The CCTS Open House concluded with a drawing for door prizes, presented by CCTS Director Dr. Robert Kimberly.Nearly 150 people joined us at our first-ever CCTS Open House, which replaced our usual monthly Forum. More than 90 of the guests were investigators new to the CCTS, with some from as far away as our partner institution Tulane University in attendance. Participants represented all the major roles of a research team, including faculty, trainees, research associates, coordinators and administrators, and many disciplines, from business and engineering to social-behavioral and health-related sciences (social work, psychology, nursing, medicine, dentistry, public health, and allied health professions).
Guests received packets of CCTS materials, enjoyed buffet-style hors d’oeuvres and refreshments, and visited several information stations, where CCTS experts were on hand to answer questions and spark lively scientific discussion.
Department of Epidemiology graduate student Favel Mondesir was one of our door prize winners at the CCTS Open House.
Among the stations were:
Research Commons, the CCTS domain that connects investigators with scientific collaborators, cores, and capacities; biostatistics and informatics expertise; clinical services in support of trials and other types of studies; partner network opportunities; project panels; and funding opportunities.
Training Academy, the CCTS community of scholars that offers learning opportunities from the development of young investigators and throughout the career arc. From mentoring to mini-sabbaticals, from skill-oriented workshops and immersion courses to practicums in team science, our training team offers grant-based as well as other programs.
Clinical Translation, the CCTS domain that offers clinical research support and training, including skilled professional assistance from our Clinical Research, Bionutrition, Biorepository/Sample Processing and Analytic Nexus (SPAN), and Child Health Research units as well as collaboration with the UAB Clinical Trials Administration Office.
Community Engagement (CE), where visitors learned about One Great Community, at the center of CCTS CE efforts; the recent kick off of the 2016 Community Health Innovation Awards; and the upcoming Community Engagement Institute, which will take place on Friday, October 14, 2016.
Special Modules, which described the ways CCTS supports translational science in the drug discovery, device development, and genomic medicine.
CCTS Partner Network, the foundation of both our community and more academically-based efforts in biomedical research, which featured the latest update on what CCTS is doing to support multi-site studies.
The opportunity to learn from CCTS research experts is not unique to our Open House, but is the goal of every monthly CCTS Forum. These are held the first Wednesday of every month. Don’t miss our upcoming September Forum, which will feature the latest information on the NIH rigor, reproducibility, and transparency requirements.