The MCTRC is building a Resource Toolbox designed to support researchers and partners with practical trainings and tools. The Toolbox will continuously expand to include training topics identified by our healthcare and public health Partner Organization. 

Examples of current training resources on key professional development topics include: 

• Mentor/mentee training
• How to format a NIH biosketch
• Guidance for Other Support documents
• Building a budget and budget justification

In addition, we have developed a dedicated training on using the MCTRC Portal for Individual Development Plans (IDPs). The IDP is a living document to set milestones and guide MCTRC researchers and their respective mentor(s) on career development and project planning. Stay tuned as new trainings and resources are added, creating a go-to hub for building skills, streamlining applications, and supporting successful research careers across Montana and beyond. 

Please also see the Co-Laboratory section of this newsletter for details on our monthly partner gatherings. In addition to brief research or public health presentations, these Co-Laboratory gatherings will include short, broadly applicable trainings delivered by the PD Core team.

For more PD Core information, please contact Curtis Noonan.

The Health Research (HR) Core has now successfully facilitated the solicitation and external review of two rounds of Pilot and Developmental Grant applications (the Year 1 and Year 2 calls for proposals). Following external review, the applications were handed off to the Administrative Core, led by Dr. Tony Ward and assisted by Aimee Elliott, for funding selections, with input from the External Advisory Committee. All projects must be reviewed and approved by the NIH, which has been experiencing backlogs, causing delays in their approval process. We were excited in late August 2025 to learn that NIH approved three Year 1 MCTRC projects. The Admin Core is now working with MCTRC investigators to start the NIH approval process for Year 2 applications.

The HR Core is continuing to work with Partner Organizations on developing Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs). These MOUs are intended to describe the mutual understanding between the MCTRC and the Partner Organization regarding shared objectives and joint activities for collaborative clinical and translational research. The HR Core has engaged in collaborative planning meetings with Partner Organizations. These meetings have addressed the following topics: clinical and translational research interests and objectives, available resources at both the MCTRC and the Partner Organization for collaborative research, training and professional development needs, regulatory considerations, and dissemination and implementation planning. Three MOUs - one with Shodair Children's Hospital, one with Logan Health and Billings Clinic, and one with Missoula Public Health - are currently under development. 

For more HR Core information, please contact Sophia Newcomer.

The Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) Core has initiated work on the Montana Health Issues Priorities (M-HIP) assessment to help guide potential priorities for the research within the Montana CTRC. This included compiling and analyzing the findings from the most recent County and Tribal Health Department community health assessments (CHAs) and the non-profit hospital community health needs assessments (CHNAs). The CEO Core team is now working to identify, recruit and establish members of the community advisory board (M-CAB), which will provide feedback to the CTRC on potential research priority areas.

Aim 2 of the CEO Core is to provide training, mentoring and resources to the CTRC investigators to promote high-level community engagement. This past year the CEO Core in collaboration with the PD and HR cores coordinated mentorships for CTRC researchers and provided two well received trainings for CTRC partners, one on outreach and engagement for culturally diverse communities and one on community-informed dissemination and implementation strategies. Additional mentorship and training will be provided in year two as well.

The CEO Core team is beginning to develop the Montana specific framework for the Practice Based Research Network (PBRN). This will include researching other successful PBRN programs across the U.S. and identifying key lessons learned regarding engaging and recruiting clinical and public health sites and sustaining meaningful participation among sites. The goal for year two is to recruit ten clinical/public health sites as part of the Montana PBRN.

For more CEO Core information, please contact Todd Harwell.

The MCTRC Research Design, Compliance, and Data Management (RDCD) Core is focused on meeting Montana’s unique clinical and translational research needs and priorities by providing expert epidemiologic, biostatistical, and research compliance support to Montana researchers. 

A major area of focus for the RDCD Core this year has been training clinical research coordinators (CRC) to assist in all phases of study development and implementation. We recently joined twelve other sites across the country partnering with the IDeA State Consortium for Clinical Research – Resource Center (ISCORE-RC). The ISCORE-RC CRC Development Program offers didactic and experiential training in clinical research and especially in clinical trials. With guidance from RDCD Core senior CRC, Jen Faiella, our first trainee, respiratory therapist Allie Schweizer, is progressing successfully through the program. We aim to continue to build CRC capacity at our site and Partner Organizations.  

Please contact RDCD Core Director, Erin Semmens, if you are interested in learning more about CRC training opportunities or are launching a study that would benefit from CRC support.