Research August 2024 Newsletter
Colleagues,
Although many of us had a chance to take time away from work to spend time with friends and family, that did not translate to a slowdown in research endeavors. Over the course of the summer, many activities were underway including an update of our research policies, aligning student research onboarding with visiting student affairs, and developing a process to increase participation in our portfolio of clinical trials. In addition, please read about important work underway in Family and Community Medicine and highlights from a recent meeting of experts from our Infectious Diseases clinical section and the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. Lastly, the NIH is adopting a new common Bio Sketch that will impact everyone who is submitting for federal extramural funding. Several training sessions are listed in the newsletter article. In closing, we would like to welcome all our new residents, fellows, VTCSOM medical students, and employees involved in our research enterprise.
Regards,
Francis X. Farrell, PhD
Senior Director, Research and Development
Top Research News
The 2024 Cure Kids Cancer Radiothon, hosted by 94.9 Star Country, took place on Friday, August 9th. This annual fundraiser benefits Carilion Children’s Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Clinic and has, over the past fifteen years, raised more …
On July 9, 2024, healthcare practitioners from across the Commonwealth and beyond gathered for “One Health, One Voice for Antimicrobial Stewardship” sponsored by Carilion’s Infectious Diseases Department and Virginia-Maryland College of …
The Department of Family and Community Medicine partnered with a research team from the Department of Family Medicine and Population Health at Virginia Commonwealth University on an initiative to evaluate the effectiveness of external …
Important Research Policy Updates!
Research & Development has updated many important policies regarding research conduct at Carilion. These documents can be found below and on InsideCarilion under Policies.
Clinical Research Billing Compliance
Cost Sharing on Sponsored Projects
Cost Transfers on Sponsored Projects
Fee Schedule for Research
Reimbursement/Compensation to Study Participants
Research, Clinical Trial, and Grant Oversight
Residual Funds in Sponsored Research
Time and Effort Reporting
Important Updates to the NIH Bio Sketch
As of May 25th, 2025, the NIH will be adopting a Common Form for Bio Sketches to be used for all applications and research performance progress reports. In addition to the Common Form, the NIH will also require a separate addendum that includes a Personal Statement, Contributions to Science, and Honors.
Carilion Research and Development will be providing an education session for using the SciENcv platform for completion of the Common Form and to review additional recommendations for drafting the NIH addendum. The NIH and other Federal Funding agencies will require use of SciENcv.
The same education session will be offered three different times, on the following dates, via Teams:
- Wednesday, October 8th from noon -1pm
- Thursday, October 10th from 8am -9am
- Friday, October 18th from 3pm -4pm
Please contact Trish Winter pjwinter@carilionclinic.org if you wish to attend one of the education sessions to begin the process of complying with these NIH requirements. Prior to attending the education session, you will need to have one of the following:
- an eRA Commons account
- an ORCiD ID/account
- Login.gov account
If you need assistance creating an account, please contact Trish Winter @ pjwinter@carilionclinic.org
Overview of the education session:
- Review of NIH Bio Sketch requirements
- Use the SciENcv platform to construct your Bio Sketch
- Draft the addendum sections in compliance with NIH formatting recommendations
- Work on inputting your Bio Sketch into the system.
New Human Subjects Research and Ethics Education Manager
The Human Research Protections Office is pleased to announce that Hilary Hedrick, M.Ed. has joined the team as the Human Subjects Research and Ethics Education Manager.
Hilary brings a unique blend of educational expertise and public relations experience. Over her twelve-year career in education, Hilary has developed a passion for innovative teaching methods tailored to 21st-century career focused learners and a strong commitment to advocacy for people. She earned her Master’s in Educational Leadership from Radford University in 2019, focusing on strategies to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes. Prior to her current role, Hilary was at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Clinical Skills and Assessment, where she oversaw the Objective Structured Clinical Exams (OSCE) for first-year medical students. This experience further enhanced her skills in educational assessment and quality assurance. In her current position, Hilary will apply her background in communication, education, and medical assessment to support ethical research practices and participant protection. As a lifelong learner, she continues to stay at the forefront of educational trends and research methodologies through ongoing learning opportunities and courses.
Feel free to contact Hilary regarding research and ethics education needs and/or to schedule in-person and virtual training opportunities at 540-224-5890 or hhhedrick@carilionclinic.org
New R&D Employee's
Mark Frazier, PhD - Clinical Research Assistant - Bascie Science Research
Mark supports Research and Development, especially theBasic Science Research Lab. Mark earned a PhD from Vanderbilt. He brings research and teaching experience in biochemistry and microbiology. He has taught (and survived!) middle school, high school, and college.
Brian Loftus, BS - Clinical Research Assistant - Emergency Medicine
Brian supports Emergency Medicine. He earned his BS in Kinesiology with a minor in Psychology from The College of William and Mary. Brian has an interest in all things biology and medical mathematics. He actively participates in blacksmithing and woodworking.
Sarah Mansager, DPM - Clinical Research Assistant - Orthopaedics
Sarah earned her Doctor of Podiatric Medicine from the Western University of Health Sciences College of Podiatric Medicine. Her publications focus on foot and ankle research.
Rachel Rogers, MS - Clinical Research Assistant - Research and Development
Based in Research and Development, Rachel is assigned to a variety of projects in a variety of departments. She earned her MS in Psychology from Walden University. She is pursuing a Master of Health Sciences and Doctor of Health Sciences from Radford University Carilion. Her research interests include health equity, mindfulness-based interventions, addiction, pain, and food insecurity.
Kevin Sheng, BS - Clinical Research Assistant - Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Kevin earned his BS from Duke University. His published research relates to biomarker discovery especially as it relates to cancer progression. He has worked extensively with underserved kids.
Molly Willingham, BS - Clinical Research Assistant - Gastroenterology
Molly earned her BS in Psychology from Roanoke College. She also studied in Leipzig, Germany. She has experience tutoring college students in writing. Her research is based in Psychology. One of her interesting studies focused on sound disorders.
Hanna England, BS - Clinical Research Assistant - Regulatory Specialist
Hanna England is the new regulatory specialist for inpatient clinical trials. She is a graduate of Virginia Tech and has a bachelor of science in Biological Sciences.
Current R&D Job Openings
The Clinical Research Coordinator will support a grant funded project at Carilion Clinic in the assigned department. Basic responsibilities include supporting research investigators/physicians with guidance on research policies and processes, enabling successful collaborations with research sponsors, monitoring and tracking study progress, study design assistance, regulatory submission and maintenance, research subject visit management, obtaining tissue specimens for processing, and any other research-related duties, as necessary.
Clinical Research Coordinator - OB/GYN
Clinical Research Coordinator - Surgery
Clinical Research Coordinator - Inpatient Research
Clinical Research Assistant assists with administrative activities associated with the conduct of research studies including industry sponsored, investigator initiated, grant funded, or internally funded studies while maintaining compliance with guidelines set by governing agencies and institutional policy. This position will be assigned to support minimal risk or non-interventional studies, unless assigned to serve in a support function for greater than minimal risk studies that also include a Clinical Research Coordinator or Clinical Research Nurse.
Clinical Research Assistant - Neurosurgery
Clinical Research Assistant - Aortic Center
Carilion Clinic TriNetX Virtual Training Schedule
Carilion offers instructor-led, focused training for an in-depth, step-by-step learning experience building patient cohorts and delving into Analytics. The facilitator will be Dee Myers. Please get in touch with HART@carilionclinic.org with the subject of 'TriNetX Training' for training outside of the scheduled sessions. If you haven’t taken a class or need a refresher, this is your opportunity to do so! Let Dee Myers know which date you prefer and she will send a meeting invitation.
- Aug 21, 1:30 – 3 p.m.
- Sept 10, 10:30 a.m. – noon
- Sept 25, 1:30 – 3 p.m.
- Oct 10, 10:30 a.m. – noon
- Oct 24, 1:30 – 3 p.m.
- Nov 13, 10:30 a.m. – noon
- Dec 12, 1:30 – 3 p.m.
TriNetX User Agreement: https://redcap.link/v5pw9j7j
For more information visit: https://carilionclinic.org/health-analytics-research-team
My Project Path:
Resources and Processes for Research, Grants, and QA/QI
Want to do a project, but don’t know where to start? Or, experienced but want to see what new resources are available?
To learn about Carilion’s resources and processes for Research, Grants and QA/QI, visit https://redcap.link/MyProjectPath. This tool provides easy navigation to topics of interest, including links to the Research and Development Application and the IRB PRIS3M application.
iTHRIV Updates:
Upcoming Workshops and general information: https://portal.ithriv.org/#/home
Newsletter link: https://www.ithriv.org/april-2023-newsletter
* Carilion Clinic Research and Development is honored to partner with a growing list of prestigious national and statewide research centers and healthcare organizations. Find out more about our collaborative research initiatives; explore our unique public-private partnerships with the Virginia Tech Carilion (VTC) School of Medicine, Virginia Tech, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, Radford University Carilion, and others. Connect with our team to discuss opportunities to collaborate with our experts or become a participant.