CTSA PROGRAM UPDATE

July 28, 2017

STEERING COMMITTEE

REMINDER: HUB FEEDBACK DUE AUGUST 10

The CTSA Program Steering Committee pod leaders are meeting with their pods this month to help NCATS collect hub feedback on four topics: 1.) CTSA Program Governance Document, 2.) NCATS CTSA Program Policy and Procedures for Surveys, 3.) Fall CTSA Program Meeting and 4.) Opportunities for CTSA Program hubs to address the opioid crisis.  Deidentified individual feedback from hubs will be collected through a RedCap survey. Responses are due COB, Thursday, August 10^th.

Questions regarding the RedCap survey? Contact Colleen Lawrence.

Questions regarding the Steering Committee? Contact Samantha Jonson.

COORDINATING CENTER

GET TO KNOW UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER’S CENTER FOR LEADING INNOVATION AND COLLABORATION (CLIC)

The University of Rochester has been awarded the CTSA Program coordinating center award from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (Grant U24TR002260). The University of Rochester establishes the Center For Leading Innovation And Collaboration (CLIC) with Co-Principal Investigators Martin Zand and Deborah Ossip leading the helm.

CLIC’s mission is to serve the CTSA Program through coordination, transparent communication, actionable metrics, network analytics, and use of innovative collaboration tools. CLIC’s further goal is to make the work and accomplishments of the CTSA Program Consortium vibrantly visible to all stakeholders. CLIC will act as stewards of the network and will actively partner with CTSA Program colleagues and external stakeholders.

NCATS is delighted to work with CLIC on enhancing the CTSA Program Consortium.  Collaborative transition plans are well underway with NCATS, CLIC, Vanderbilt University’s CTSA Consortium Coordinating Center (C4) and the Tufts University Common Metrics Implementation team.  We will feature updates during the transition period in this newsletter, so please stay tuned!

Please continue to work with C4 for current CTSA Program coordinating center efforts and Tufts University for the Common Metrics Initiative until we provide more details in the future.

Questions? Contact Samantha Jonson.

COMMON METRICS

SHARING COMMON METRICS IMPLEMENTATION SUCCESSES – WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

The Tufts Common Metrics Implementation group is gathering examples of how the Common Metrics are being used for strategic management by the CTSA Program Consortium hubs. These success stories will highlight innovations and offer practical ideas for using the metrics, Results-Based Accountability framework and other project resources and tools to support continuous improvement at a hub.

Tufts is happy to work with member institutions to help develop a story for the series. If you’d like to share your hub story, please contact Nick Moustakas.

ACCRUAL METRIC PILOT TEST 

Thank you to the more than 20 CTSA Program Consortium hubs who expressed interest in participating in the pilot test of the new Accrual Common Metric. Eight hubs were selected and will begin testing in early August. The pilot sites are Johns Hopkins University, University of Kentucky, Medical University of South Carolina, University of Oregon, Tufts University, University of North Carolina, Pennsylvania State University, and University of Wisconsin–Madison. We will provide updates on the pilot over the next four months in the newsletter. Please stay tuned!

Questions? Contact Samantha Jonson.

DOMAIN TASKFORCE (DTF) UPDATE

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT DOMAIN TASKFORCE 

The Career Sustainability Workgroup is drafting a TL1 survey to assess trainee career sustainability and independence. The survey is being modeled after the DTF’s KL2 survey. The thought leaders involved in this process are Anthony Windebank (Mayo) and Wayne McCormack (University of Florida) in partnership with the KL2 leads Christine Sorkness (University of Wisconsin), Jason Umans (Georgetown) and Linda Scholl (University of Wisconsin).

INFORMATICS DOMAIN TASKFORCE

The Informatics Domain Task Force members did not meet during the month of July, but will meet on Friday, August 4^th. The agenda for the next meeting includes announcements/updates as well as three short presentations from the remaining groups that have not already shared their report-outs from the small group discussions at the 2017 in-person meeting.

The Imaging Informatics Workgroup is summarizing the results of their survey into a format that can be easily shared and understood by the larger CTSA Program audience.

The Sustainable Informatics Workgroup is continuing to refine the content and focus of their paper. The workgroup is scheduled to meet on Friday, July 28^th.

LIFESPAN DOMAIN TASKFORCE

The Lifespan Domain Task Force members submitted a response on behalf of the DTF to the NIH Inclusion Across the Lifespan Request for Information (NOT-OD-17-059). The DTF is forming a new workgroup to develop a Lifespan toolkit.

The Early Life Exposures Workgroup is drafting a manuscript detailing database survey methods.  The group is planning a session at the 2018 Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) meeting.

COLLABORATION/ENGAGEMENT WORKFORCE

The Researcher Training and Education and Community Capacity Building Workgroup is in the process of vetting community engagement competencies through community stakeholder groups and will continue to refine the competencies through a modified Delphi process.

The Dissemination & Implementation Workgroup is looking for samples of dissemination and implementation consultation forms that have been developed within the CTSA Program Consortium.  This information will be used to develop consultative service methods and provide consultations for CTSA Program Innovation Awards and Centers. The workgroup also created a survey to identify D&I resources, programs, and scientific projects that are directly and indirectly funded and supported by the local CTSA Program hub.  To date, 50% of the CTSA Program hubs responded to the initial survey request.  The workgroup is asking for more hubs to complete the survey so they may create a meaningful report back to the Steering Committee on what D&I activities and science are supported by (or outside) the CTSA Program. The brief survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete. Link to the survey: https://redcap.ctsacentral.org/surveys/?s=JNDAXW7J4Y.

The Developing Measures for Assessing and Improving Collaborations Workgroup completed a draft summary report of research collaboration and engagement published measures. The workgroup is currently drafting a manuscript based on their findings.

METHODS AND PROCESSES DOMAIN TASKFORCE

The Institutional Readiness for Team Science Workgroup received Promotion & Tenure documents from approximately 80% of CTSA Program hub institutions. The workgroup is working on coding data for analysis and is brainstorming on next steps – likely a survey or structured interview on team science activities related to CTSA Program pilot funding. 

The DACTPerM Workgroup distributed an initial outline for the manuscript last month. The workgroup is collecting feedback from workgroup members and plans to compile comments and begin writing the manuscript by the end of summer.  The workgroup would like to have the first draft ready this fall with a submission version ready in the winter.

The EMR-based Research Recruitment Workgroup’s draft manuscript is being edited by workgroup members.

The Regulatory Science to Advance Precision Medicine (a joint effort with Workforce Development DTF) is planning a Fall Forum in the Washington area on September 27, 2017 and is refining their topic list for this meeting.

Questions? For more information on the DTFs (including points-of-contact), click here.

OPPORTUNITY

THE UNDIAGNOSED DISEASES NETWORK (UDN) IS CO-LOCATED AT SEVERAL CTSA PROGRAM SITES 

Do you have patients with conditions that remain undiagnosed despite an extensive clinical workup? The UDN is an NIH-funded consortium of seven clinical sites, two sequencing cores, a biorepository, a metabolomics core, and a model organisms screening center. Participants accepted for evaluation by the UDN undergo a series of clinical and research investigations at low or no cost. The extensive network of UDN clinicians and scientists work collaboratively to try to provide answers for more patients and families.

Please visit our website to learn more about the UDN and the application process. You may also contact our application Helpdesk at 1-844-746-4836 or UDN@hms.harvard.edu with questions.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

MEETINGS ON CTSA CENTRAL WEBSITE 

CTSA Program hubs can upload information about important meetings they host on the C4 Coordinating Center website, CTSA Central, in order to spread the word about sponsored conferences, activities, and/or items relevant to the CTSA Program and the advancement of translational science. Hubs can upload conference or meeting information here.

Recent additions are listed below. Please click the event name for more information!

Questions? Contact Colleen Lawrence.

NIH NCATS: Improving Health Through Smarter Science

Connect with us!: https://ncats.nih.gov/connect