October 6, 2008
IN THIS ISSUE… NEWS AND EVENTS: ANNOUNCEMENTS: FEATURES: ARTICLES: GENERAL INFORMATION:
Consortium Oversight Committee Face-to-Face Meeting The CTSA Consortium Oversight Committee is convening a face-to-face meeting October 6–7, 2008, in Rockville, Md. Anthony Hayward and Andrea Sawczuk, NCRR, are the NIH coordinators for this committee. Administration Workgroup Face-to-Face Meeting The CTSA Administration Workgroup is convening a face-to-face meeting October 7–8, 2008, in Rockville, Md. Kameha Kidd, Iris Obrams, and Elaine Collier, NCRR, are the NIH coordinators for this workgroup. Informatics Steering Committee Face-to-Face Meetings The CTSA Informatics Steering Committee is convening a series of face-to-face meetings in Rockville, Md. Elaine Collier and Greg Farber, NCRR, are the NIH coordinators for this committee. October 15: Orientation Meeting for 2008 CTSA Informatics Steering Committee members Northwestern University to host RAIDing the NIH for Drug Development The Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute will host Dr. David Badman, Program Officer, NIH RAID Pilot Program, for a seminar covering drug development resources available to PIs through NIH on October 20, 2008, in Chicago, Ill. Topics covered in this NUCATS Institute seminar include: the NIH Rapid Access to Interventional Development (RAID) Pilot Program: a drug development resource for ANY disease; high-level overviews of other, disease-focused drug development programs at NIH; key differences between the programs—what is and is not offered; why the programs exist—the daunting process of getting a new drug to the clinic; what to think about when putting together proposals; and more! For more information and to register, please visit www.nucats.northwestern.edu/events/nih-raid.html. Clinical Research Ethics Workgroup Face-to-Face Meeting The CTSA Clinical Research Ethics Workgroup is convening a face-to-face meeting October 23, 2008, in Cleveland, Ohio, in association with the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities Annual Meeting. Dan Rosenblum, NCRR, and Christine Grady, NCC, are the NIH coordinators for this committee. Community Engagement Steering Committee Face-to-Face Meeting The CTSA Community Engagement Steering Committee is convening a face-to-face meeting October 24, 2008, in Rockville, Md. Donna Jo McCloskey, NCRR, and Betty Tai, NIDA, are the NIH coordinators for this committee. Evaluation Steering Committee Face-to-Face Meeting The CTSA Evaluation Steering Committee is convening a face-to-face meeting November 8–9, 2008, in Denver in association with the American Evaluation Association Conference. Lori Mulligan, NCRR, is the NIH coordinator for this committee. New York and Connecticut (NYCON) CTSA Consortium Retreat Columbia University will host the first NYCON CTSA Consortia Retreat on November 18 and 19, 2008. The retreat is an effort to encourage joint ventures and collaborations among six northeast CTSAs (five in New York and one in Connecticut), comprising meetings with leaders from each NYCON CTSA as well as sessions focused on science/training by and for our KL2 and TL1 scholars and our master’s students. Biostatistics/Epidemiology/Research Design Workgroup Face-to-Face Meeting The CTSA Biostatistics/Epidemiology/Research Design Workgroup is convening a face-to-face meeting November 21, 2008, in Rockville, Md. Iris Obrams, NCRR, Dennis O. Dixon, NIAID, and Paul Wakim, NIDA, are the NIH coordinators for this workgroup. Public Private Partnerships Steering Committee Face-to-Face Meeting The CTSA Public Private Partnerships Steering Committee is convening a face-to-face meeting December 15, 2008, in Bethesda, Md. Lili Portilla, NCRR, and Mark Scheideler, NINDS, are the NIH coordinators for this committee. Read CTSA institutional and consortium news and media coverage at the CTSAs in the News page on CTSAweb.org. We want to post your CTSA institutional news items and open events in the CTSA e-Newsletter and on the CTSAweb.org Events page. Please send submissions to Sylvia Parsons.
The strategic plan guiding NCRR’s activities from FY 2009–FY 2013 is now available. The plan reflects extensive discussions and advice from a broad spectrum of individuals, including biomedical scientists, high-level administrators in research institutions, members of professional organizations, and NIH senior program staff. Access the online version of the plan directly on the NCRR Web site at www.ncrr.nih.gov/strategic_plan. Also available on the site are a six-page plan summary and quarterly updates on how action items from the plan are being implemented. Clinical Research Network Feasibility Awards Solicitation Westat in collaboration with NCRR and the NIH Roadmap IECRN Initiative invites currently funded CTSA institutions to submit proposals for Clinical Research Network Feasibility Awards (CRNFA). CTSA investigators who can demonstrate and provide synergy with ongoing government funded clinical research networks and clinical practice networks are eligible to apply. Proposals should focus on the following three areas: Translational Science Dissemination Research, Cost-Benefit/Cost-Effectiveness Research, and Community Engagement Research. The goal of these awards will be to create new collaborations among existing research networks that would result in mutual collaborative benefit and provide lasting and sustainable impact. Prospective offerors must submit a letter of intent to bid and/or any written questions regarding the solicitation by October 15, 2008. Final proposals are due no later than November 13, 2008, with contract award expected on February 1, 2009. Additional information can be found at https://www.clinicalresearchnetworks.org/8.asp. UCSF CTSI Co-Hosts Series of Workshops Related to University Community Partnerships The University of California, San Francisco, University Community Partnerships Program (UCPP), Community Partnership Resource Center (CPRC), and Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s (CTSI) Community Engagement Program are hosting a series of free workshops on topics related to university community partnerships. The first two workshops in the series (held in September) examined the basics of partnership building. Additional workshops are scheduled for October and November with plans to add more workshops to the series with topics in Community-Based Participatory Research, Service Learning, and Program Evaluation. For more information on the series, go to https://www.sf.ucsf.edu/about/events.aspx. NIH Announces Public Conference on the Toolbox Initiative NIH is hosting a conference, “Building the Toolbox,” on October 27, 2008. The Toolbox initiative, focused on the assessment of neurological and behavioral function, seeks to assemble brief, comprehensive assessment tools that will be useful to clinicians and researchers in a variety of settings, with a particular emphasis on measuring outcomes in longitudinal epidemiologic studies and prevention or intervention trials across the lifespan. The Toolbox will ensure that assessment methods will be capable of comparison with existing and completed studies. In this inaugural conference, discussion will include:
Additional details and registration information are available at www.nihtoolbox.org. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Funding Opportunity Announcement NHLBI has posted a funding opportunity on Translating Basic Behavioral and Social Science Discoveries into Interventions to Reduce Obesity: Centers for Behavioral Intervention Development: RFA-HL-08-013. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Funding Opportunity Announcement NIAAA has posted a funding opportunity on the Epigenomics of Human Health and Disease: RFA-RM-08-017. The RFA is focused on identifying global epigenome-wide marks or features that characterize diseased, aged, or environmentally compromised human cells or tissues. 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: NCRR Posts Recording of Web Demonstration for the CTSA Wiki and CTSAweb.org NCRR hosted a pilot series of online demonstrations of the CTSA Web systems, CTSAweb.org, and the CTSA Wiki. The series was very successful, and NCRR anticipates hosting another series in the winter. For those who could not participate, a recording of the most recent session presented on August 6, 2008, is available at https://webmeeting.nih.gov/p79124490. PowerPoint versions of the tutorials for each system and the link to the recording are available on the CTSA Wiki in CTSA Main, under the Important User Information section. Building Connections Page on CTSAweb.org A new page, Building Connections, has been launched on CTSAweb.org and may be accessed through the Quick Links box. The purpose of this page is to begin to provide information that can help the CTSAs better connect and work together within and outside of the consortium. The new page features the following:
NCRR Provides $2,500,000 in Administrative Supplements NCRR’s Division for Clinical Research Resources (DCRR) has provided $2,500,000 in Administrative Supplements to support the CTSA Consortium committees. When applications were solicited in May 2008, DCRR expected to be able to fund five or six applications with proposed total costs ranging from $50,000 to $200,000. However, with increased funding available at the end of the fiscal year, DCRR was able to fund 15 of the 19 applications received. The Consortium oversight process and consideration for project proposals began prior to the submission of applications to DCRR. CTSA Consortium committee members developed one-page project proposals, which were then submitted for concept consideration prior to the Administrative Supplement application deadline. The project summaries were then distributed by the Chairs of the CTSA Consortium Oversight Committee (CCOC) to all the CTSA principal investigators (PIs) for discussion, concept review, prioritization, and support. This “pre-consideration” was an essential first step, since PI support was required to complete the application. The solicitation stated that “a letter of endorsement and commitment signed by the Chair or Co-Chairs of the appropriate CTSA Steering Committee, Work Group, or Task Force and the CTSA PI Liaison to that CTSA Consortium must be included.” Each Steering Committee or group could only submit a maximum of two applications for Administrative Supplement funding; therefore, the input of the CCOC members served as a critical component for establishing priorities and recommending proposals later put forth as Administrative Supplement applications. Administrative Supplement applications were solicited from the CTSA Consortium committees in the name of a host institution and were competitively reviewed by a trans-NIH committee. All 19 applications were innovative, interesting, and relevant to the spirit of the solicitation, which stated, “Proposed projects must contribute to national efforts and relate to the mission of CTSA-wide consortia.” The solicitation also stated that “projects must be well thought out with achievable timelines and deliverables, specified personnel, and a justified budget.” The 15 applications selected for funding were representative of the CTSA Consortium activities and focus and were felt to have realistic timelines and milestones. An additional four proposals were considered more ambitious and needed further refinement before they could have been considered for funding. Notices of award (NoAs) were released in late September with instructions to the host institution that the supplement is meant to support specific CTSA Consortium committee activities. Additionally, where there were clear synergies between applications, the NoA explained that specified committees need to work together and must submit a joint report to NCRR after six months describing how they have addressed the needs of both groups. For those separate applications where duplication of effort was identified, the requested budgets were reduced, with the recommendation that awardees identify how the effort could be leveraged to benefit both projects. In general, the Administrative Supplement application and review process was considered highly successful and DCRR staff expect a significant increase in CTSA Consortium committee production, particularly as committees have been working for two years to become better organized and are motivated to succeed. Decisions about future solicitations will be made following evaluation of the outcome of this effort and depend on the availability of funds. DCRR is very appreciative of committee and host institution efforts and anticipates considerable increase in activity throughout the upcoming year.NCRR Moves to Register the CTSA Logo
In consultation with NIH’s Office of General Counsel, NCRR also has started the process of registering the CTSA logo with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Although registration with USPTO is not required to protect a trademark, it does provide a number of benefits. For example, registration notifies the reader or user that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services owns the CTSA trademark. Applications for registration are subject to approval by the USPTO, and the process may take several years to complete. NCRR will notify CTSA institutions when the registration process is complete, at which time the registration symbol (®) will be used. Among other NIH programs that have registered their trademarks with the USPTO are the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders’ WISE EARS!® educational campaign and the National Cancer Institute’s Comprehensive Cancer Center® designation. For more information, please contact Lili Portilla at NCRR via e-mail (lilip@nih.gov) or by phone (301-451-1467).
Consortium Committee Meeting Calendar
* Please note that the meetings and events listed in this newsletter are provided for your information. If you wish to participate, please contact the NIH coordinator. Updated Information on CTSAweb.org CTSAweb.org was developed to ensure access to CTSA resources, enhance communication, and encourage sharing. The site continues to evolve with the CTSA in promoting this new direction of clinical and translational science. Features and updates:
Reminder—The CTSA Web systems have a new help desk e-mail, help@CTSAweb.org. Please contact the help desk if you have questions regarding the CTSA systems, including CTSA Wiki and password questions. Read archived CTSA e-Newsletters on the CTSAweb.org CTSAs in the News page.
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NCRR Announces its 2009–2013 Strategic Plan
Over the next month, you will begin seeing the trademark symbol (™) next to the CTSA logo. Why? The CTSA logo has already been in nationwide commerce for some time now, and we want to make sure that we can control the use of the mark that identifies this important program. By adding the trademark symbol to the CTSA logo, NCRR is putting the public on notice that the logo and program belong to NCRR/NIH and should not be used by others without agreeing to our terms of use statement. We will be modifying the CTSA logo wherever it appears on the NCRR and CTSA Web sites and in the CTSA Communication Toolkit with the trademark symbol shortly. Once this process is completed, we will ask that you update your presentations, Web sites, and any other materials by adding the trademark symbol to the logo or by replacing your logo with the updated logo, which you will be able to download from the CTSA Communications Toolkit on CTSAweb.org.
