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From the Directors
A few weeks ago several of us from the Cleveland CTSC attended the National Steering Meeting for the CTSA program. There is no question that the move to NCATS will invigorate the CTSA programs and help us to focus on improving outcomes for clinical and translational research across the United States. The new director, Chris Austin, is energetic and dynamic, and has great ambition to improve the health of Americans by bringing forward new drugs and translating new ideas into clinical care.
Several topics arose as being of primary interest to the NIH. First, the CTSAs must enhance and complement the work of the other NIH institutes and centers. What these groups want most is help with clinical trials - reducing time to enrollment, identifying subject volunteers, keeping the study on track, and providing infrastructure to complete the study. Certainly accelerating the clinical research process is a pivotal goal of the CTSAs and we have worked hard to develop both facilitated and reliance models for harmonizing multiple IRB approvals. Both ResearchMatch and Explorys can help in identifying subjects, and iConnect is catching on at other CTSAs in addition to our own. We need to keep these goals clearly in sight, though, since slippage is easy and the stakes are high. New ideas from the scientific community on how to streamline the process are welcome, and can be directed to either of us, the Executive Director, Ginny Petrie, or our Champion of Change Phil Cola.
The Institutes and Centers at the NIH also want collaboration and support for their funded Centers at CTSA sites. Our CTSC has always sought to partner with other programs to the greatest extent possible, with the use of our resources and software, complementary funding of pilot grants, and approval of cores so that they are eligible for the core utilization pilot grant program. Other ideas from the community are welcome, and we encourage you to consider how partnerships could enhance both programs.
Another area of emphasis was assistance with bringing new drugs to patients, and several commercialization ideas were discussed. It is clear that much of the non-CTSA portion of NCATS will be devoted to drug discovery and bringing new therapies to patients. The CTSAs can be a powerful resource to complement these other programs. We have put in place substantial resources to enhance the ability of our investigators to identify and develop small molecule drugs that alter the function of therapeutic targets. These include access, via a statewide consortium, to high throughput screening, and medicinal chemistry, as well as our own Center for Membrane and Structural Biology to define the structure of potential therapeutic targets. Our Chief Translational Officers have been identifying and encouraging development of discoveries to cures.
All in all, the national meeting revealed the CTSA program to be robust and our CTSC is well positioned for the future. Your ideas, though, are essential to keep us strong. We welcome your thoughts.
Pamela B. Davis, M.D., Ph.D.
Richard Rudick, M.D.
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Population Health and Outcomes Core Can Be Key Part of Your Research
Population-based databases (e.g., Medicare and Medicaid administrative databases, Vital Records, the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data) represent rich sources of data, from "real world" settings, offering an unparalleled opportunity to examine patterns of health care use, morbidity, mortality, and other process and outcomes measures in various subgroups of the population. In particular, where multiple treatment alternatives are available for a specific medical condition, these databases offer a unique opportunity to conduct comparative effectiveness research (CER) to identify the most effective treatment modality.
The Population Health and Outcomes Research Core (PHORC) maintains a vast archive of population-based databases and provides expertise in working with them to conduct outcomes and disparities research. This includes a large computing capacity to create an infrastructure to respond to researchers' needs in comparative effectiveness research. This Core serves researchers at CWRU, as well as the research community at large.
Researchers can get help in many areas including:
- Advice and assistance to researchers on appropriate study design and data source(s).
- Access to appropriate database(s) and obtaining the necessary data users' agreements and IRB approvals.
- Analytic support to carry out the study.
Databases available through the Core include:
- Ohio Medicaid enrollment and claim forms (1991-2008)
- The Cancer Aging Linked Database (1997-2001)
- Hospital Discharge data
- National Inpatient Sample (NIS) databases (1988-2009)
- State Inpatient Databases (SID) for various states/years
- Linked data from the Ohio Department of Mental Health (ODMH) and death certificate data (2004-2007)
- Just Added: Data from the 2009 Ohio Cancer Incidence Surveillance System (all anatomic cancer sites) linked with 2008-2010 Medicare data
If you are interested please contact:
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Congratulations to the Recipients of the August 2012 CTSC Core Utilization Awards!
Yu-Chung Yang, Ph.D.
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
"Metabolic Control of Hematopoietic Stem Cells"
Carole Liedtke, Ph.D.
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
"Protein Scaffolds Regulate NKCC1 Membrane Expression and Function"
Tomas Radivoyevitch, Ph.D.
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
"The Intracellular half-life of Decitabine Triphosphate"
The CTSC of Case Western Reserve University Core Utilization Pilot Program supports investigator use of and familiarity with CTSC Core operations and personnel, in anticipation of applications for external funding using CTSC resources. Ideal uses may be to run tests on samples already collected; build cross-disciplinary collaborative programs; or develop enabling technologies, new therapeutic, diagnostic or outcomes and more.
The CTSC Core Utilization Pilot Grant has a rolling submission format. Applications are accepted year-round and submissions are reviewed monthly.
View the list of 2012 Core Pilot recipients.
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CTSC Annual Pilot Accepting Letters of Intent
Available Funds
The CTSC and the Case Coulter Translational Research Partnership is accepting letters of intent for the 2013 CTSC Annual Pilot Grant Funding. The grant will fund up to $50,000 to support innovative translational research projects focused upon the invention, preclinical development and/or first in man studies of novel therapeutic agents, biomedical devices and diagnostics designed to address unmet clinical needs.
Eligibility
The CTSC and CCTRP will provide seed money to faculty in multidisciplinary programs for Pilot Projects that will lead to efficient use of resources and support of inter-institutional, clinical and translational research in the City of Cleveland. Investigators in the basic science and clinical departments at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth Medical Center, University Hospitals Case Medical Center and The Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center are eligible. The PI is required to be a faculty member from one of the 5 CTSC partner institutions and eligible to be a PI for an NIH grant.
Deadline
Letters of intent are due by January 15th, 2013, 11:59pm. Investigators will be invited to apply for the funding based on the letters of intent and will need to submit full applications by March 15th, 2013.
For questions regarding this RFA or your application, please contact:
CTSC Pilot Program Office
CTSC-Pilot-Coordinator@case.edu
216-368-2391
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Weatherhead Institute for Family Medicine and Community Health Request for Applications
Available Funds
Weatherhead Institute for Family Medicine and Community Health Pilot: Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (CWRU-SOM) is making funds available for small grants of $2,500 to $10,000 to address community health issues through University-Community partnerships. Up to three awards are expected, subject to the number and quality of applications. An additional $2000 may be provided for use of CTSC Core services.
Eligibility
To receive funding, applications must reflect a partnership between a community organization and a Case Western Reserve University faculty member. Partnerships are intended to leverage the expertise of members of the community in improving health and promoting wellness. Applications are encouraged from CWRU-SOM students and faculty, and from faculty at other Case schools and colleges and affiliates. However, student applications should be submitted by a faculty member who is active in the CTSC. For all applications, the Principal Investigator must be a Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine faculty member. Interested investigators from other institutions should partner with a School of Medicine faculty member for the submission.
Deadline
Applications are due no later than 11:59pm, December 3rd, 2012
For questions contact:
CTSC Pilot Program Office:
CTSC-Pilot-Coordinator@case.edu
216-368-2391
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Comparative Effectiveness Research Symposium
Save The Date
Comparative Effectiveness Research Half-Day Symposium
(CME Credits)
When: Friday, December 14, 2012, 7:30am-noon Where: Wolstein Auditorium Featured Speakers: Siran Koroukian, PhD (large databases) Mendel Singer, PhD, MPH (decision analysis) Dave Kaelber, MD, PhD, MPH (EHR) Shari Bolen, MD, PhD (meta analysis) Look for registration Information in the November CTSC newsletter.
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ACES+
The Academic Careers in Engineering & Science (ACES) program at Case Western Reserve University is part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE program to develop a national science and engineering workforce that includes the full participation of women at all levels of faculty and academic leadership.
With generous support from the National Science Foundation, NSF-Advance (grant #0245054) the Academic Careers in Engineering and Science (ACES) program at Case Western Reserve University seeks to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering workforce that includes the full participation of women at all levels of faculty and academic leadership.
Click Here for more information
Download the flyer
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