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Certifications Awarded for UAMS Research Staff

Feb. 16, 2016 | Fourteen University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) employees have earned Certified Research Specialist (CRS) certificates. The recipients were announced at a Feb. 12 ceremony.

The certification program, administered by the UAMS Office of Research Compliance, ensures an understanding of, and respect for, the principles of research integrity and the protection of those who participate in research. Although the certification is not required by all departments, UAMS research employees routinely complete the 26 hours of coursework and the comprehensive CRS proficiency exam.

The recipients are:

Kathryn Allen, Cancer Clinical Trials Office
Michael Bailey, Translational Research Institute
Scott Crump, COM Research and Evaluation Division
Barbara Curtis, Central Arkansas Veterans Health System
Leanna Delhey, COM Pediatrics Neurology Research
Jessica Gann, Myeloma Institute
Audrie Johnston, Arkansas Children’s Hospital Quality Improvement
Jami Jones, Cancer Clinical Trials Office
Jennifer McCluskey, Office of Research Compliance
Leila Montague, Regional Programs and Grants Administration
Shemeka Randle, Arkansas Children’s Hospital
Jenika Sanchez, Otolaryngology Clinical Support
Robert Smith, Myeloma Institute
Ty Stacey, Myeloma Institute

In addition, 90 UAMS employees were acknowledged for maintaining their CRS certification, which requires that they remain current on Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Human Subject Protection training and complete six hours of continuing education each calendar year.

UAMS’ Efforts Getting Experimental Drug for Patient ‘Unheard of’

Their dedication to patient care meant putting their Christmas holiday on hold. (l-r) Suzanne Alstadt, Jennifer Holland, Dori Wong-Scoggins, Sandy Annis, Jennifer Roberts and Yogesh Jethava, M.D.

Jan. 27, 2016 | It was Christmas night and Yogesh Jethava, M.D., was worried.

Working the holiday at UAMS Medical Center, he had just diagnosed a leukemia patient’s rare, life-threatening liver disease. The only known treatment was a drug awaiting U.S. Food & Drug Administration approval and not available at most medical centers.

What he thought would be a straightforward emergency-use request to the pharmaceutical company that developed the drug, turned into a near impossible hurdle when he was told that UAMS would have to go through the complex process of opening a clinical trial to receive the drug.

That’s when an extraordinary effort by dedicated UAMS employees from multiple offices began to unfold.

Opening a clinical trial typically takes months, and UAMS’ research support offices were closed for the long holiday weekend. Although Jethava had alerted the appropriate people, he wasn’t expecting what happened next.

While most people were busy sampling leftover pie Christmas night, UAMS’ Sandy Annis and Jennifer Roberts were at their home computers catching up on work.

Annis, who leads the Clinical Trials Office for the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, saw Jethava’s request in an email from Roberts, director of the Research Pharmacy.

“Jennifer and I have worked together for so long she knew who to contact,” Annis said. “Luckily Jennifer included several of the appropriate people on campus and had already talked to the company.”

The following day Annis completed work on about 30 documents for the drug company. She also drafted an emergency-use informed consent document for the patient to sign. Any hope of getting the clinical trial approved quickly would also require involvement and approval from other UAMS officials, including Suzanne Alstadt, director of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, Dori Wong-Scoggins, senior contracts attorney, and Jennifer Holland, director of the Institutional Review Board office.

“In my 12 years in this office, this is the first time we’ve ever attempted to get something like this accomplished on a holiday or a weekend,” Annis said. “Amazingly everybody was on email and they were responsive. The drug company was, too.”

They worked by email and text, often using their smart phones. Wong-Scoggins was traveling in California that Saturday after Christmas. She used a smartphone to negotiate and edit the agreement with the drug company.

“I was a passenger in the car going up to Napa with my family,” Wong-Scoggins said. “Editing on a smartphone app is doable, but it’s harder. I was getting car sick.”

Holland, who was driving home from Tennessee the same day, counted more than 60 emails and text messages. When her UAMS email inbox reached capacity on her phone, she switched to her gmail account.

“Talk to text was a lifesaver,” Holland said. “I processed the IRB acknowledgement letter at a gas station parking lot somewhere between Nashville and Memphis.”

The biggest challenge, Holland said, was working through the drug company’s requirements.

“I’ve worked on several of these types of emergency-use situations in the past 15 years, and this is the first time we’ve ever been asked to fully execute a clinical trial agreement,” she said. Despite the obstacles, the clinical trial agreement was approved and the drug, Defibrotide, was at UAMS three days later.

Jethava said he was amazed at the extraordinary efforts of so many research staff. “This is the most remarkable thing that can happen,” Jethava said. “It is unheard of.”

Annis attributed the accomplishment to the group’s many years of working together, dedication to UAMS, and trust in each other.

“I don’t think this would have worked if even one person wasn’t a player,” she said. “It took everybody.”

She said there was no consideration of waiting until the following Monday to work on the request.

“It never crossed our minds,” she said. “We knew this patient was in a bad situation and there wasn’t any other alternative medically. We would expect the same if it had been our own family.”

NCATS Invites Two TRI-Supported Collaborative Proposals

When the call went out in 2015 for innovative collaboration ideas involving the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) consortium, UAMS researchers joined their CTSA colleagues to offer six proposals.

Two of those proposals are moving to the next phase; full UO1 applications were recently invited by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). The two are led locally by UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI)-supported researchers Mary Aitken, M.D., M.P.H., and Mathias Brochhausen, Ph.D. “I am very proud of all the researchers who submitted proposals, and I am excited by the two selected to go forward,” said Laura James, M.D., TRI director. “This new NCATS initiative has provided a great opportunity to showcase our expertise in translational research and our ability to work effectively in a collaborative national network.”

Linking Biobank Data

Brochhausen, principal investigator for the UAMS site, views his U01 collaboration with four other CTSA institutions as an opportunity to achieve the nationally elusive dream of making biobank data from multiple institutions available to researchers across the United States.

“We think now we have the right group of people to actually address the issue,” said Brochhausen, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics.

Other collaborating sites are Duke University, Medical University of South Carolina, University of Michigan, and University of Pennsylvania.

Biobanks include collections of biospecimens and data from electronic health records . Access to multiple sources of biobank data is expected to be a strong driver of biomarker discovery, hypothesis generation and new therapeutics. The biggest hurdle has been the lack of standard terminology among biobanks, Brochhausen said. To address the challenge, the collaborative developed an “integrative semantic framework,” with a common language for biobank data. Its proposal also integrates local informed consent procedures for donor specimens.

“For translational research, that is really significant because our proposal will allow researchers to query multiple databases from multiple sites,” Brochhausen said. “With informed consent as part of this program, we’ll reduce delays by weeding out query results that researchers can’t use.”

Educating Translational Researchers
Aitken is the UAMS site principal investigator collaborating with researchers at six other institutions to develop and improve upon educational curricula and tools supporting the training of translational scientists. The collaborating sites are the University of Utah, Ohio State University, Tufts University, University of California, Irvine, University of New Mexico, and Vanderbilt University.

“Our preliminary proposal was well received,” said Aitken, co-director of TRI’s KL2 Mentored Research Career Development Scholar Award program. “The full proposal will allow more detail about the courses to be offered across the consortium.”

The proposal, which targets KL2, TL1 and other trainees, calls for further developing the best education programs at each institution. It includes TRI-supported implementation science, regulatory science and community engagement as areas of training that UAMS could offer to other institutions.

“The idea is to provide courses lasting up to fivedays that trainees could travel to,” said Aitken, a professor in the Department of Pediatrics. “Telemedicine and online options are also likely.”

The collaborative’s proposal also calls for the development of preconference short courses that could be offered in conjunction with the annual Association for Clinical and Translational Sciences (ACTS) meeting each April.

Aitken is working closely with other UAMS research and education leaders on the project, including Geoffrey Curran, Ph.D., Jay Gandy, Ph.D., Laura James, M.D., Robert E. McGehee, Ph.D., Nancy Rusch, Ph.D., and Kate Stewart, M.D., M.P.H.

If approved, each research program will receive up to $500,000 a year for five years.

January 2016 TRIbune

The January TRIbune newsletter features two TRI-supported collaborations with multiple institutions across the country. The collaborations led at UAMS by Mary Aitken, M.D., M.P.H., and Mathias Brochhausen, Ph.D., were invited to submit full applications in February by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).

Also in this issue, TRI Director Laura James, M.D., writes about ARresearch.org, a TRI-sponsored participant recruitment website. A key feature of the website is a registry for people to sign up as potential research participants. You’ll also read about a BioVentures startup with TRI connections, PinPoint Testing LLC; new KL2 Scholars Bryce Marquis, Ph.D., and Shona Ray-Griffith, M.D.; a TRI perspective from Jean McSweeney, Ph.D., R.N.; and recent publications of TRI-supported researchers. It’s all in The TRIbune.

Download Newsletter | Newsletter Archive

UAMS Profiles Training Dates Set

Four trainings are scheduled in February and March for faculty and post-doctoral researchers interested in learning how to use UAMS Profiles, UAMS’ new web-based researcher networking tool.

The 1-hour hands-on trainings will be conducted Feb. 23, noon – 1 p.m. and 4 – 5 p.m.; March 2, 4 – 5 p.m.; and March 8, noon – 1 p.m.

All trainings will be held in EDII 8/105 A/B. Register in Training Tracker. Sign up now – each training is limited to 30 participants. Contact: Nia Indelicato, nlindelicato@uams.edu.

TRI Announces 2015 KL2 Award Recipients!

UAMS’ Bryce Marquis, Ph.D., an assistant professor of geriatrics, and Shona Ray-Griffith, M.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry, were recently named recipients of the Translational Research Institute’s 2015 KL2 Mentored Research Career Development Awards.

Marquis’ KL2 project is testing nutritional therapies to improve respiratory efficiency for heart failure patients. He anticipates the results of his work will direct the development of a new nutritional approach that can be used alone or with exercise to improve health outcomes in heart failure patients.

Ray-Griffith’s KL2 project is the first study using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to treat neuropathic pain in pregnant women. rTMS uses a magnetic force to change the way nerves work in the brain. Because it is non-invasive and localized, rTMS is attractive for use in special populations, such as pregnancy, said Ray-Griffith, who has a secondary appointment in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

For the next two years, the KL2 awards will provide Marquis and Ray-Griffith with 75 percent of their salaries (up to $95,000), and up to $25,000 for research, tuition, travel expenses and education materials in support of their career development plans.

Marquis’ mentors are Robert Wolfe, Ph.D., Gohar Azhar, M.D., and Jeanne Wei, M.D., Ph.D., all in the Department of Geriatrics; Elisabet Borsheim, Ph.D., in the Department of Pediatrics; and Gunnar Boysen, Ph.D., in the College of Public Health. Marquis joined the UAMS College of Medicine faculty this year from the University of Central Arkansas, where he was an assistant professor of chemistry. He received his doctorate in analytical chemistry at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. He was also a National Research Council postdoctoral associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md.

Ray-Griffith’s mentors are Pedro Delgado, M.D., and Zachary Stowe, M.D., both in the Department of Psychiatry; and Everett Magann, M.D., in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology. She joined the UAMS College of Medicine faculty in 2013 with clinical appointments in the Women’s Mental Health program and as a psychiatry consult and liaison. She received her academic appointments in 2014 in the departments of Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynecology. She was a research fellow in the Women’s Mental Health Program and also served her residency and internship with the Department of Psychiatry. Ray-Griffith received her medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, and she is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

TRI Offering Research Forums

Research Forum participant Aliza Brown, Ph.D.

Nov. 30, 2015 | Do you have a research idea and need some assistance moving forward? Have you submitted a grant application that did not get funded? The Translational Research Institute (TRI) may be able to help through its Research Forums. Research Forums are individually tailored help sessions to address your specific needs. They are private meetings between you and a panel of experts that can help you move your research ideas and projects forward.

Over the past year, TRI has hosted 10 Research Forums for researchers from UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, and the UAMS Northwest Campus. You can request a Research Forum at TRIServices@uams.edu.

Read here about the Research Forum experience of UAMS’ Aliza Brown, Ph.D.

TRI Research Grants Support UAMS Collaboration in Other States

Nov. 24, 2015 | The UAMS Translational Research Institute announced recipients of two pilot grants aimed at stimulating collaborative research with institutions in other states.

UAMS’ Joshua Kennedy, M.D., is the co-leader of a one-year project with the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (UNM HSC). Another project is co-led by UAMS’ Sean Adams, Ph.D., with John Thyfault, Ph.D., at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC).

The competitive awards were made available through the Western States Consortium Pilot Awards program. The consortium includes the University of Utah in addition to UAMS, KUMC and UNM HSC. Of the eight applications submitted, three one-year pilots of up to $50,000 were awarded, with costs shared by the institutions.

“Collaboration is essential in successful translational research, and I am proud that UAMS researchers represent two of the three projects selected for the 2015 program,” said TRI Director Laura James, M.D.

The UAMS – UNM HSC project, “Host-Pathogen Genomic Determinants of Pediatric Respiratory Infection Severity,” will study the role of genetics in children with acute respiratory infections.

Kennedy is 2013 recipient of the Translational Research Institute’s KL2 Mentored Research Career Development Award. His primary collaborator at UNM, Darrell Dinwiddie, Ph.D., is also a KL2 recipient.

The pilot award is expected to strengthen their ongoing KL2 research programs by uniquely blending their expertise in genetics, next-generation sequencing, virology, clinical infectious disease, and allergy and immunology. The project, which will enroll 100 pediatric patients, involves two distinct populations with differing respiratory infection patterns.

The UAMS – KUMC project is titled “Metabolomics Signatures That Occur in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) Patients With and Without Type 2 Diabetes in Comparison to Controls (non-AD) With or Without Type 2 Diabetes.” The two institutions are combining their expertise in Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes (KUMC), and metabolomics and bioinformatics in metabolic disease states including type 2 diabetes (UAMS). They anticipate their work will provide key information on the links between type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s. It will also provide metabolic-based information on the cause and development of Alzheimer’s and possibly highlight therapeutic targets.

Other researchers on the project are UAMS’ Kartik Shankar, Ph.D., and KUMC’s Jill Morris, Ph.D., and Brian Piccolo, Ph.D.

UAMS TRI, Community Groups Celebrate Research Partnerships

Nov. 20, 2015 | Twenty-five community groups were honored Nov. 13 for their contributions to research at the 3^rd annual Community Partner Celebration sponsored by the UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI).

TRI Community Advisory Board members Naomi Cottoms, Charles Moore and Ann Huff with Kathryn Hall-Trujillo (center). — TRI Community Advisory Board members Naomi Cottoms, Charles Moore and Anna Huff Davis with Kathryn Hall-Trujillo (center).

The celebration, at the Center at University Park in Little Rock, included welcome remarks from TRI Director Laura James, M.D., and UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D. The keynote speaker was Kathryn Hall-Trujillo, M.P.H., founder of the Birthing Project USA, which began as a community project to assist pregnant women and has been replicated in other countries.

The key message to the 88 attendees representing 21 grassroots community organizations and four advisory boards, was how important their work is to finding solutions to society’s most challenging health problems.

Rahn noted that Arkansas ranks at or near the bottom on virtually every key measure of health. No matter how much knowledge there is about obesity, diabetes or cancer deaths, he said, it is of no value without new, innovative approaches to improving health.

“If we keep doing what we’ve been doing we’ll get what we already got,” Rahn said.

UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D., welcomed UAMS' partners to the celebration in their honor. — UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D., welcomed UAMS’ partners to the celebration in their honor.

“The future hinges on some new ways of thinking and developing new knowledge and new methodologies to actually change the future,” he added. “That’s what you can help us with. We thank you for doing this, we thank you for partnering with us. We truly need our partners to help us chart a course for a healthier tomorrow.”

James said the perspective of UAMS’ grassroots partners is key.

“We need to interact with our community partners, and we need to partner with you to do research that is the most meaningful to Arkansans,” James said. “What’s important about tonight is we are celebrating and thinking about how we can in partnership take scientific discoveries or new findings and push them into the homes and families and communities and churches out in the state to improve the health of our state.”

Featured speaker Hall-Trujillo, an Arkansas native whose Birthing Project has become an international model for helping pregnant women, praised the work of the attendees. A key to the success of her project was realizing the need for communities to understand how important systems and resources work, such as university, medical, education, housing and legal systems.

“The resources we brought to the table were partnered with people who had resources,” Hall-Trujillo said. “What we need to do is be the best relationship builders, the best ambassadors and best liaisons for the families we support. I can see by looking at this room, that that is exactly what you’re doing, and I applaud you for doing it, and I can see a better place.”

Laura James, M.D., TRI Director, applauded the work of UAMS' community partners. — Laura James, M.D., TRI Director, applauded the work of UAMS’ community partners.

The community organizations honored this year are:

Representatives of King's Chapel with their award. — Representatives of King’s Chapel with their award.

Representatives of Oak Forest United Methodist Church with their award.

Arkansas Community Health Worker Association (ARCHWA)
Arkansas Voices for the Children Left Behind
Cisneros Center for New Americans
Divine Deliverance
East Arkansas Family Health Center
El Zócalo Immigrant Resource Center
First Baptist Dew Drop Church
Hispanic Women’s Organization of Arkansas
House of Benjamin
Human Rights Campaign
King’s Chapel
Lee County Cooperative Clinic
New Light MBC
Oak Forest United Methodist Church
Planting A Seed Foundation
Pleasant View Ministries Church
Regenerated Missionary Baptist Church
Rural Community Alliance
Seeds of Liberation
Washington Regional Medical Center Employee Education Department
Young Adult Opportunity Center

The community advisory boards honored this year are:

Arkansas Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Task Force
Thomas & Lyon Longevity Clinic Patient
and Family Advisory Council
TransForm Health Arkansas Research Working Group
UAMS Hospital Patient and Family Advisory Council

VIEW THE EVENT PHOTO ALBUM

TRIbune Newsletter

The November issue of TRI’s newsletter, The TRIbune, is now available. This issue features our clinical trials services, our promotion of health sciences innovation and entrepreneurship, KL2 Awardee Ling Gao, M.D., Ph.D., published in the NEJM, and TRI-cited publications.

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