News

TRI Seeking Letters of Intent from Prospective KL2 Scholar Award Applicants

The Translational Research Institute (TRI) is pleased to invite Letters of Intent (LOIs) for the 2023 KL2 Mentored Research Career Development Scholar Awards.

The TRI Mentored Research Career Development Scholars Program provides support for early-career UAMS faculty with a professional degree (M.D., Ph.D., Pharm.D., D.N.P., Dr.PH., D.O., etc.) who are committed to an academic career in multidisciplinary clinical or translational research.

Successful applicants will begin the two-year program July 1, 2023. The KL2 program combines an innovative educational program with mentored clinical/translational science research. KL2 Scholars receive:

Salary support/stipend of up to $95,000 (including fringe) per year.

Up to $25,000 of non-salary support per year, which can be used for research, tuition, travel expenses, educational materials and other costs related to the scholar’s research.

The deadline for submitting LOIs is Friday, Jan. 27, 2023, 5 p.m. (CT).

See attached LOI Cover Page.

View the Request for Applications.

The KL2 program is supported by the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program of the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Contact: Chaz England, CEngland@uams.edu.

SAVE THE DATE: Join Us April 4 for TRI Research Day!

Image art includes the words, Research Day and Translational Research Institute

All are invited to TRI Research Day on Tuesday, April 4, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Heifer International in Little Rock.

Our keynote speaker is Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurosurgery and director of the University of Florida Clinical Translational Science Institute (CTSI). He is also assistant vice president for Research and associate dean for Clinical and Translational Sciences at the UF College of Medicine.

The event will showcase TRI-supported research with oral presentations from select TRI-supported investigators. A poster session (with prizes!) will include an array of TRI-supported projects across its range of funding and training programs.

Please mark your calendars and stay tuned for registration and other details.

Contact: Robin Liston, rliston@uams.edu.

Researchers, Community Organizations Invited to Apply for CBPR Scholars Program

Image of text at top of information flyer stating: New Free Partnered Research Training PRogram with Pilot Funding Opportunities; Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Scholars Program Begins March 2023; TRI is looking for researchers and community organizations interested in partnering, training and working on a research project.

TRI’s Community Engagement Program is seeking researchers and community organizations interested in partnering, training and working on a funded research project.

The Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Scholars Program will provide successful applicants up to $25,000 or up to $50,000 in pilot funding. Applications are due Feb. 1, 2023, and the program begins in March 2023.

If interested, please email the TRI Community Engagement team at triceteam@uams.edu, or call/text 501-291-7301.

More information is available here.

View the flyer.

TRI Study of the Month

*Kyle Kalkwarf, M.D., is assisted on the trial by TRI’s Shellah Rogers, B.S.N., RN, CMSRN, the study’s lead clinical research coordinator.*

UAMS Principal Investigator: Kyle Kalkwarf, M.D., assistant professor, College of Medicine Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery

Summary: This multi-site clinical trial involving hospitalized traumatic brain injury patients will test the effectiveness of a non-invasive device (Infrascanner) for detecting the growth of intracranial hematomas.

Significance: The study of this FDA-approved device, which uses near-infrared light to detect bleeding, may lead to earlier diagnosis and improved treatments for traumatic brain injury patients, especially in areas with limited resources, such as rural America or on military deployments

TRI Services: Medicare coverage analysis, study budget development, regulatory and nurse/clinical coordinator support, administration of Clinical Trial Management System, and post-award financial management

Sponsor: University of Alabama at Birmingham

Funding: U.S. Department of Defense

The TRIbune Is Here

STARs participant Bolni “Marius” Nagalo, Ph.D., here in his lab at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, said the grant-writing program was a “fantastic” experience. Photo by Evan Lewis

In this issue of The TRIbune, we feature the achievements of researchers who participated in our Strategies for Training and Advancing Researchers (STARs) program in fall 2021. Participants described the program as “invaluable” and “fantastic” and have since secured career development awards, supplemental grants and internal funding. In addition:

We highlight Britni Ayers, Ph.D., a former TRI KL2 scholar, who received a $420,750 NIH grant for her research involving pregnant Marshallese women.

We introduce the four community groups selected to TRI’s Community Partners Educated as Arkansas Research Leaders (CPEARL) Program.

And our TRI Study of the Month features Kyle Kalkwarf, M.D., a TRI Implementation Science Scholars Program awardee, for his leadership on a clinical trial involving traumatic brain injury patients.

Read The TRIbune.

TRI’s Tracy Thurman Named Clinical Billing Compliance Champion for 2022

TRI's Tracy Thurman (right) received the UAMS Compliance Champion Award from Amy Jones, senior director of UAMS Clinical Billing Compliance. — TRI’s Tracy Thurman (right) received the UAMS Compliance Champion Award from Amy Jones, senior director of UAMS Clinical Billing Compliance.

The UAMS Office of Institutional Compliance recognizes Corporate Compliance and Ethics Week each year during the first week of November.

This year, Tracy Thurman, B.S., CCRP, clinical research finance manager for the UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI), is UAMS’ Clinical Billing Compliance Champion. She was selected for going above and beyond in her adherence to compliance and maintaining positive, supportive relationships with compliance office employees and other members of Team UAMS.

Below is the narrative submitted with her nomination:

“Tracy Thurman is the Clinical Research Finance Manager in TRI. Tracy and the TRI team provide vital services for clinical research areas, such as Medicare Coverage Analysis, building budgets, negotiating budgets with sponsors, and reviewing billing charges for clinical research studies out of TRI.

Tracy has an invaluable depth of knowledge in her field and always strives to help ensure that billing for clinical research studies is set up to ensure compliance. Tracy and her fellow team members work with many areas on campus such as the UAMS Billing Offices, the Value Analysis Office and the UAMS Compliance Office.

Tracy is well respected by her peers. She is always kind, professional and respectful. She is one of the many employees in TRI who help to foster compliance in clinical research that allows UAMS to continue to offer ground-breaking clinical research opportunities for our community. UAMS is very fortunate to have Tracy on TEAM UAMS!”

As part of this awareness, recognition, and reinforcement campaign, each division within Compliance selected Team UAMS members who demonstrate outstanding support to UAMS compliance programs.

Read more here about other 2022 Compliance Champions.

The October TRIbune Is Here!

In this issue of The TRIbune, we feature an exciting new software program that will simplify TRI grant application processes for researchers, reviewers and our staff. The Apply software program will be available in spring 2023 for six TRI funding opportunities. The program will provide a tool that not only streamlines processes but also ensures that TRI’s funding programs are equitable, fair and transparent.

TRI’s Paul Duguid, MPH, and Carolyn Greene, Ph.D., are leading TRI’s acquisition of the Apply software.

We also highlight our latest cohort of Strategies for Training and Advancing Researchers (STARs) program recipients and the recent national award for Jennifer Vincenzo, Ph.D., which stems from her work as a KL2 Mentored Research Career Development Program scholar.

Our Study of the Month features Erika Petersen, M.D., a professor of neurosurgery, and her collaborations with Ranu Jung, Ph.D., at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Institute for Integrative & Innovative Research (I³R), and UAMS orthopaedic surgeons John Bracey Jr., M.D., and Mark Tait, M.D.

Read The TRIbune.

Five UAMS Researchers Receive TRI Pilot Awards

New TRI pilot awardees, clockwise from top left: Stanley Ellis, Ed.D., Susan Emmett, M.D., Megan Smith, Pharm.D., Lindsey Wolf, M.D., and Michael Thomsen, Ph.D.

The UAMS Translational Research Institute has named five UAMS researchers who will receive pilot grants of up to $50,000 each for studies that impact rural health.

The one-year awards went to projects led by researchers in the College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy and Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health. They are:

Stanley K. Ellis, Ed.D., M.S., associate professor, College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; director of Education, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation.

Project: School-Based Tele-counseling Feasibility Pilot

Susan Emmett, M.D., MPH, associate professor, College of Medicine Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and director of the Center for Hearing Health Equity

Project: Achieving Hearing Health Equity for Rural Children: Optimization of a Novel Mobile Health Tympanometer for Community-Based Hearing Screening

Megan Smith, Pharm.D., BCACP, assistant professor, College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmacy Practice
Project: Evaluation of the Integration of Community Health Workers (CHW) into Rural Community Pharmacies

Michael Thomsen, Ph.D., professor, Governor Sidney S. McMath Chair in Obesity Prevention, director of the Center for the Study of Obesity, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health

Project: Understanding Rural Disparities in Severe Obesity through the Arkansas Childhood Body Mass Index Panel

Lindsey Wolf, M.D., assistant professor, College of Medicine Department of Surgery, Division of Pediatric Surgery

Project: A Pilot Program to Evaluate the Feasibility of Telemedicine Pediatric Surgical Consultations in Referring Emergency Departments

TRI Study of the Month

Sukanthi Kovvuru, M.D., consults with TRI’s Simone Walls, MBA, MPH, CHES, CRS, regulatory specialist for the HEALY ALS Platform Trial.

UAMS Principal Investigator: Sukanthi Kovvuru, M.D., assistant professor, College of Medicine Department of Neurology

Summary: The HEALY ALS Platform Trial is a multi-center, multi-regimen clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of multiple investigational products for the treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). UAMS will begin with Regimen E – SLS-005 Trehalose and a matching placebo.

Significance: Researchers hope that the trial can identify a safe drug that will slow ALS’ rate of progression and/or improve ALS symptoms.

TRI Services: Medicare coverage analysis, study budget development, regulatory management, clinical/nurse coordinator and finance support.

Sponsor/Clinical Coordinating Center: Merit Cudkowicz, M.D., Director, Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Massachusetts General Hospital

TRI Employees Raise Funds, Serve Meals at Our House

Residents of Our House recently enjoyed a lunch and dinner courtesy of employees at the UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI).

TRI volunteers at lunch were: (left side, front to back) Ladiedra Donahue, Ty Stacey (lead), Lasha Fite, Paul Duguid (lead); (right, front to back) Vallon Williams, Simone Walls, David Avery and Chaz England.

With staff donations totaling almost $900, the TRI Employee Council was able to prepare homemade meals for 30 residents at lunch and 75 residents at dinner. Lunch included oven-baked barbecue chicken sandwiches, baked beans, coleslaw and Rice Krispie treats. The dinner menu was lasagna, fresh salad, garlic bread and homemade fresh baked cookies.

TRI’s Crystal Walter (front), Crystal Sparks and Paul Duguid prepare trays for the evening meal.

Our House’s mission is to empower homeless or near-homeless families and individuals to succeed in the workforce, school, and life through hard work, wise decision-making and active participation in the community.

TRI volunteers provided about 30 meals to Our House residents at lunch and about 75 were served at dinner. — TRI volunteers provided about 30 meals to Our House residents at lunch, and about 75 were served at dinner.

“We are super thankful for organizations like the UAMS Translational Research Institute who come out and help their community in such a big way by serving meals for the residents at Our House,” said Caroline Robbins, Our House development director. “Preparing meals and gathering around a meal table include a lot of components of what building a community around yourself looks like, and we value partners who are willing to take the time to do that with our clients every single month.”

Paul Duguid, MPH, leads the TRI Employee Council, which organized the community service project.

“I’m happy to work where the staff are committed to teamwork and service to our community,” said Duguid, assistant director of Funding Programs. “My TRI colleagues consistently rally around events to give back to those in the community, both on and off campus, and I’m incredibly proud of working shoulder to shoulder to prepare and serve meals at Our House with them.”

TRI volunteers were: Paul Duguid (lead), Ty Stacey (lead), David Avery, Lasha Fite, Chaz England, LaDiedra Donahue, Laura James, M.D., Robin Liston, Crystal Sparks, Simone Walls, Crystal Walter, and Vallon Williams.