Our CTSC is known for the success of its educational programs. Our scholars represent a broad array of disciplines from Medicine and Nursing to Materials Science Engineering and Dentistry. A surprising 73% of our KL2 scholars have obtained R-level grants or the equivalent. We believe that our scholars benefit greatly from our mentorship program, directed by Al Connors, MD, which provides each KL2 scholar with one career mentor and one research mentor.  One unique element of the KL2 program is the ability of past scholars to serve as mentors for new scholars. This year, Jayme Knutson will begin mentoring; he began as a scholar with the first cohort in 2005.

We held our Annual CTSC KL2/TL1 Reception on Tuesday, May 8 at the Cleveland Clinic's Foundation House.  The reception honored the scholars and mentors who are exiting and entering our program. On behalf of the CTSC community we would like to offer our congratulations to our exiting scholars: Vikas Gulani, MD, PhD, (Radiology); Sonja Harris- Haywood, MD, (Family Medicine); Rebecca Boxer, MD, (Medicine); Kurt Lu, MD, (Dermatology); Ron Hickman, PhD (Nursing) & Ruth Farrell, MD (Women's Health). In addition, please join us in welcoming Michael Fu, PhD (Electrical Engineering), Gunnur Karakurt, PhD (Family Medicine/Marriage Counseling), Dan Ontaneda, MD (Neurology), Federico Perez, MD (Infectious Disease) & David Zidar, MD, PhD (Cardiology) as the new scholars of our program.

With graduates and entrants of this quality, we expect that our education program will remain one of our great ongoing achievements.

Pamela B. Davis, M.D., PhD.

Richard Rudick, M.D.   

Stanley Hazen, MD, PhD, recently was honored as part of the Clinical Research Forum's Top 10 Clinical Research Accomplishments of 2010-2011. The Clinical Reserach Forum awards are given nationally to projects that are compelling examples of the scientific innovation that results from the nation's investment in clinical research that can benefit human health and welfare. 

The Hazen-led study "Using Gut Metabolism to Identify Health Risks" won the "Novel Approaches" category by the Clinical Research Forum. Within the study, conducted at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University and other institutions, researchers identified three digestion byproducts as predictors of cardiovascular disease using metabolomics, a technique that involves the products of various chemical processes in the body. Further studies suggest that diet and metabolism in the gastrointestinal tract could add to genetic factors in producing cardiovascular disease.

The Clinical Research Forum was formed in 1996 to discuss the unique and complex challenges to clinical research in academic health centers. Through its activities, the Forum has enabled sharing of best practices in clinical research and increasingly has played a national advocacy role in support of the broader interests and needs of clinical research.