APRIL 2022

NEWSLETTER

Now Launching!

Clinical/Translational Research Training Track Pilot Program

Application Deadline: May 27, 2022 by 5:00pm EST

CARTI is launching a pilot for the Clinical/Translational Research Training Track. This program provides training to UMSOM senior fellows and early-stage faculty who are seeking foundational training in developing and executing a mentored clinical research project, including effectively communicating your research to get published and funded. 

Visit the website to learn more about this pilot program and receive a notification as soon as applications open.

Writing and Conducting a Systematic Review

Thursday, April 28   •  9:00 – 10:00am (Zoom)

This seminar provides an overview of the systematic review process. According to the Cochrane Handbook, a systematic review is “...a review of a clearly formulated question that uses systematic and explicit methods to identify, select and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect and analyze data from the studies that are included in the review.” This differs from narrative reviews, which are often authored by experts in a field and are generally narrative summaries of a topic. Find out what you should know before starting, important steps for conducting a review and resources to help you throughout the process, including the HSHSL Systematic Review Service.

Speaker: Andrea Goldstein Shipper, MSLIS Research, Education and Outreach Librarian, Health Sciences and Human Services Library, UM

Click HERE to register

Responding to Reviewers

Thursday, May 12   •  9:00 – 10:00am (Zoom)

The ability to effectively respond to reviewers is an important aspect of resubmitting a research paper and having it accepted for publication; however, this process can be a daunting task. During this session, participants will receive helpful advice on how to best respond to reviewers’ comments when resubmitting a research paper.

Speaker: Shannon Takala Harrison, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and Public Health, Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, UMSOM

Click HERE to register

Writing an Effective Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR)

Thursday, April 21   •  12:00 – 1:00pm (Zoom)

Completing your annual research performance progress report (RPPR) describes your scientific progress, significant changes, and plans for the next budgetary period of an NIH funded award. This session will provide best practices for completing an annual RPPR, including what information to track and include, how to structure your report, and what to do if you have a change in your project. Lastly, the session will discuss when and how to discuss your progress with your Program Officer. 

Guest Speaker: Roya Kalantari, PhD, Research Training Officer, Office of Research Training and Special Programs, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH

Click HERE to register

Letters of Support for an NIH Career Development (K) Award

Tuesday, April 26  •  9:00 – 9:30am (Zoom)

NIH Career Development (K) Awards require letters of support from your mentor(s), collaborators/consultants, your Department, and 3 references. The letters of support are used by reviewers to score 3 of the 5 core review criteria. This session will discuss the letters of support page limits, content, NIH review criteria, and suggestions for getting the strongest letters possible. 

Speaker: Marey Shriver, PhD, Executive Director for Faculty Development, CARTI, UMSOM

Click HERE to register

Increasing Your Research Visibility and Impact

Tuesday, May 17  •  9:00 –9:30am (Zoom)

This seminar will walk you through methods of enhancing the impact of your research. Topics will include establishing your scholarly identity, making strategic publishing decisions, and increasing the discoverability of your work.

Speaker: Andrea Goldstein Shipper, MSLIS Research, Education and Outreach Librarian, Health Sciences and Human Services Library, UM

Click HERE to register

Department of Defense (DoD) Funding Seminar

Thursday, June 2  •  9:00 –10:00am (Zoom)

The Department of Defense (DoD) offers a number of funding opportunities available to faculty and postdocs. This seminar will introduce participants to the various types of grant applications available through the DoD. Subjects will include how to identify the appropriate award mechanism, tips for applying, and insights into the review process.

Speakers:

Gary Fiskum, PhD

M. Jane Matjasko Professor for Research & Vice Chair, Research

Department of Anesthesiology, UMSOM

Mohummad Minhaj Siddiqui, MD

Associate Professor of Surgery, Director of Urologic Oncology and Robotic Surgery;

Chief of Urology, Baltimore VA Medical Center

Click HERE to register

Save the Date!

Communicating Research Findings with Broad Audiences

Wednesdays, May 4^th, 11^th and 18^th  •  1:00 – 2:00pm (Zoom)

CARTI is excited to offer a new 3-part seminar series on “Communicating Research Findings with Broad Audiences”. The goal is for faculty to gain a greater appreciation of what it means to effectively communicate research findings or medical advances with audiences having broad, general knowledge and experiences. The seminar series will provide an overview of the practice of inclusive science communications, with a focus on raising participants’ awareness of audience needs, prior knowledge, and biases. Effective communication with two specific audiences will be highlighted: legislators and journalists. The objective is to identify best practices in communications skills to help participants tailor their written and oral projects appropriately, equitably, and respectfully to meet a defined audience’s expectations and needs.  

Additional details and registration will be announced later this month. Contact Julie Rosen, PhD at [email protected] with any questions.

Scholarly Writing Accountability Group (SWAG) Program

Virtual Program to Help Faculty Increase Their Scholarly Writing Productivity

The Center for Advanced Research Training & Innovation (CARTI) provides a virtual peer accountability/support program designed to increase writing productivity among UMB early stage faculty called Scholarly Writing Accountability Group (SWAG). A description of our virtual SWAG program follows, including details on how to participate.

What is a VIRTUAL SWAG?

A virtual SWAG is an active peer-led writing group for UMB junior faculty that meets for 1-hour, once a week over a 10-week period using Microsoft Teams. Groups follow a structured agenda including 15 minutes of updates and goal-setting followed by 30 minutes of individual writing and then 15 minutes of reporting and wrap-up. Each group is limited to 4-8 members who must commit to attending at least 8 out of the

10 weekly sessions. In a SWAG, there is no peer review of writing; SWAGs focus on the process of writing, not the content. The purpose of SWAG is to help junior faculty get in the habit of 1) writing in short blocks of time daily or almost every day and 2) identifying and prioritizing feasible writing goals.

Writing accountability groups are being used at multiple major medical schools. The data which have been reported on the results of this program are very favorable, reflecting marked increases in the quantity and quality of writing by junior faculty participants.

What are the Benefits of Joining a SWAG?

Faculty who join SWAG will:

• Develop new writing habits to achieve writing goals
• Improved time management skills
• Gain a greater sense of control over the writing process
•  Build a small community of support/social network

Registration

If you are interested in participating in a virtual SWAG, please complete the following form HERE.

New groups are being formed on a rolling basis.

Questions? Email Stacie Mendoza

Professional Development Resources

Webinars Recommended by CARTI

Being Truly Responsive: How to Win Over Your Reviewers

You’ve submitted your grant or your paper, and have received comments back from reviewers with a request to resubmit. Now the ball is in your court! There is truly an art to being fully responsive and to addressing concerns. In this webinar, Dr. Inouye will share tricks of the trade, along with a tried-and-true, highly effective approach for responding to reviewer comments.

Watch webinar HERE

Learn How to Report Your NIH-funded Publications Using My Bibliography

Congratulations on your successful NIH grant proposal! As part of the post-award process, you will now have to create and send in annual and final reports (RPPRs) on your progress. This workshop introduces tips and tricks for use of NCBI Account tools for NIH post-award reporting. This session is for NIH funded researchers, their delegates and institutional grants officers with specific task-based, hands-on activities.

Watch webinar HERE

CARTI'S Seminar Slides & Recordings

CARTI'S Individual Consultations

CARTI'S Mini LIbrary

Clinical & Translational Research Training

Applications are now being accepted by the Graduate School for the:

• Master of Science in Epidemiology and Clinical Research –Clinical Research Track
• Certificate Program in Clinical Research 

Both are designed specifically to meet the needs of clinicians and scientists who want further education and training to develop a successful career as a clinical and translational investigator. Graduates will gain the ability to identify important clinical research questions, develop research protocols, generate pilot data, conduct clinical research, analyze and write the results in a publishable form and develop and submit grant proposals. Former students include faculty members (particularly those on or applying for career development awards), fellows, residents and medical and dental students. Please see the details and application deadline for each below:

For an individual consultation on whether this training is appropriate for you,

please contact Jennifer Albrecht, PhD, [email protected]

Office of Faculty Affairs & Professional Development

Faculty Development Workshops

Preparing for Promotion

May 6, 2022

9:00 – 11:00am

Click HERE to register

June 15, 2022

10:00 – 12:00pm

Click HERE to register 

Objectives: Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

1.    Develop a Clinical Portfolio

2.    Develop a Teaching Portfolio

3.    Learn to correctly research publications and citation analysis

4.    Prepare a correctly formatted Curriculum Vitae

Accreditation

The University of Maryland School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The University of Maryland School of Medicine designates this Live activity for a maximum of 2.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits ^TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Credits

AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ (2.00 hours), Non-Physician Attendance (2.00 hours)

HEALTH SCIENCES & HUMAN SERVICES LIBRARY (HSHSL)

All of Us Research Program Genomic Data Release

The All of Us Research Program reached an important milestone with the release of its initial genomic dataset. Nearly 100,000 whole genome sequences (WGS) and 165,000 genotyping arrays are now available within the Researcher Workbench, less than two years after the beta launch of the platform. Nearly 50% of the data come from participants who self-identify with a racial or ethnic minority group.

Detailed genomic data are accessible through the Controlled Tier, a level of the Researcher Workbench with stricter requirements for access. This level also includes all of the data currently available in the Registered Tier, as well as additional clinical fields in EHRs, and more granular demographic data from both surveys and EHRs. For example, in the Controlled Tier, researchers can find additional International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes for COVID-19 testing and diagnosis data, real dates of health events, and residential information (first three digits of the ZIP code).

The Controlled Tier is available to registered researchers who have completed additional training and whose institutions have an additional data use agreement in place with All of Us.

UMB's Institutional agreement with All of Us has been expanded to allow Controlled Tier access. Registered All of Us - Research Workbench researchers can now access controlled tier genomics data!

Not a registered researcher? To create an account with All of Us and go through their required trainings, you can go to their registration page, https://www.researchallofus.org/register/.

CDABS has also put together a guide to help walk you through this registration process: https://guides.hshsl.umaryland.edu/allofusworkbench 

Questions? Contact Jean-Paul Courneya, Bioinformationist, and Amy Yarnell, Data Services Librarian, at [email protected].

University of Maryland School of Nursing

Research Seminar Series

Research Consent Part 7:

Electronic Consent: What Is It and What Is It Not?”

 Thursday, April 21    •    12:00 – 1:00pm (Virtual)

Please join SON for part 7 of a multi-part series on consent which will focus on the electronic method of obtaining participant signature on consent documents.

Presenters: Jan Martinez MS, CIP, CLSSGB, UMB IRB Manager and Casey Jackson, MS, CCRP, Research Quality Manager, UMSON

Click HERE to register

NIH COVID-19 Related Updates & Funding

Funding Opportunities

SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION (SAMHSA) 

Community Programs for Outreach and Intervention with Youth and Young Adults at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis

The purpose of this program is to identify, prevent, intervene, and/or lessen the impact of psychotic disorders in youth and young adults, not more than 25 years old, who are at clinical high risk for psychosis and provide evidence-based interventions in a trauma-informed manner to prevent the onset of psychosis.  

APPLICATION DUE: April 18, 2022

Visit website for more information

SAMHSA Webinar: The Office of Financial Resources at SAMHSA will be conducting a webinar on how to develop a competitive grant application on April 14, 2022 and May 3, 2022 at 2 pm (ET). Visit website for more information.

THE MARK FOUNDATION FOR CANCER RESEARCH

Emerging Leader Award

The Mark Foundation Emerging Leader Awards support innovative cancer research from the next generation of leaders. These grants are awarded to outstanding early career investigators to support high-impact, high-risk projects that are distinct from their current research portfolio.

LOI DEADLINE: May 2, 2022

APPLICATION DEADLINE: July 25, 2022

VIRTUAL FINALIST INTERVIEWS: October 10, 2022

Visit website for more information.

CHAN ZUCKERBERG INITIATIVE

Science Diversity Leadership Award

Science Diversity Leadership Awards from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will recognize the leadership and scientific accomplishments of outstanding early- to mid-career researchers at U.S. universities, medical schools, or nonprofit research institutes who have a record of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in their scientific fields.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: May 19, 2022

Visit website for more information.

PATIENT-CENTERED OUTCOMES RESEARCH INSTITUTE (PCORI)

Improving Postpartum Maternal Outcomes for Populations Experiencing Disparities

PCORI is seeking to fund large randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and/or well-designed observational studies comparing multicomponent strategies to improve early detection of and timely care for complications up to six weeks postpartum for groups more often underserved or experiencing the greatest disparities in health outcomes, including Black, American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN), Hispanic, rural, and low socioeconomic status (SES) populations. 

LOI Due: June 1, 2022 by 5pm (ET)

APPLICATION DUE: August 31, 2022 by 5pm (ET)

Visit website for more information.

PATIENT-CENTERED OUTCOMES RESEARCH INSTITUTE (PCORI)

Health System Strategies to Address Disparities in Hypertension Management & Control

PCORI is seeking to fund large randomized controlled trials comparing health system strategies to improve hypertension control and health outcomes for populations experiencing disparities in outcomes (e.g., Black, Hispanic, rural, and/or uninsured individuals). 

LOI Due: June 1, 2022 by 5pm (ET)

APPLICATION DUE: August 31, 2022 by 5pm (ET)

Visit website for more information.

Additional funding opportunities can be found at:

UMSOM Internal Funding Opportunities & External Funding Databases

UMGCCC Funding Database

(Cancer related research)

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