, and statistics. Previous research experience is not required, but trainees are required to conduct a mentored research project and prepare a written abstract, poster, and presentation to summarize their findings. Trainees are also expected to devote full-time effort (40 hours a week) and receive a stipend.
Acceptance to the program is competitive and requires a cv, official letter of academic good standing from a clinically relevant doctoral program, two letters of recommendation, and a personal statement. CCTS will announce the availability of the application for Summer Enrichment Program 2018 later this year via the CCTS Digest and the TL1 Training Grant Program web page.
Clinical doctoral or pharmacy students from across the CCTS partner network, who will have completed at least their first year of training by summer 2018, are encouraged to apply. The eight-week program, which aims to meet a pressing national need for researchers trained to more rapidly move scientific discoveries into the clinical setting, is federally funded. As such, trainees must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
The CCTS looks for innovative ways to maximize the impact of translational research and workforce development opportunities. Our most recent novel endeavors include:
- the I-Corps@NCATS curriculum, a national project based on the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps™ program that prepares biomedical scientists and engineers to think “translationally” about their science
- the Kaizen gamification platform, which makes learning competencies, such as NIH’s rigor and reproducibility requirements, fun for researchers at any career level
- the Innovation Panel (iPanel), which introduces researchers with potentially marketable discoveries to the commercialization pathway
- the SHARe research consortium, which streamlines the process of launching multisite studies and clinical trials to help spur trans-network discoveries
- the Alabama Drug Discovery and Device Development Program (AD4), which connects CCTS investigators with the leading-edge, high through-put screening and drug development capacity at Southern Research (SR) to assay new molecular targets, develop effective screens for novel targets, accelerate potential therapies through the development pipeline, and find new applications for existing clinically tested drugs (“re-purposing”)
- the Informatics Gateway, a novel approach to adding an informatics component to research projects
Do you have an innovative idea for a translational research project or training? Contact
To find out about the latest learning opportunities as soon as they are announced, subscribe to CCTS Digest and check our Events web page.
An Individual Development Plan (IDP), long recommended by the Office of Postdoctoral Education, can facilitate dialogue between mentor and postdocs to plan goals for training and is now strongly encouraged by the NIH for every graduate student and postdoc supported by an NIH grant, regardless of funding mechanism.
Learn how UAB is addressing the recommendation. An individual development plan (IDP) helps you explore career possibilities and set goals to follow the career path that fits you best.
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Exercises to help you examine your skills, interests, and values
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A list of 20 scientific career paths with a prediction of which ones best fit your skills and interests
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A tool for setting strategic goals for the coming year, with optional reminders to keep you on track
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Articles and resources to guide you through the process
Like the MyIDP, the AAMC Careers in Medicine site is a starting point for clinically-focused investigators.
Please view the Training Academy resource page for information on additional resources. For a full list of CCTS events, visit our upcoming events and recurring events page. Subscribe to the CCTS Digest to stay informed about upcoming learning opportunities.