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UAB CCTS Digest
March 28, 2014
 
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Scientists are charting the paths of individual neurons as well as the activity of individual genes. Click the image to see the full slide deck.

  

  

TRAINING PROGRAMS
This workshop will provide research staff (study coordinators, billing staff, regulatory coordinators, etc.) with the basics implements and managing a clinical trial with emphasis on good clinical practices (GCPs), research compliance, and other key topics. This is a six-session course to be held on consecutive Tuesdays, April 1 - May 6, 2014. All classes will be held in the Children's Harbor Bradley Conference Center. Cost is $125 and payable with registration. Enrollment is limited, so please register early. CEUs will be offered and attendance at all of the six sessions will meet initial IRB training requirements. Please remember to bring your nursing license to each session to receive CEUs.

Link to registration:  Spring 2014 Research Coordinator Training Program

Direct questions to Elizabeth Paton - epaton@uab.edu, Penny Jester - pjester@peds.uab.edu, or Kathleen Powell - bucher@uab.edu

 

BIOSTATISTICS

Monday, March 31
New!  Epidemiology/Biostatistics Clinic in The Edge of Chaos

  

This clinic provides the UAB community access to epidemiology and biostatistics resources.  Available most Mondays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in The Edge of Chaos (Lister Hill Library, 4th floor).  Check the  
Edge of Chaos calendar for confirmation of meeting dates and times. 
 

Wednesdays, April 9 & 23

UAB CCTS Biostatistics Clinic

11:30 am-1:30 pm

PCAMS Building 1924 7th Avenue South

 

Are you in need of some data analysis or research design assistance? These drop-in clinics are designed for investigators needing assistance with: 

  • Study Design 
  • Sample Size and Power Calculations 
  • Data Analysis 
  • Display of Data and Results
  • Interpretation of Results 
  • Statistical Software  

The Biostatistics Clinic is open to all faculty members, post-docs, fellows, residents, and students. Attendees are invited to bring statistical and methodological questions about on-going research projects, projects being planned, manuscripts in progress, responses to peer reviewers, and published articles. They are also invited to bring their laptops. Assistance will be provided by members of the  CCTS BERD group. A light lunch is served.  

SEMINARS, SYMPOSIA, CONFERENCES

Friday, March 28

Survival Skills for Young Investigators

10:30 am-1:30 pm in The Edge of Chaos, Atrium

Lister Hill Library (LHL), 4th Floor
1700 University Boulevard, Birmingham AL 35294  

The workshop will be presented by Dr. Tung-Tien (Henry) Sun, distinguished Cell Biologist at the New York University School of Medicine.

Attendees will learn the necessary skills that need to be mastered in order to survive and excel in research, including how to get any laboratory technique to work reproducibly and predictably, and how to read a paper actively rather than passively, etc.   

This is a free  workshop for pre-registered graduate students, post-docs, and early-stage investigators.  Refreshments and lunch will be provided to all who pre-register.  

Register.  To learn more about the content of Dr. Sun's discussions, please visit his workshop  website.

Monday, March 31
New!  Epidemiology/Biostatistics Clinic in The Edge of Chaos

  

This clinic provides the UAB community access to epidemiology and biostatistics resources.  Available most Mondays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in The Edge of Chaos (Lister Hill Library, 4th floor).  Check the
Edge of Chaos calendar for confirmation of meeting dates and times. 

Tuesday, April 1

Childhood Obesity & Public Health Conference

in Baton Rouge, LA 

Young faces need healthy spaces.  Join us at Pennington Biomedical Research Center's seventh annual childhood obesity and public health conference to discover how parks, neighborhoods, and schools shape our children's health and learn from key leaders about how to create more happy faces in your community.

The participants in this conference will be able to:

  • Recognize the different ways that local environments shape our children's health

  • Identify resources and successful strategies to create healthy spaces for children throughout Louisiana

This conference is designed for professionals engaged in public health efforts, including: physicians, nutritionists, physical activity specialists, registered dietitians, nurses, health educators, psychologists, and counselors; healthcare policy makers, researchers, media, business and civic leaders, parks and recreation personnel, and early childhood and school-age educators and decision-makers.

Wednesday, April 2

UAB Center for Exercise Medicine Distinguished Lecture Series: 

Exercise and Heart Attack Protection

From the Inside Out

 

John C. Quindry, PhD, FACSM

Associate Professor

School of Kinesiology

Auburn University

Auburn, Alabama

  

  

8:30 am, THT 740

A light breakfast will be served

For more information:

 
Wednesday, April 2
CCTS Forum

 

Join the UAB CCTS for our monthly Forum, a casual gathering to discuss the latest initiatives and events taking place with the CCTS and our Partner Network. On Wednesday, April 2, we'll take the opportunity to review our recent visit with Dr. Anantha Shekhar, Director, Indiana CTSI. We'll also be taking an early look at the Clinical Trials Office web presence, to examine and discuss what resources and tools would make the site most useful to you.

 

 
4:45-6 pm at PCAMS, 1924 7th Avenue South
Drinks and hors d'oeuvres served 

 

Thursday, April 3 

Everything You Wanted To Know About Qualitative Research But Were Afraid To Ask 

Health Services, Outcomes, and Effectiveness Research (HSOER) Methods Seminars

11:45 am-1:15 pm in UAB - Medical Towers 634
and by videoconference connection at your office if requested - more information, RSVP and videoconference contact

Speakers Martha Crowther, PhD & Michelle Martin, Ph;Co-Directors, RCMAR Community Liaison Core


Tuesday, April 8

TIERS: The Many Faces of Data

CCTS TIERS Talk by James Willig, MD - view more information

Social 5 pm; talk 5:30pm, both in Pittman Center for Advanced Medical Studies (PCAMS), 1924 7th Avenue South

 

The opportunity to combine and reuse data for multiple purposes is a crucial component of the visions of Big Data and the Learning Healthcare System and will play an important role in our collective research future. 

TIERS is for any junior faculty, postdoctoral fellow and preprofessional student interested in an academic research career. You do not have to have a current career development or training award to attend.


Thursday, April 10

PSTP: Mentoring Matters

CCTS Professional Skills Trianing Program (PSTP) presentation by Karen Meneses, PhD, RN
Dr. Meneses will be joined by a panel of mentors for discussion of mentor and mentee topics 
11 am-12:15 pm (includes lunch) in West Pavilion, Room E

 


Monday & Tuesday, April 14-15

Biomedical Engineering Research Symposium

Organized by the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Student Organization (BMEGS), the purpose of the symposium is to foster industry-academia collaborations, showcase the groundbreaking research at UAB, and to facilitate communication between biomedical researchers across the university. The BMEGS is now accepting abstracts for the 2014 Symposium.  For agendas and more information click here.

Molz-image.jpg
Featuring keynote speaker: 
Fred Molz, PhD, Vice President of R&D 
at BioHorizon


 


Tuesday, April 16

Tools for Your Mentoring Toolbox

11:30 am in Bevill Biomedical Research Building, Room 170 

Phillip S. Clifford

Philip S. Clifford, Ph.D., Associate Dean,
College of Applied Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago

 

11:30 am-1 pm

 

Postdocs, graduate students, and faculty are encouraged to attend. Q & A with Dr. Clifford will follow.Dr. Clifford was instrumental in the creation and development of MyIDP, a self-assessment tool sponsored by AAAS.   Find out more about MyIDP.

Wednesday, April 23

PSTP: Team Science

CCTS Professional Skills Training Program (PSTP) -   
12:30-1:45 in West Pavilion Board Room 
(Due to time/location change, no lunch is provided; feel free to bring your own.)


Presented by Grant T. Savage, PhD, Professor and Anthony C. Hood, PhD, Asst Professor
Department of Management, Information Systems and Quantitative Methods
UAB Collat School of Business 

Thursday, April 24

5th Annual Academic & Industry Intersection Conference

"Medical Devices: Partnering for Innovation"

Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center

Hosted by the  Atlanta Clinical & Translational Science Institute (ACTSI) and Georgia Bio.

The conference includes the keynote address: Medical Technology Innovation a Case Study for Collaboration by Bill Hawkins, CEO of Immucor, Inc., and the panel, Obstacles & Opportunities in Academic & Industry Device Collaborations, featuring experts from C. R. Bard, Inc., EndoChoice, Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, Morehouse School of Medicine, and the Global Center for Medical Innovation. 

Finally, the event features the institutional collaboration success story of the Remotoscope (ACTSI-supported), created by Wilbur Lam, MD, PhD, assistant professor,Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University.   Register.

Tuesday, April 29

TIERS: Mentoring - What have we learned? 

David_Rogers_03_2

CCTS TIERS with David A. Rogers, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Development;  Co-Director, UAB Healthcare Leadership Academy.  Dr. Rogers will lead a discussion of mentoring survey completed at UAB in 2013. 
Social 5 p.m.; Talk 5:30 both in Pittman Center for Advanced Medical Studies (PCAMS)


TIERS is for any junior faculty, postdoctoral fellow and preprofessional student interested in an academic research career. You do not have to have a current career development or training award to attend.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES:

Administered by the US Small Business Administration, through which many of the largest federal agencies award contracts and grants to small businesses.

The purpose of the Alabama SBIR/STTR Support Program is to increase the success rate and competitiveness of SBIR/STTR applicants in the state. The program will provide support in three ways:
  • Raise SBIR/STTR awareness for Alabama-based small businesses through a statewide network of partners that will advocate and host introductory SBIR/STTR workshops
  • Educate Alabama companies on how to compete for SBIR/STTR awards
  • Provide one-on-one writing assistance and proposal strategy from an expert with decades of experience writing and reviewing SBIR/STTR proposals

Benefits

  • Beyond-the-basics training about SBIR and STTR Programs
  • How to prepare competitive proposals and proposal strategy
  • Avoiding common proposal mistakes
  • Federal agency focused workshops
  • Proposal evaluation
  • Individual writing assistance

Applicants can receive extensive proposal writing assistance for a chance to receive over $1 million in SBIR/STTR funding. Click here for more info.

  • Funding for Implementing PCOR in Primary Care Practices

The Agency for Health Care Research (AHRQ) has issued two funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) aimed at increasing the use of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) in primary care practices. The first FOA will fund up to 8 regional cooperatives to assist primary care practices build capacity for the implementation of PCOR findings in clinical care. Initial efforts will support the use of PCOR findings to improve heart health. The second companion FOA solicits a robust, external evaluation of the same initiative designed to discover if and how practice support can best be used to disseminate and implement PCOR findings in primary care practice.  AHRQ expects that the grants will be funded in early 2015.

 

Applicants must specifically work with primary care practices using a comprehensive approach that uses evidence-based quality improvement strategies, such as practice facilitation, designed to improve the capacity of primary care practices to implement new PCOR evidence into the delivery of care.

 

Grantees must also propose to rigorously evaluate their initiatives and agree to contribute to an overarching evaluation. AHRQ will invest up to $120 million over three years supporting up to 8 grantees, a landmark investment for the agency. A technical assistance and information conference call will be held on April 24, 2014.

Letters of intent are due May 23, 2014 and applications are due July 3, 2014. 

This initiative was planned and developed in close coordination with agencies across the Department of Health and Human Services and is funded through the PCOR Trust Fund.

 

 

 

Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program Fiscal Year 2014 Appropriation Announcement

The Fiscal Year 2014 (FY14) Defense Appropriations Act provides $200 million to the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP). The funding is provided to support select medical research projects of clear scientific merit and direct relevance to military health.

 

The vision of the PRMRP is to improve the health and well-being of all military service members, veterans, and beneficiaries. This program is administered by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC) through the Office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).  

FY14 PRMRP program announcements and general application instructions are anticipated to be posted on Grants.gov in Spring 2014. Application deadlines will be available when the Program Announcements are released. This press release should not be construed as an obligation by the government.
All applications must conform to the final program announcements and application instructions that will be available for electronic downloading from the  Grants.gov (http://grants.gov ) website. The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov. A listing of all USAMRMC funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420.


Point of Contact:

CDMRP Public Affairs 
301-619-9783  

usarmy.detrick.medcom-cdmrp.mbx.cdmrp-public-affairs@mail.mil 

 

 

NIH Funding Opportunities:

Translational Research to Help Older Adults Maintain their Health and Independence in the Community

R21: PA-14-159 (link)

R01: PA-14-161 (link)

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications for translational research that moves evidence-based research findings toward the development of new interventions, programs, policies, practices, and tools that can be used by organizations in the community to help older adults remain healthy and independent, productively engaged, and living in their own homes and communities.  The goal of this FOA is to support translational research involving collaborations between academic research centers and community-based organizations with expertise serving or engaging older adults (such as city and state health departments, city/town leadership councils, educational institutions, workplaces, Area Agencies on Aging, and organizations funded or assisted by the Corporation for National and Community Service) that will enhance our understanding of practical tools, techniques, programs and policies that communities across the nation can use to more effectively respond to needs of the aging population.

Letter of Intent: None

Application Deadline: Standard NIH Dates Apply

 

Population Dynamics Centers Research Infrastructure FY 2014 (P2C)

RFA-HD-14-016 (link)

The purpose of this FOA is to increase the pace and impact of research within the scientific mission of the NICHD Population Dynamics Branch (PDB) by providing research infrastructure support to population science research centers.

Letter of Intent: April 6, 2014

Application Deadline: May 6, 2014

 

Community Partnerships to Advance Research (CPAR)

R21: PA-14-141,  Exploratory/Developmental Grant

R01: PA-14-142,  Research Project Grant   R15: PA-14-140,  Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA)

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) encourages researchers to partner with communities using Community Engaged Research (CEnR) methodologies that will enhance relationships leading to better interventions and positive health outcomes.     Research objectives aim to partner with a community entity on health issues that is of mutual concern, such as but not limited to:

         Interventions/programs for health promotion/prevention

         Interventions/programs leading to self-management in chronic conditions

         Programs that target self or symptom management

         Examine ways to enhance or implement sustainable health programs in community settings  

Letter of Intent: None

Application Deadline: Standard NIH Dates Apply

 

 

Requests for LOI: UAB PCOR K12 Scholar Program

 

The Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research and Education (COERE), and the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center (MHRC) invite letters of intent for K-Scholar career development awards in Patient Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR).  These awards are supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institutional Award (K12).

 

This opportunity will support 3 PCOR K-Scholars for a period of two years to build capacity for the conduct of PCOR to enhance patient-centered care.  The mission of the K-Scholars program is to prepare independent investigators to pursue careers focused on translating research evidence into practice and to evaluate the benefits and harms of different strategies and interventions on patient outcomes.  For the two years of support, the K12 will provide up to $90,000 towards salary annually. Selected candidates must commit a minimum of 75% of time to research and career development.

 

Candidates must be U.S. citizens, non-citizen nationals, or have permanent residency status.  Eligible applicants will have earned a clinical or research doctorate, including PhD, ScD, DrPH, MD, DO, DC, ND, DDS, DMD, DNS or equivalent doctoral degree. Candidates must be able to demonstrate a commitment to research training.  Candidates must be junior-level, full-time UAB faculty OR be able to provide assurance of a staff appointment on or before August 1, 2014. Non-UAB candidates are encouraged to apply.  Additional eligibility criteria are included with the full Letter of Intent instruction packet, available upon request. 

 

Please see the attached flyer for additional information about the program.

 

Important Dates:

 

April 7, 2014 - Last day for receipt of letters of intent

June 2, 2014 - Full applications due (if invited to apply)

June 16-30, 2014 - Interviews of finalists with mentors by the selection committee

August 1, 2014 - Potential start date for Scholars

 

CONTACT:  For questions regarding eligibility, program requirements and the selection process or to request a Letter of Intent instructional packet, please contact Ryan Outman at routman@uab.edu.


SUMMER LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES: JUMP IN!

diving-board-child.jpg  

 

2014 McGill Pharmacoepidemiology Summer Program course offerings within the summer session at McGill University.  Enrollment is limited.


This year we will again offer 4 courses, each given intensively over a 4-day period and taught by skilled pharmacoepidemiologists and talented instructors. The courses have been revamped to incorporate newer techniques of design and analysis, as well as to discuss "hot topics" in pharmacoepidemiology.

May 5th - May 9th:       Introduction to Pharmacoepidemiology (Dr Linda L�vesque)   May 12th - May 15th:   Intermediate Pharmacoepidemiology (Drs Laurent Azoulay and Kristian Filion)
May 19th - May 22th:   Advanced Pharmacoepidemiology (Prs Samy Suissa and Pierre Ernst)   May 26th - May 29th:  Pharmacoeconomics: Applied Statistical methods (Dr Jaime Caro)

 
Spend one or a few weeks in Montreal, at a time of the year where the snow has melted long ago and the weather is lovely. May is a busy time in Montreal, with many conventional and eccentric festivals (Beer, International music, Digital arts fest, Chamber Music Festival, Anarchist book fair, Montreal Bike Fest, etc).  You will meet other outstanding students from around the globe, coming from diverse milieus of academia, industry and regulatory agencies.     

  

  

"The Mathematical Sciences in Obesity Research" a 5-Day Short Course at UAB 

Monday-Friday, May 12-16, 2014

  

The mathematical sciences including engineering, statistics, computer science, physics, econometrics, psychometrics, and epidemiology are increasingly being applied to advance our understanding of the causes, consequences, and alleviation of obesity. These applications do not merely involve routine well-established approaches easily implemented in widely available commercial software. Rather, they increasingly involve computationally demanding tasks, use and in some cases development of novel analytic methods and software, new derivations, computer simulations, and unprecedented interdigitation of two or more existing techniques. Such advances at the interface of the mathematical sciences and obesity research require bilateral training and exposure for investigators in both disciplines. This course on the mathematical sciences in obesity research features some of the world's finest scientists working in this domain to fill this unmet need by providing nine topic driven modules designed to bridge the disciplines.

  

For full details of the course, please refer to our website at: http://www.soph.uab.edu/energetics/shortcourse/first.  You may also apply online at http://www.soph.uab.edu/energetics/shortcourse/first/application.

  

Limited travel scholarships are available to young investigators.

  

Please apply prior to Friday, March 28. Accepted applicants will be notified no later than Friday, April 4. Women, members of underrepresented minority groups and individuals with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.  We look forward to seeing you in Birmingham this summer!

    

Plan Ahead for Summer!

Johns Hopkins June 16-July 3, 2014, Baltimore, MD

Graduate Summer Institute of Epidemiology & Biostatistics

 

www.jhsph.edu/summerepi

 

2014 courses include:

 

  *   Principles of Epidemiology

  *   Statistical Reasoning in Public Health 

  *   Conducting Epidemiological

  *   Nutritional Epidemiology

  *   Molecular Biology for Genetic Epidemiology

  *   Pharmacoepidemiology

  *   Longitudinal Data Analysis

  *   Design and Conduct of Clinical Trials

  *   Advanced Methods in Observational Studies: Design

  

See Our Full Course List and click for deadlines, application info, and more! 

 

Modeling Mucosal Immunity

Summer School & Symposium, June 9-13, 2014

Blacksburg, VA

 

Modeling Immunity for Biodefense travel awards now available!

The NIH/NIAID Modeling Immunity for Biodefense (MIB) program provides a annual Summer School & Symposium program to introduce and apply advanced modeling tools and techniques to the study of immunology for hypothesis generation and testing. The application of high-performance computational modeling to this data-rich field is leading to exciting advances using a "lab-to-model-to-lab" iterative discovery process, a team-science approach that presents novel opportunities for immunologists and bioinformaticians.

On June 9-13, 2014, Modeling Mucosal Immunity will take place on the campus of Virginia Tech as a 3.5 day summer school followed immediately by a 1.5-day symposium with leading researchers in the fields of computational modeling and immunology. Modeling Mucosal Immunity is presented by the Center for Modeling Immunity to Enteric Pathogens (MIEP), a Center with the mission of understanding the mechanisms of action underlying immune responses to enteric pathogens.

The focus for this event will be real-world application of computational modeling approaches to studying mucosal immunity. Researchers will lecture, lead hands-on labs, present their latest novel research, and participate in a panel discussing the challenges and rewards of applying modeling techniques to immunology and infectious diseases research. The Summer School website has a faculty list and more details. Questions? Contact MMI at summerschool@vbi.vt.edu

 

Contacts: 

Dr. David Bevan, Education Coordinator  drbevan@vt.edu  - (540)231.5040

Dr. Josep Bassaganya-Riera, Center Director  - jbassaga@vbi.vt.edu - (540)231-7421

 

2013 Training Institute for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (TIDIRH)

July 21-25, 2014
Harvard University
Boston, Massachusetts 

Applications now being accepted through April 6, 2014

 

One of the most critical issues impeding improvements in public health today is the enormous gap between what we know can optimize health and healthcare and what actually gets implemented in every day practice. The science of dissemination and implementation (D&I) seeks to address this gap by understanding how to best ensure that evidence-based strategies to improve health and prevent disease are effectively delivered in clinical and public health practice.

 

Institute Goals

Harvard University, with support from the National Institutes of Health (National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Office of Disease Prevention, and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, is sponsoring this 5-day training institute to provide participants with a thorough grounding in conducting dissemination and implementation research in health. Faculty and guest lecturers will consist of leading experts (practitioners and teachers) in theory, implementation and evaluation approaches to D&I, creating partnerships and multi-level, transdisciplinary research teams, research design, methods and analyses appropriate for D&I investigations and conducting research at different and multiple levels of interventions (e.g., clinical, community, policy).

 

 

For more information and instructions for how to apply, please visit our webpage: https://www.regonline.com/TIDIRH2014

 
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