Four PhD students and six masters degree students in Clinical Investigation started in September 2017, together with eight PhD students in Clinical and Translational Science (CTS, former PhD minor). They joined a select, very active community of students (31 current) participating in the degree programs administered by UW ICTR. In addition, six of the eight CTS students were also appointed to positions in the TL1 training program for pre-doctoral scholars.
We are happy to welcome the largest incoming class ever in the eight years since the Clinical Investigation degree program was approved. In addition, half the incoming class initially worked on a Certificate in the Fundamentals of Clinical Research. By design, the Certificate shares a core of foundational courses with the master’s and the doctoral degree programs.
Hence, students can start with a certificate to test the waters for the fit of academics with their busy professional lives. Like many prior entrants into the program, nine out of ten entering students this year are returning adult students who are fitting coursework into new faculty, fellowship, and scientist positions. Welcome!
Applications to the Masters and PhD programs in Clinical Investigation for the 2018 class are due Feb 1.
Admissions this year is via a new online process through the UW Graduate School. Applications to the CTS (or PhD minor) program are accepted throughout the year. Read More.
ICTR also administers a TL1 Predoctoral Training Program as part of its Clinical and Translational Science Award from NIH. With the renewal of the ICTR grant this fall, we were able to increase the total number of trainees supported to 10 from the six in previous years.
This training program includes a stipend, health insurance, tuition and fees, travel funds, a monthly writing workshop, and biannual mentor meetings. Trainees must be pursuing either the PhD in Clinical Investigation or have added the PhD-CTS degree to their major field of study. The RFA for the 2018 TL1 Predoctoral Training Program will be released at the end of January, with applications due March 15.
This October 6, the annual Health Equity Leadership Institute (HELI) shared the marquee with a one day training workshop created by the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN). This special opportunity was designed to promote an innovative NIH-funded initiative addressing cultural diversity in research mentoring relationships.
Christine Pfund, one of the NRMN PIs and Director of Mentorship Initiatives for the UW-Madison Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR), notes,
Christine Pfund
We had an exciting opportunity to expose alumni from HELI to a brand new mentor training workshop available through our local NRMN-affiliated team. We already offer research mentor and mentee training to each new HELI cohort, but this special session represented a chance to provide a deeper exploration of the role culture plays in mentoring relationships. Participants and trainers alike gained a broader appreciation of how their personal identity intersects with their professional life, particularly as mentors.
CCHE invited 15 HELI alumni and ten local trainees, faculty and administrators to participate in a Culturally Aware Mentoring (CAM) workshop. The training was led by longtime CCHE and HELI collaborators, Drs. Sandra Quinn and Stephen B. Thomas. In addition to their ongoing role as faculty in the annual HELI, Quinn and Thomas are Master Facilitators with NRMN.
A Master Facilitator is an experienced leader of mentor and mentee training, able to effectively adapt to diverse settings and audiences. The ICTR Mentoring group plays an active role in the national training of Master Facilitators as part of their effort to disseminate best practices in mentoring nationally using a train-the-trainer approach.
The CAM training was developed and tested by the CAM Working Group, which is part of the UW-Madison-based NRMN Mentor Training Core. The CAM team includes Rick McGee and Veronica Womack (Northwestern), Carrie Saetermoe (Cal State Northridge), Sandra Quinn and Stephen Thomas (University of Maryland) and Angela Byars-Winston, Emily Utzerath, and Amanda Butz from Wisconsin. Learn more about the CAM initiative via NRMNet.
Next year’s Health Equity Leadership Institute will return to the full-length format on June 10-15, 2018. Applications will be released in late January 2018.
UW ICTR is releasing a Request for Applications (RFA) for new community-engaged health disparities research projects, the Collaborative Health Equity Research (CHER) Pilot Award. This novel award reflects ICTR’s commitment to mentoring the next generation of health equity researchers by supporting promising new research, training in best practices for engaging communities and patients, and facilitating the formation of interdisciplinary teams. Each award includes $50,000 maximum in direct costs for no longer than 12 months.
This pilot award is for early stage investigators focused on health disparities and health equity, and requires a senior mentor. The program is designed to provide researchers with experience in clinical and translational research necessary for their future career development, and to provide preliminary data for subsequent funding applications.
Through this RFA we hope to “stack the deck” in support of early stage investigators seeking to conduct high quality research to address health disparities and health inequities in the state of Wisconsin. In addition to the many ICTR resources available to support community-engaged health equity research, this RFA recognizes that junior-senior collaborations can make all the difference in accelerating advancements in health. We strongly encourage interdisciplinary applications from broad campus investigators, since social determinants of health and health disparities/inequities often go hand-in-hand.
Proposed research for this RFA must address health disparities or health inequities and must be translational in nature. Applications must cite published evidence that the health disparity/inequity is recognized by state/federal agencies as significant and warranting intervention. Awards will prioritize support of assistant professors taking a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to research, including those who genuinely engage community partners & stakeholders.
The ICTR workforce development group has released the RFA for the 2018 ICTR KL2 Program for Scholar appointments beginning July 1, 2018. This award supports junior faculty at UW Madison who are pursuing and actively engaged in translational research and who are committed to developing an independent research program. Funded by NIH, scholars will be awarded for two years; additional time in the program is possible upon review of scholar progress and need.
The process begins with a nomination by the dean or department chair of an individual’s academic home. These letters of nomination are due July 31, 2017. Applicants must be an assistant professor (tenure track or CHS) by the time of the award. Comparable junior research investigators at Marshfield Clinic are also eligible.
The ICTR KL2 Program is extending an invitation to faculty scholars with career development awards to participate in activities planned for our first year KL2 scholars that commence in July. Program activities include training in mentor:mentee relationships and the fundamentals of team science, as well as other core competencies of clinical and translational research.
Expanding the ICTR KL2 training activities to other scholars is intended to more broadly advance training of the future biomedical workforce at UW, diversify the range of disciplines and perspectives represented in each training sessions, and enhance professional networking opportunities for all. Interested individuals are encouraged to contact Ana Gariç, the ICTR KL2 Scholar Career Development Coordinator, to explore participation in this year’s programming.
Eligible career development awards include independent K awards, other institutional K programs, VA Career Development Awards, and other similarly structured awards. Faculty already committed to participate include:
Lisa Barroilhet, MD Assistant Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Women’s Health Centennial Scholar (SMPH)
Early Detection and Prevention and Ovarian Cancer in High Risk Patients
Brian Patterson, MD Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
K08 Award from AHRQ
Preventing Future Falls among Older Adults Presenting to the Emergency Department
Michael Pulia, MD, MS Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
K08 Award from AHRQ
Improving Antibiotic Stewardship During The Treatment of Skin and Soft Tissue Infections in The Emergency Department: A Human Factors and Systems Engineering Approach
July 1, ICTR welcomes four new scholars to the ICTR KL2 Program. Despite a challenging federal funding environment, ICTR is continuing its signature career development program for training and supporting junior faculty from diverse backgrounds and disciplines who are actively engaged in translational research and committed to developing an independent research program. Manish Shah and Anna Huttenlocher are directors of the ICTR Institutional Career Development Program. Shah comments,
This is an exciting time as we prepare to welcome our incoming scholars to the ICTR KL2 Program. This year’s scholars continues our tradition of being able to support a top notch field of scholars interested in clinical and translational research. We remain dedicated to developing innovative training and to tailoring our program to the experiences and needs of individual scholars. We are grateful for all the generous institutional support that helped us continue our ten years of career development programming.
The ICTR KL2 Program includes career development workshops, training in core translational research competencies, protected time for research, individualized mentoring, and the opportunity to develop a professional network of peers. Three other scholars from different programs will join the four ICTR KL2 scholars in training activities specific for the incoming group. Read more.
This year’s scholars include:
Lauren Bishop-Fitzpatrick, PhD, Assistant Professor, UW School of Social Work Mentors: Jan Greenberg & Lawrence Berger (School of Social Work)
Research: Improving health and quality of life in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in midlife and beyond by characterizing heterogeneity in profiles of health and mental health risk and adapting and piloting an intervention geared at reducing distress and improving health.
Zachary Morris, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, UW Department of Human Oncology Mentors: Paul Sondel & Paul Harari (School of Medicine & Public Health)
Research: Examining the mechanisms, pre-clinical testing, and clinical translation of treatment approaches that combine radiation and molecular-targeted therapeutics to drive anti-tumor immune responses.
Nicole Werner, PhD, Assistant Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering Mentors: Barbara Bowers (School of Nursing), Pascale Carayon (College of Engineering), Carey Gleason & Amy Kind (School of Medicine and Public Health)
Research: Developing a mobile technology to connect informal caregivers who are caring for a single patient with dementia with tailored information to reduce caregiver isolation, burden, depression, and stress, and prevent the need for institutionalization of the patient with dementia.
John-Paul Yu, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Radiology (Neuroradiology), Psychiatry, Biomedical Engineering Mentors: Elizabeth Meyerand, (School of Medicine & Public Health, College of Engineering ) & Vaishali Bakshi (School of Medicine & Public Health)
Research: Developing a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach towards the neuroimaging of schizophrenia and neuropsychiatric disease.
We are happy to welcome the largest incoming class ever in the eight years since the Clinical Investigation degree program was approved. In addition, half the incoming class initially worked on a Certificate in the Fundamentals of Clinical Research. By design, the Certificate shares a core of foundational courses with the master’s and the doctoral degree programs.
Lisa Barroilhet, MD
Brian Patterson, MD
Michael Pulia, MD, MS
This is an exciting time as we prepare to welcome our incoming scholars to the ICTR KL2 Program. This year’s scholars continues our tradition of being able to support a top notch field of scholars interested in clinical and translational research. We remain dedicated to developing innovative training and to tailoring our program to the experiences and needs of individual scholars. We are grateful for all the generous institutional support that helped us continue our ten years of career development programming.
Nicole Werner, PhD, Assistant Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering
John-Paul Yu, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Radiology (Neuroradiology), Psychiatry, Biomedical Engineering