Letter from the Co-Directors: Fall 2024

Research Events

On October 29, UR CTSI held Translational Science Day, our biggest event of the year. With over 200 attendees, including trainees, researchers, community members, and representatives from over 25 research support units across URMC, it was our most successful event ever.

The energy in the Saunders Research Building and Helen Wood Hall was high, with great presentations by researchers who overcame translational barriers, excellent workshops offering actionable information, a bustling resource support fair, and Translational Science Shark Tank and Three-Minute Thesis competitions that highlighted innovation with a spirit of collaboration and competition.

The organizing team and steering committee led by Alfred Vitale, PhD, of the Research Education branch, did a stellar job organizing and running our flagship event. Katie Crane, Carrie Dykes, PhD, Judy Giordano, Rachel Hillhouse, Jeanne Holden-Wiltse, MPH, MBA, Ashlee Lang, Rebecca Laird, MBA, MDiv, Kim Marino, Susanne Pallo, PhD, Jonathan Raab, MS, Kayla Steiger, Andrew Thomas, MS, and Karen Vitale, MSEd, all contributed to the event’s success through careful planning and organization, administrative support, and on-the-spot troubleshooting. Great work, team!

We have another great event coming up on Tuesday, December 3: Community-Based Participatory Research Day. This event will highlight the importance of partnerships between researchers and community members. Consider attending the event to learn more about this crucial, collaborative style of research. Register here.

Publications and Grants

Congratulations to UR CTSI’s Dongmei Li, PhD, Zidian Xie, PhD, and Karen Wilson, MD, MPH, alongside Chenliang Xu, PhD, and Ana Paula Cupertino, PhD, for earning an R01 grant from the NIH Research Project Grant Program for their project “Artificial Intelligence for effective communication to promote vaping cessation on social media.” This project identifies key characteristics of vaping-related social media posts that generate high user engagement in the hopes of designing effective vaping prevention messaging.

Congratulations is also due to Steve Barnett, MD, John Cullen, PhD, Holly Russell, MD, and Cynthia Rand, MD, MPH, for their project “Trusted School Messengers Promoting Non-Mandated Vaccination.” Barnett is the principal investigator on the CDC Prevention Research Centers grant, and Rand is the principal investigator on this supplementary grant, with Cullen and Russell serving as co-investigators. The project runs for three years and aims to adapt the Theater for Vaccine Hesitancy intervention to increase uptake of influenza and HPV vaccines in schools in the Rochester City School District and rural school districts.

Strengthening the Institute

Also cause for celebration is the addition of new staff to UR CTSI. It is our pleasure to welcome Matthew Buchovecky, MA, who joins the team as a human subject research coordinator I. Sean Yen, MD, MS, is joining Informatics and Analytics as a research data engineer, where he will work to enhance the URMC OMOP database and develop analytical tools for research support. Finally, welcome Kassidy Colton, who will serve as a clinical research data specialist I. 

Our branches and offices continue to innovate and develop new tools, services, and resources for researchers at URMC. Informatics and Analytics launched a new service just in time for fall: Clinical Imaging Data for UR Researchers—or CIDUR, pronounced “cider.”  It supports researchers through effective management and collection of clinical imaging data for research approved by the IRB.

At the end of October, the Office of Clinical Research launched the Advarra Electronic Regulatory Binder, better known as eReg. eReg improves routing and workflows, applies shared documents and records across multiple protocols, provides secure remote access to sponsors and monitors, and centralizes document management. The team is working to implement this system at the Wilmot Cancer Institute by the end of spring, at which time the resources will be open to other disease working groups at the University.

Finally, we are looking forward to seeing our staff and faculty at our upcoming quarterly meeting and holiday party on Tuesday, December 10. We are excited to celebrate such an incredible year with our team.

On behalf of everyone at the institute, enjoy the holiday season!

Sincerely,

Co-Directors Karen Wilson, MD, MPH, and Martin Zand, MD, PhD

Jonathan Raab | 11/21/2024