Northwestern University Hosts Biological Therapeutics for Autoimmune Diseases Symposium

Sponsored by Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute. This April 4, 2009, program is designed for physicians interested in both basic and clinical aspects of autoimmune biologics, focusing on rheumatic, gastrointestinal and skin disease.

The course director for this event is Eric Ruderman, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University. More Information

If you have any additional questions, please contact the NUCATS Institute at nucats-ed@northwestern.edu

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Association for Clinical Research Training 2009 National Clinical and Translational Research Education Annual Meeting

To enhance and promote the best practices to train the next generation of investigators in clinical and translational research, the Association for Clinical Research Training (ACRT) and the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) consortium have collaborated to develop a national conference for scholars and leaders in research education. The 2009 conference on April 14-15 in Washington DC, is themed “Empowering Individual and Team Success in Clinical and Translational Research”. More Information

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Child Health Oversight Committee Face-to-Face Meeting

The CTSA Consortium Child Health Oversight Committee will convene its annual face-to-face meeting on May 1, 2009, in Baltimore, Md., in conjunction with the annual Pediatric Academic Societies meeting May 2-5, 2009. Steven Hirschfeld, NICHD, Gail Pearson, NHLBI, and Mary Purucker, NCRR, are the NIH coordinators for this committee.

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Improving Health WITH Communities: The Role of Community Engagement in Clinical and Translational Research

The second annual conference to discuss and share best practices and collaborate with communities and health care providers to improve health will be held on the NIH campus on May 14-15, 2009. Participants will develop recommendations for academic-community collaborations and partnerships with other community programs to establish research agendas.

Registration will begin in early March. Please visit the APTR website for updates or contact Dr. Donna Jo McCloskey, NCRR, at mccloskd@mail.nih.gov.

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Northwestern University Hosts 2009 Clinical Research Educational Conference and Poster Session

The Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute, in collaboration with the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) are sponsoring a Clinical Research Educational Conference on May 15, 2009. The target audience for this activity includes all clinical research professionals interested in gaining additional knowledge on current issues and trends in clinical research for application in their professional settings. The educational program includes topics of interest for investigators, coordinators, monitors, project and site managers, IRB and regulatory faculty and staff, and other clinical research professionals from industry and academia.

As we celebrate six years of learning, attendees will enjoy plenary lectures from Janet Woodcock, M.D., Director, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration and Jeremy Sugarman, M.D., MPH, MA, Harvey M. Meyerhoff Professor of Bioethics and Medicine, Berman Institute of Bioethics and Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University. More Information

If you have any additional questions, please contact the NUCATS Institute at nucats-ed@northwestern.edu

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Clinical Research Management Workshop

The Clinical Research Management Key Function Committee is sponsoring its second annual workshop on Clinical Research Management, June 22-23, 2009, on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md.

For more information, contact Dan Rosenblum, NCRR at rosenblumd@mail.nih.gov

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Tufts University CTSI Hosts Comparative Effectiveness in Practice: An Evidence-based and Value-based Medicine Approach

The Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes funding to conduct comparative effec­tiveness research of medical interventions. It signals a new era in which this information will play an increasingly important role in medical, healthcare reimbursement and health policy decision making. Evidence-based medicine and value-based medicine are two essen­tial components of comparative effectiveness research. This 2-day course, June 25-26, 2009, aims to provide participants with knowledge and hands-on experience in the nuts and bolts of the methods employed in these practices.

Course directors: Joseph Lau, M.D., Professor, Center for Clinical Evidence Synthesis and Peter Neumann, ScD, Professor, Center for Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health, Tufts Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies, Tufts Medical Center and Tufts CTSI.

For a program brochure, contact Jeanne Connolly, Tufts CTSI at jconnolly@tuftsmedicalcenter.org.

NCRR Announces CTSA National Process Evaluation Contract Awarded to Westat

On February 12, 2009, NCRR awarded a contract to Westat, a contract research organization based in the Washington, DC area, to conduct a three-year process evaluation of the CTSA program that will include the documentation of program content, activities, and implementation strategies, assessment of stakeholders’ needs and perceptions, assessment of utilization of CTSA resources, and assessment of barriers and facilitators to implementation and success. We will keep you informed of progress and share findings as they emerge.

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NCRR Announces CTSA Administrative Supplements to Support Research on Pediatric Outcome Measures

NCRR announces the availability of CTSA Administrative Supplements to support research on pediatric outcome measures relevant to the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act (BPCA). These are one-year awards in an anticipated amount of $50,000–$500,000 per project. A maximum of $5,000,000 may be provided for this solicitation. These awards are being made in partnership with the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD). Please direct any administrative questions regarding these supplements to NCRR, Dr. Mary Purucker (puruckerm@mail.nih.gov). Scientific or technical questions related to the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act should be directed to NICHD, Dr. Anne Zajicek (zajiceka@mail.nih.gov). Applications should be submitted to NCRR, Dr. Mary Purucker, using form PHS 398 and accompanied by a cover letter. This solicitation closes April 30, 2009. View Solicitation

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Guidance for Evaluating the Biostatistics/Epidemiology/Research Design (BERD) Key Function at Local Institutions

The BERD KFC formed a subcommittee to identify general metrics for evaluating the BERD activities at each institution. The subcommittee created a living document that outlines the general metrics and anticipates that the document will continue to grow and develop. The BERD KFC and the Evaluation KFC are supportive of the concepts presented in this document, which outlines six major metrics that were obtained by surveying the institutions about BERD functions: 1) collaborative activities; 2) grants; 3) protocols reviewed; 4) manuscripts; 5) new methodology; and 6) education. While not exhaustive, the document presents areas, variables, and measures to assess these metrics. Currently, the subcommittee is working on additional metrics and methods for evaluation, such as mentoring, capturing stories and tracking activities that each institution does on a national level. This living document will help BERD cores with the evaluation, and the BERD members hope other key functions find this model useful for their work. The document can be found on the wiki, under the BERD tab.

Please direct any comments or questions to Dr. Doris Rubio (rubiodm@upmc.edu) at the University of Pittsburgh.

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Tufts University CTSI Hosted Planning Meeting for the CTSA Interest Group on Comparative Effectiveness

On December 17, 2008, the CTSA Interest Group on Comparative Effectiveness Research meet at Tufts University. This meeting was initiated by a conversation between a few CTSAs and grew to include representatives of CTSAs across the country, along with representatives from NCRR, AHRQ and AAMC. The purpose was to start a dialog among CTSAs, their partner institutions, federal agencies and other stakeholders about comparative effectiveness research (CER). With the understanding that the intention of CER is to substantially improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare, the organizers of this meeting believe that CTSAs can play an important role in the development of a national CER program. The group believes CER, as an approach that holds promise for translating research results into changed healthcare practice and policy, should be a central piece of the “T” in CTSAs. CER particularly matches the CTSA Consortium Strategic Goal Four, the translation of research into improvements in healthcare and public policy. View videos, presentations and photographs of this meeting.

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Federated Access to the CTSA Consortium Wiki Now Available

NCRR is pleased to announce that federated access to the CTSA Wiki was successfully launched on February 18th.

If your institution is federated with the NIH through the InCommon network, you will be able to use the username and password from your home institution to access the CTSA Wiki.

Because federated access is based on individual institutional relationships with the NIH, you will need to select “Research Organizations” and then your home institution from a drop-down list every time you log into the CTSA wiki. If you are from an institution that is partnering with a CTSA grantee, you should select the name of your institution or “other” rather than that of the CTSA.

If your CTSA or partnering institution is not participating in the federation process at this time, you can continue to access the Wiki with your current CTSA Wiki username and password.

For more information, please see the CTSA Federation Fact Sheet.

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The NIH Biomedical Translational Research Information System Hosts Seminar Series

The Biomedical Translational Research Information System (BTRIS) team invites you to a series of lectures focused on informatics in biomedical and translational research. This series brings leading figures in the study and use of translational information systems from academic centers across the U.S. and will promote discussion about the future of informatics at the NIH Clinical Center. The series opened with a lecture by Michael Kamerick, Director of Academic Research Systems and Co-Director of Biomedical Informatics with the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute at the University of California, San Francisco, on January 21. His presentation, “Translational Research Information Systems: Building the Integrated Data,” can be viewed on the BTRIS website.

The next seminar will be on March 24, 2009, 2:00–3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) and will feature Adam Wilcox, Ph.D., Director of the Systems Technology Interfacing Teaching and Community Hospitals (STITCH) project at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

The series will be videocast.

More information about this series and continuing BTRIS news.

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NIAID Seeks Input to Request for Information

The National Institute on Drug Abuse seeks input from the scientific and medical community regarding topics and findings in basic and clinical science that could aid in the development and translation of innovative prevention and treatment strategies for reducing prescription drug abuse and addiction in the context of pain management. Information obtained from responses to this RFI will inform the development of an upcoming Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) intended to leverage current findings in addiction science to develop new clinical interventions that allow safer prescription of opioid analgesics to manage acute and chronic pain. This RFI will also inform the development of future programmatic activities. View Notice | Contribute

New—NIH SBIR STTR Omnibus Solicitation Released

For CTSAs interested in forming or collaborating with a small business to do biomedical research, the NIH, CDC, FDA, and ACF 2009-2 Omnibus Solicitation of the SBIR/STTR Grant Applications and SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide for SBIR/STTR Grant Applications are now available. The solicitation consists of:

• Parent funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for SBIR
• Parent FOA for STTR
• Narrative descriptions of the programs and research topics (PDF)

The due dates for CY 2009 are April 5, August 5, and December 5. AIDS and AIDS-related applications are due May 7, 2009, September 7, 2009, and January 7, 2010. Please see also www.ncrr.nih.gov/sbo.

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Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Funding Opportunity Announcements

• PA-09-070—AHRQ Health Services Research Projects (R01) is for large research extramural grants. The first application receipt date is March 9, 2009.
• PA-09-071—AHRQ Health Services Research Demonstration and Dissemination Grants (R18) solicits large research demonstration and dissemination projects. The first application receipt date is March 9, 2009.

K-Award Announcements (The first application receipt date is March 9, 2009):

• PAR-09-087 –Mentored Research Scientist Research Career Development Award (K01)
• PAR-09-086 – Independent Scientist Award (K02)
• PAR-09-085 – Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (K08)

If you have any questions about the FOAs, please contact the appropriate staff member associated with each portfolio: Staff Listing

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Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System™ (PROMIS) Funding Opportunity Announcements

PROMIS, an NIH Roadmap-funded initiative, has announced four FOAs:

• RFA-RM-08-022 – PROMIS Network Center (U54)
• RFA-RM-08-023 – PROMIS Research Sites (U01)
• RFA-RM-08-024 – PROMIS Technology Center (U54)
• RFA-RM-08-025 – PROMIS Statistical Center (U54)

Note–These FOAs expire on March 4, 2009.

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National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Program Announcement with Set-Aside Funding: Drug Abuse Epidemiology and Services Research in Cooperation with the Clinical and Translational Science Awards Consortium (R01)

Through this program announcement with set aside (PAS), NIDA invites applicants to develop innovative drug abuse epidemiology or health services research in cooperation with academic centers supported through the CTSA consortium. Applicants are asked to propose innovative drug abuse research that builds upon the resources available at CTSA sites. A broad range of drug abuse epidemiology and prevention or treatment health services research areas will be supported under the auspices of this PAS, as described in the complete announcement.

The estimated amount of funds available for support of four to eight projects awarded as a result of this announcement is $2 million for fiscal year 2009 and $2 million for fiscal year 2010. The opening date for applications will be January 5, 2009. For additional information, please contact:

Jeffrey D. Schulden, M.D.
Medical Officer
Division of Epidemiology, Services, and Prevention Research
National Institute on Drug Abuse/NIH/DHHS
6001 Executive Boulevard, MSC 9589
Bethesda, MD 20892-9589
Telephone: (301) 402-1526
Fax: (301) 443-2636
E-mail: schuldenj@nida.gov

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National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Funding Opportunity Announcements

NIMH has posted three funding opportunities for dissemination and implementation strategies to improve the uptake of evidence-based practices:

• PAR-07-086 (R01)
• PAR-06-520 (R03)
• PAR-06-521 (R21)