Translational Research Institute

UAMS Translational Research Institute Launches Entrepreneurship Training Program with University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

A first-of-its-kind entrepreneurship training program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) will teach its most promising young innovators how to move their health-science technologies into the marketplace.

The UAMS Translational Research Institute kicked off the program with the announcement of its first four postdoctoral trainees in the Health Science Innovation & Entrepreneurship (HSIE) Postdoctoral Scholars Program.

Entrepreneurship scholars: Melody Penning, Ph.D., Aaron Storey, Ph.D., Samir Jenkins, Ph.D., and Astha Malhotra, Ph.D.

The 15-credit graduate entrepreneurship training includes a significant new partnership with the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

The college will provide distance education courses to the UAMS scholars, who also will work with MBA student teams at the UA to develop commercialization plans for health-science technologies conceived at UAMS. The four selected in the competitive application process and their research interest areas are:

Samir Jenkins, Ph.D., nanomaterials and stem cell differentiation.
Astha Malhotra, Ph.D., 3-D printing and tissue regeneration.
Melody Penning, Ph.D., algorithms to predict adverse events in health care.
Aaron Storey, Ph.D., identification of bacteria in synovial fluid.

“The concept of translational research challenges us to more quickly move biomedical innovations and new technologies into everyday practice, and knowledge of the commercialization process is a critical factor to meet that challenge,” said Nancy Rusch, Ph.D., the program’s co-director, and professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the UAMS College of Medicine.

“I am thrilled to see this program take off and to have such an esteemed partner as Dr. Carol Reeves at the Walton College of Business, who is known nationally for developing entrepreneurs,” she said.

Carol Reeves, Ph.D., UA associate vice chancellor for entrepreneurship and innovation, said the program establishes an important new link for collaboration between the UA and UAMS.

“What the Translational Research Institute is doing with this program is a great complement to our MBA program and our graduate certificate in entrepreneurship. The UAMS scholars, biomedical discoveries and innovations are an exciting addition that strengthens both institutions.”

The collaborative relationship with Reeves’ program has its roots in the 2016 Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for UAMS graduate students. Reeves led instruction along with Rusch and Nancy Gray, Ph.D., president of BioVentures, and there have been many other collaborations since then.

The boot camp inspired Amanda Stolarz, Ph.D., a then UAMS graduate student, to join one of Reeves’ MBA teams that went on to win the 2017 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup competition along with the $25,000 top prize.

“Dr. Stolarz set a high bar for future UAMS entrepreneurs,” said Gray, who is part of the program’s leadership team. “We have a program in place now to provide the mentorship and coaching that will help aspiring UAMS entrepreneurs translate biomedical discoveries into new products, diagostics and medications to improve health outcomes. In parallel, and in partnership with the Arkansas’ business community, we plan to contribute to the growth of biotechnology-based jobs in the state.”

In addition to Rusch and Gray, the program’s leadership team includes other UAMS faculty with entrepreneurial backgrounds: Curtis Lowery, M.D., the program’s co-director and director of the new UAMS Institute for Digital Health & Innovation; Kevin Sexton, M.D., a surgeon and assistant professor in the College of Medicine, and Jay Gandy, Ph.D., chair of the program’s Internal Advisory Committee. Gandy also is professor and chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in the UAMS College of Public Health and incoming associate provost at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus.

The project is supported by the Translational Research Institute, grant TL1 TR003109 funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute and Institute for Digital Health & Innovation. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,727 students, 870 medical residents and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.

NIH Awards Five-Year, $24.2 Million Grant to UAMS Translational Research Institute

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Translational Research Institute announced July 3 it will receive five years of federal funding totaling $24.2 million to accelerate research that addresses Arkansas’ biggest health challenges.

University of Arkansas System President Donald R. Bobbitt, Ph.D., front left, and Jimmy Harris, front right, Little Rock field representative for U.S., Sen. John Boozman, applaud the announcement.

The Translational Research Institute helps researchers turn their ideas and findings into new medical treatments and other health interventions. Its focus is on rural Arkansas populations, where health and health care disparities persist. A major emphasis of the award is research partnerships with Arkansas communities to ensure that research supported by the institute aligns with the priorities and needs of Arkansans.

“This funding recognizes the outstanding research occurring right here in Arkansas,” said U.S. Senator John Boozman. “It will help UAMS researchers build on their successes and develop new therapies and medical procedures that will improve lives in Arkansas and beyond. I was pleased to support the efforts of UAMS to secure this funding, but this award truly is a testament to the body of work produced by UAMS. Arkansans can be proud of all UAMS has accomplished and its bright future that lies ahead.”

The new funding, called a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), comes from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). UAMS is one of more than 50 CTSA Program sites in the United States. The institute first received CTSA funding in 2009.

“Competition for these awards is fierce, so having a CTSA means we’ve shown UAMS to be among the country’s leading research innovators,” said UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA. “For Arkansans, this award is significant because it will translate to improved health and health care. The university also thanks Sen. Boozman for his important help in achieving this result.”

Patterson, left, and James finish unveiling a poster announcing the grant award.

The CTSA award includes a main grant and two training grants. Laura James, M.D., is the principal investigator on the primary Translational Research Institute grant, which totals $20.6 million, and provides research infrastructure and oversite for the entire CTSA program.

“A CTSA is among the most significant NIH awards an institution can receive,” said James, also institute director and UAMS associate vice chancellor for clinical and translational research. “We are thrilled over this award because it represents the collective effort of numerous faculty members working across diverse research programs. This award demonstrates the synergy and strengths of research talents at UAMS. In addition, the CTSA will harmonize our efforts as health care providers and researchers to improve the health outcomes of Arkansans through research innovations.”

“We are also very proud that this opportunity allows us to work closer with our partner institutions, Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH), Arkansas Children’s Research Institute (ACRI) and Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System (CAVHS), as well as the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus, to expand the impact of research throughout the state,” James said.

The institute is supporting novel research that addresses significant health issues in Arkansas, such as opioids and pain management, diabetes and obesity, mental health and rare diseases. It is also expanding opportunities for UAMS researchers to participate in multisite clinical trials, including cross-CTSA research opportunities.

“The Translational Research Institute has created a collaborative cross-campus and cross-CTSA environment that enables our researchers to thrive,” said Shuk-Mei Ho, Ph.D., UAMS vice chancellor for research. “The funding is important, and the prestige of being part of the CTSA Program helps us recruit the best researchers nationally.”

The two other grants that are part of the award include the Institutional Career Development Core grant totaling $2.3 million, led by Mary Aitken, M.D., and Brooks Gentry, M.D.; and the National Research Service Award Training Core, $1.3 million, led by Nancy Rusch, Ph.D., and Curtis Lowery, M.D.

“Supporting the development of our early stage translational researchers is critical to ensuring that UAMS and Arkansas have the capacity to meet health challenges of the future,” Aitken said. “The KL2 program has been an central part of the TRI’s efforts to identify and cultivate our research pool and launch the careers of our faculty, and plans for the next phase of TRI to further refine the program make it likely to have continued success.”

The new funding will enable important new and existing efforts to continue, including:

Providing the public with easier access to cutting-edge clinical trials.
Increasing the number of clinical trials offered at UAMS, ACH, and CAVHS.
Pilot grants for the best translational research ideas for improving health and health care.
Education and translational science training for early career researchers.
Entrepreneurship training to help researchers commercialize their ideas.
Implementation science training to identify and adopt the most successful approaches and the latest medical advances.
Supporting team-based collaborations at the local and national level.
Increasing partnerships with communities to ensure the most meaningful clinical and translational research is conducted with rural populations.
Streamlining translational research processes and enhancing research quality with state-of-the-art informatics approaches and methods.
Adopting “plain language” communications to ensure research opportunities and findings are disseminated broadly to the public.

In preparation for the award, UAMS developed a number of new research approaches that will help expand research opportunities in the future, including:

ARresearch.org, a volunteer research participant registry and website, providing researchers a pool of nearly 6,000 potential research volunteers.
Expanding researcher access to de-identified patient data that can be used to understand disease patterns and that provide a framework to guide studies testing new research treatments or approaches.

Expansion of cross-institutional collaborations with multiple other CTSA programs across the U.S.
Expansion of study management tools and resources, to ensure that research is conducted according to the highest standards of quality and reproducibility.
Creation of a Community Scientist Academy, to provide in-depth training for the public on clinical research and to provide service and decision-making opportunities for the public.
Expansion of its Community Advisory Board, ensuring that its grassroots stakeholders have a voice in the institute’s efforts.
An efficient, cost-saving electronic service request system for researchers, which allows them to select from a menu of over 30 unique services and receive customized help with research-related tasks.

In addition to partnerships with ACH/ACRI and the CAVHS, the institute fosters research collaborations across all UAMS colleges – Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health, as well as the UAMS Graduate School. The National Research Service Award Training Core, led by Rusch, involves a training partnership with the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

The NCATS/NIH award is under Award Number U54TR001629.

The Seven Traits of a Successful Translational Scientist

What makes a successful translational scientist? Members of Translation Together, an international partnership with the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and other organizations collaborated to answer this question. Their work resulted in a vision of the ideal translational scientist that encompasses seven traits. Read more about what it means to be a translational scientist.

NCATS also produced an educational video that illustrates these seven fundamental traits. View the video on the TRI website. These efforts aim to raise awareness of the field and the need to foster a highly skilled, creative, and diverse translational science workforce.

The June TRIbune

In this month’s TRIbune we feature some exciting developments in implementation science. Geoffrey Curran, Ph.D., and Jeremy Thomas, Pharm.D., are leading newly funded efforts to address critical health care issues for rural residents. Implementation science is a relatively new field that aims to promote the uptake of evidence-based interventions into routine care.

Curran, who leads the UAMS Center for Implementation Research, is also spearheading the TRI-supported Implementation Science Scholars Program, a first at UAMS.

The New TRI Study of the Month highlights Mitch McGill, Ph.D., the principal investigator on an acetaminophen study involving liver cirrhosis patients.

Also included are the latest publications citing TRI support.

Read The TRIbune.

Community Scientist Academy Graduates First High School Class

Shanell Young, a senior at Little Rock Parkview, wasn’t sure what to expect during the spring 2019 UAMS Translational Research Institute Community Scientist Academy. After receiving her

Shannell Young said the Community Scientist Academy taught her that research isn't just googling. — *Shannell Young said the Community Scientist Academy taught her that research isn’t just googling.*

graduation certificate at a UAMS ceremony, she went to the lectern to share her takeaways.

“What people actually refer to as research nowadays is really just googling,” she said. “After 10 weeks of participating in the Community Scientist Academy, we definitely feel different now. Research is not just googling.”

Young and her fellow graduates – the first high school students to attend the academy – came from across the Little Rock School District as Excel students in the Advanced Medical Sciences Program.

The academy, which held its first class in 2016, has graduated 81 community members. Its purpose is to increase community understanding about the research process and offer research decision-making opportunities to communities, patients and other stakeholders. It will remain focused on adult participants, although the Translational Research Institute will continue its partnership with the school district.

The opportunities offered academy graduates include reviewing grant applications; advising on research

UAMS' Nakita Lovelady, Ph.D., M.P.H., challenged the students to find their passion. — *UAMS’ Nakita Lovelady, Ph.D., M.P.H., challenged the students to find their passion.*

projects; serving on community review boards, community advisory boards and patient and family advisory councils; and assisting with ARresearch, a Translational Research Institute program that signs up potential volunteers for UAMS research studies.

Nakita Lovelady, Ph.D., M.P.H., challenged the high school students to discover their passion. Raised in Helena-West Helena, Lovelady witnessed up close the devastating impacts of chronic diseases, depression and violence in her community. She recently earned her doctorate with a focus on interventions that address gun violence.

“Figure out what keeps the fire burning inside of you,” she said. “What do you talk about or read about all day? What issue is important to you? Who will you help? What difference do you want to make in this world or your community? Think about that and then identify how you can use research to achieve those goals. There are communities like mine, like yours, all across this nation that need you.”

Students were required to write a paper and create a poster using “photovoice,” which required them to

*Haley Roberts said the academy exceeded her expectations.*

take a photo that depicts a health-related issue and write a long caption explaining the photo.

Haley Roberts, a senior at Central High School, said the academy exceeded her expectations.

“Coming in and actually getting to talk to people who are excited about what they’re talking about, who are excited about their job, that excitement spreads to you, too, and you become excited about it,” she said. “I think the whole program took us off guard. It wasn’t something that I expected to learn, to appreciate. Everyone is affected by research whether they know it or not.”

Roberts said she became engrossed in the topic she chose to write about – health care costs. “My paper was twice as long as it needed to be because I just enjoyed what I was writing about,” she said.

Acacia Nelson, a senior at Central High, said the academy showed her the role research can play in improving lives. The daughter of two law enforcement officers displayed a poster with a young boy holding a sign that says “Do Not Shoot!”

*Acacia Nelson said the academy has inspired her to consider community research as a career.*

with a caption about the physical and mental issues associated with police brutality.

Prior to attending the academy, she had a narrow view of the jobs available in health care, but now she is revisiting her idea of becoming a nurse practitioner.

“It’s kind of opened my eyes to see that there’s different areas in the medical field that you can give back to the community. I’m really interested in public health. Just helping people – homeless people, foster kids, I feel like research can make a difference.”

Zandria Brewer, a senior at Central High, displayed a poster of a young boy playing by himself in the rural Arkansas Delta. Her poster noted the health challenges for certain communities where there is often no phone service, grocery stores or hospitals.

“If someone is really hurt, they may not make it,” said Brewer, who lived in Marianna near the Mississippi River when she was younger.

*Zandria Brewer said the academy has inspired her to think about research as a career.*

The poster project was perfect for her, she said. “I’m a visual learner, and during this academy we did a lot of visual things,” she said. “We got to choose what we wanted to research and it got to be something interesting and something relevant. The poster project helped me voice what’s happening now and ways to change it.”

TRI received the EXCEL Champion Award from the Little Rock School District after graduating students who participated in the TRI Community Scientist Academy. — *The Translational Research Institute received the EXCEL Champion Award from the Little Rock School District after graduating students who participated in the Community Scientist Academy.*

TRIbune Newsletter Celebrates ARresearch 3-Year Anniversary

This month’s TRIbune newsletter celebrates TRI’s three-year anniversary of ARresearch with a spotlight on Keith Bush, Ph.D., a UAMS researcher who extols the benefits of the ARresearch

Keith Bush, Ph.D., is ahead of his participant enrollment goals for two studies thanks to the ARresearch volunteer registry.

registry. He is also conducting potentially groundbreaking research using an MRI to test people’s ability to regulate their emotions.

TRI Director Laura James, M.D., notes in her letter that 48% of studies fail to meet participant accrual goals. The ARresearch registry has nearly 6,000 potential volunteers signed up, providing the capacity to help more researchers.

We also highlight the work of Kate Stewart, M.D., M.P.H., and Alex Marshall, Ph.D., M.P.H., who will lead a PCORI-funded multistate collaborative to address health care discrimination for transgender/nonbinary individuals.

Clare Nesmith, M.D., is the principal investigator on our New Study of the Month.

Read The TRIbune.

The TRIbune Features UAMS Neurosurgeons’ Research

The latest TRIbune features the research of neurosurgeons J.D. Day, M.D., and Thomas W. Morris III. The co-principal investigators hope to help determine if a relatively new surgical procedure is better than standard medical management in certain cases of intracerebral hemorrhage. We also highlight the work of our Community Engagement program and its Community Scientist Academy, which has been adapted for the first time to teach students in the Little Rock School District’s Excel Program. We include news that TRI’s innovative methods for incorporating community members into the grant review process will be studied at five institutions (including UAMS) with support from the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The newsletter has our new study of the month led by Clare Nesmith, M.D., and recently cited publications by researchers who received TRI support.

Read The TRIbune

TRI Now Accepting Applications for KL2 Scholar Awards

Junior faculty, here’s your chance to jump-start your careers!

The Translational Research Institute (TRI) is now accepting applications for its KL2 Mentored Research Career Development Scholar Awards.

Letters of Intent are due April 29, 2019.
Applications are due June 10, 2019.

Benefits of the two-year program:

75 percent salary support (up to $95,000 per year)
$25,000 per year research funding
Professional development support

Eligible candidates are faculty with professional doctorates committed to academic careers in translational research.

Special for 2019, one of the four KL2 awards will go to an early-career breast cancer researcher.

More information is available on the TRI Website.

Potential applicants are encouraged to attend the KL2 Information Session on April 11 at noon in the Cancer Institute, Betsy Blass Boardroom, Room 1013. For those offsite, the session is available via Blackboard Collaborate.

For more information, please contact Nia Indelicato, NLIndelicato@uams.edu, 501-526-0363.

The February TRIbune Newsletter

This month’s TRIbune newsletter highlights exciting developments with the TRI-supported Arkansas Clinical Data Repository (AR-CDR) team, led by Ahmad Baghal, M.D. This talented team

is making UAMS clinical data, as well as data from other institutions, more accessible to researchers.

Read The TRIbune.

TRI Helps Busy Neurosurgeon Lead Multiple Studies

Erika Petersen, M.D., saw the outlines of her career when she was just 16. As a participant in a summer research program at Duke Cancer Institute, she gained insights beyond the lab work.

“As part of the program, I got to stand beside an anesthesiologist and watch open-heart surgery,” she said. “That was the moment I knew I was interested in medicine.”

Petersen, a UAMS neurosurgeon and associate professor in the College of Medicine, also noted at the time how her Duke mentor, a breast oncologist, was able to run a research lab in addition to seeing patients.

“That helped me see a model of how doctors could do research in different ways,” she said.

Futuristic Therapies
Petersen came to UAMS in 2010 and sees patients at the Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute. Her expertise in neuromodulation is unique to the region, futuristic even, with her ability to use deep brain stimulation and implant other devices to treat movement disorders and chronic pain.

“I have a friend who jokes that I’m creating cyborgs,” she said.

She’s not, of course. But by working at the cutting edge of medicine, she can help patients who don’t respond to conventional therapies.

“When you meet people who have seen dozens of practitioners, and they come to you saying, ‘I’ve heard great things about you, can you please help me?’ you want to offer every single possibility you can,” Petersen said.

Unfortunately, some of her work isn’t covered by insurance because the procedures are still considered experimental. It’s distressing for her and her patients.

“The compassion to treat versus the business decision of coverage is frustrating, so I’m motivated to create the evidence that will remove the disconnect between the two,” she said.

Prolific PI
Although she has no protected time for research, Petersen has been a prolific principal investigator. She is overseeing two active industry-sponsored clinical trials and three more are in the works. The active studies are testing implanted nerve stimulation devices for chronic amputation pain and diabetic neuropathy. The pending studies will test devices designed for treating chronic back pain (failed back surgery syndrome), and headache pain, including migraines. Another study involves the use of stem cells for stroke patients.

Her leadership of multiple clinical trials is a lot of extra work, but it’s doable for a couple of reasons: One, she is able to blend the trials into her clinical practice, and two, she can get the clinical trial services she needs from the Translational Research Institute (TRI).

Leveraging TRI
“A single clinician with a single nurse doesn’t have the institutional context like TRI for navigating the regulatory issues, the budget negotiations, and legal negotiations,” Petersen said. “Having the team of coordinators at TRI who are backing each other up also ensures that a research participant always has support, and that’s been essential.”

TRI has also helped her promote her research to the general public. “A clinical trial is only as successful as what you can do through recruitment,” she said. “Working with TRI, we’ve done a lot in terms of media and outreach and in identifying subjects in the UAMS Epic (electronic medical record) system. So having those resources to help with recruiting is phenomenal.”

Despite her busy schedule, Petersen has appeared on four local broadcast stations to advocate for the amputation pain study and diabetic neuropathy study. Her public education efforts, which also include an active Twitter account, have contributed to her growing national reputation in the field. UAMS is among a select group of institutions chosen to conduct neuromodulation research. In fact, she said UAMS’ management of the amputation pain study will be a model used by Neuros, the sponsor, for the remaining research centers preparing for participant enrollment.

“When you have a good system and support to successfully manage the research, it leads to ongoing partnerships across multiple studies,” Petersen said.