Research News - November 13, 2015

With the launch of the Clinical Trials Office (CTO) in August, we have begun to review and change how we serve investigators who engage in industry supported trials throughout Partners. As part of our organizational change, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Suzanne Morin as Director of Operations for the Clinical Trials Office at Partners Health Care effective November 30, 2015. 

Suzanne will be responsible for ensuring that the CTO provides Partners investigators and industry sponsors with timely and innovative clinical trial management solutions.  Her role will encompass functional oversight of the group, implementation of the CTMS system, and involvement in strategic planning. Suzanne joins the team from the TIMI Study Group at Brigham and Women’s Hospital where she has held the position of Director of Operations since 2010.  She brings 20 years of experience from managerial roles at Boston healthcare facilities that have provided her with an in-depth expertise in these areas.  Suzanne holds BS and MS degrees from Boston University.

Please join us in welcoming Suzanne to this new role.

Ravi I. Thadhani, MD, MPH
Executive Director, Clinical Trials Office, Partners Healthcare
rthadhani@partners.org

ERIS is putting together a group buy to help Partners HealthCare employees take advantage of Adobe’s 15% off promotion on Acrobat DC Standard or Professional software licenses. To participate in the group buy, complete the Request Web Form by 5p.m. on Tuesday, November 17, 2015. The Adobe promotion applies to new licenses, perpetual or subscription, and to upgrades from perpetual Acrobat X or XI licenses. Perpetual licenses are desktop licenses with a one-time fee. The licenses purchased through this group buy will not come with media disks; you will be provided with the serial number and instructions to download once the full order is placed. Read the Important Information about Adobe Acrobat in the Enterprise Announcement to learn more about the end of life of Adobe Acrobat X(10). If you have questions about the group buy, please send them to rcc@partners.org   

Please click here to read the latest news from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

Thursday, December 3, 1:30 - 2:30 pm, O’Keeffe Auditorium

“Exploring the Experience and Impact of Therapeutic Touch Treatments to Nurse Colleagues”
Presented by:   Amanda Bulette Coakley, RN, PhD, FNAP, Staff Specialist, Department of Nursing, Patient Care Services

This presentation will discuss how nurses may benefit from therapeutic touch as an alternative method of self-healing, particularly nurses who provide care for acute and chronically ill patients.

Norman Knight Nursing Center for Clinical and Professional Development at Massachusetts General Hospital (OH-239, 10/1/2017) is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the Ohio Nurses Association (OBN-001-91), an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

The learner must stay for the entire program and submit a completed evaluation to obtain contact hours.

Thursdays, January 7, 14, 21, 28, February 4, 1:30 - 3:00pm, Simches Room 3.110

Sponsored by the MGH Division of Clinical Research and the MGH Biostatistics Center

Brian Healy, PhD, MGH Biostatistics Center

This course will provide clinical researchers with a solid foundation in biostatistical concepts. Intended for those with minimal statistical experience, these five lectures will serve as an introduction to biostatistical issues in clinical investigation and will prepare students for more advanced courses on clinical trial design and biostatistics offered through the DCR’s Education Unit. 

January 7: Types of Data, P-Value, Steps for Hypothesis Testing, and T-Test
January 14:  ANOVA and Regression
January 21: Analysis of Dichotomous Outcomes and Time to Event Outcomes
January 28: Power and Sample Size
February 4: Grant Writing: Statistical Considerations Section with Pilot Data

Registration is required. Please contact Jillian Tonelli with any questions.

Monday, March 7, 2016 - Friday, March 11, 2016, 8:00am - 5:00pm, Royal Sonesta Hotel, Cambridge, MA

The Harvard Catalyst and MGH Division of Clinical Research present our new course Introduction to ‘Omics’ Research. The course aims to provide an intensive introduction to the range of technologies, challenges, and opportunities involved in ‘omics’ research for clinical and translational investigators.

The course aims to help participants achieve three main goals:

1. Provide an overview on genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics, metabolomics, systems biology and bioinformatics tools.
2. Provide an efficient, intensive introduction to the range of technologies, challenges, and opportunities involved in ‘omics’ research.
3. Appreciate the complex ethical and regulatory issues that an academic investigator faces in ‘omics’ research.

*Applications will be reviewed and participants will be notified of acceptance by January 15, 2016*

Please register here. Contact Jillian Tonelli or Supriya Gupta with any questions.

Preliminary applications are now being accepted by the Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) for the NIH Director’s Early Independence Awards.

What is it?
The NIH Director’s Early Independence Award Program supports exceptional investigators who wish to pursue independent research directly after completion of their terminal doctoral/research degree or clinical residency, thereby forgoing the traditional post-doctoral training period and accelerating their entry into an independent research career.

MGH is eligible to nominate two candidates to apply to NIH for this award.

When is the deadline?  
MGH internal preliminary applications: November 23, 2015 – 5:00 PM

How do I learn more and apply?
Click here to for more information and to apply for this award.

The Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) is accepting applications for the December 1st deadline for the Deliberative Interim Support Funding.  December is the 1st of three standing deadlines for these awards in Fiscal Year 2016.  The next deadline will be April 1, 2016.  

What are they?
Deliberative Interim Support Funding
This is open to Principal Investigators during a lapse or delay in their research funding from the NIH or another Federal agency (e.g., the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense).  Investigators must have applied for independent, long-term support (R01, R21, U01 and P01).  The Deliberative Interim Support process is open to:

1. Investigators whose grants were not scored or whose scores were not translated into a percentile ranking.
2. Investigators whose grants received scores >20th percentile.
3. Investigators who were awarded Formulaic Bridge Funding (grants with scores < or = 20th percentile), and are now requesting additional financial support (in excess of $75,000 for RO1s, and $37,500 for R21s).
4. Investigators who have already received Formulaic Bridge Funding or Deliberative Interim Support on their A0 grant application and are now requesting support for their A1 or A0 resubmission.  Investigators in this category must apply through the Deliberative Interim Support process for their A1 and A0 resubmission regardless of the score they received on their resubmitted grant.

When is the deadline?
Tuesday, December 1, 2015 - 5:00 PM

How do I learn more and apply?
Deliberative Interim Support Funding - Click here

Please contact Corporate & Foundation Relations in the Office of Development at devcfr@mgh.harvard.edu if you wish to submit a proposal in response to any of these funding opportunities.  Note that proposals are still routed through the standard InfoEd/Research Management process.

• Glenn/AFAR Breakthroughs in Gerontology (BIG) Awards, American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR)
• Independent Investigator Awards - Dalsemer Research Grant (DA), American Lung Association (ALA)
• Biomedical Research Grant (RG), American Lung Association (ALA)
• Senior Research Training Fellowship (RT), American Lung Association (ALA)
• Psoriatic Arthritis Research Grant, Arthritis National Research Foundation (ANRF)
• Arthritis and the Aging Process Research Grant, Arthritis National Research Foundation (ANRF)
• Innovation in Regulatory Science Awards (IRSA), Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF)
• Human Animal Bond Research Initiative (HABRI), Human Animal Bond Research Initiative (HABRI) Foundation
• Research-Specific Grants:  OREF Prevention of Musculoskeletal Youth Sports Injuries Grant, Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF)
• Albert Rose Established Investigator Awards, Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF)
• I.M. Rosenzweig Junior Investigator Awards, Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF)

Please click here for further details on these funding opportunities.

We ask that all MGH Investigators interested in applying for any limited submission award submit a Letter of Intent (see detailed instructions below) to the MGH Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) by the deadline indicated for each award to be considered to receive an institutional nomination.

Process
Submit a one- to two-page Letter of Intent (LOI) to the MGH Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) via email to ecor@partners.org.  In addition to your LOI, please include an NIH Biosketch.

The letter of intent should include:

• Name of the Principal Investigator with appropriate contact information
• A descriptive title of the potential application
• Brief description of the project
• Brief description of why you specifically should be selected to receive institutional nomination for this award

In the event that there is more than one MGH investigators interested in applying for each limited submission award, the LOIs will be used to assess candidates and a review and selection process will take place.

Current Limited Submission Funding Opportunities
Please click here for more information and for our internal deadlines.

• Superfund Hazardous Substance Research and Training Program (P42)
• International Centers of Excellence for Malaria Research (U19)

If there is a limited submission funding opportunity you do not see listed above or you have any additional questions, please contact Erin McGivney at 617-643-6471.

For the latest National Institutes of Health notices, requests for applications, and program announcements, follow this link: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/WeeklyIndex.cfm

MGH ECOR Deliberative Interim Support Funding (ISF)
Application Deadline: December 1

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Gliklich Innovation Scholars Program
Application Deadline: February 1, 2016

Boston Biomedical Innovation Center (B-BIC) Accepting PILOT & DRIVE Grant Pre-Proposals

Innovation at Partners HealthCare: Fall Newsletter

Looking for something you saw in a previous Research News release? Check out our archive!