Monthly News & Opportunities

April 2, 2026 | V3 #4

A Year of Impact, A Future in Focus: Explore CNTR's 2025 Report

CNTR's published its 2025 annual report on the website this month! The report highlights our accomplishments in 2025 and previews our plans for 2026.

Letter from the Chair
CNTR Leadership and Committees
Core Purpose
Year in Review
Research Portfolios & Study Funders
Featured Studies & Initiatives
CNTR Member organizations
Future Outlook

Read the Annual Report

Find CNTR at the ABA and STN Meetings This Month!

Visit the CNTR booth (#209) at the American Burn Association meeting in Orlando April 14-16 and learn more about how we can help with proposal submission, multi-site study management, storing study data, consensus building, and more!

And at the Society for Trauma Nurses meeting in Austin, we'll be presenting a poster on our I-REP patient & caregiver panel and lessons learned from the first two years of activity.

STN Poster Rounds: April 16, 2026 | 4:30-7:00 p.m.

The Future of Trauma Clinical Guidance is Here--Watch DFI Recordings

The third year of the conference series, "Design for Implementation: The Future of Trauma Clinical Guidance," brought partners together to focus on how the clinical guidance system they envision can become a reality.

If you missed the conference in February, you can now watch the presentations on our website. Hear from:

AI experts discussing AI use in clinical decision making and the efficient use of AI
Surgeons operating across the world explaining the role of communities of practice in clinical decision support
PI Dr. Lacey LaGrone exploring how to align economic incentives for the benefit of patients
Much more!

Access Conference Recordings

CNTR Investigator Resources

Learn How to Employ the Platform Trial Design in Your Research

April 20, 2026

CNTR is launching a Research Methodology Webinar Series! In one-hour virtual sessions, research team members will get the specialized expertise to help you design and conduct studies with impact. Sessions end with open Q&A and an opportunity to connect. Join us for tools, mentorship, and practical next steps you can apply immediately to your own work. To suggest topics or offer your expertise for a future session, visit HERE.

For our inaugural session, Gerard Slobogean, MD, MPH (UC Irvine) will discuss the state of the science regarding the platform trial approach, which is capable of simultaneously evaluating multiple interventions. Sheila Sprague, PhD, MSc (McMaster University) will follow with information about the Musculoskeletal Adaptive Platform Trial (MAPT), a platform trial protocol that investigators can license to conduct their own interventional trials.

Learn about this innovative trial design and find out how you can license the MAPT master protocol free of charge or engage the investigator support to provide oversight and trial management.

When: April 20, 2026 | 3:00 p.m. CDT

Attend the next Webinar in our NTRR Series: Navigating the NTRR Datastore

In this fourth webinar in our series, we'll introduce the Datastore--the environment for housing meta-analyses of NTRR studies as well as datasets that did not use the NTRR common data elements. You'll learn:

Overview of the Datastore and its purpose
How to submit data to the Datastore
Review of the data currently available in the Datastore
How to pull data from the Datastore
Review of current study protocols and related documentation
Data expected to be added

Date: April 30, 2026

Time: 1:00-2:00 p.m. CDT

Location: Zoom--link will be sent following registration

Read about CNTR's Patient & Caregiver Panel in TSACO Paper

CNTR established its Injury Research Engagement Panel (I-REP) of trauma survivors and patient caregivers to maximize patient-centered outcomes by providing a consistent and accessible pathway for engagement between investigators and injured patients.

This article, published in Trauma Surgery and Acute Care Open, explores the first year of the I-REP, including the types of studies reviewed, questions asked and answered, and how the panelists approached various topics.

Read the Article at TSACO

PCORI Research Fundamentals Training Prepares Patients to Contribute their Expertise

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) offers a free, comprehensive training package for those who are new to health research and want to learn more about the research process. The Research Fundamentals program is a self-paced, on-demand training that can help everyone, regardless of experience, engage and contribute in research with confidence. Many of CNTR's I-REP members completed the PCORI research training.

Please recommend this program to patients you believe may be interested in joining the I-REP!

Learn More!

NIH Requests Input to its Strategic Plan for 2027-2031

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is developing its new NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2027–2031 and is seeking input from the research community, stakeholders, and the public. NIH leadership is hosting informational webinars to present the high-level framework for the new Strategic Plan and outline the process being used to develop it.

The sessions will include a live Q&A where participants can ask questions and provide feedback. NIH’s mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and apply that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. The upcoming Strategic Plan will guide NIH’s priorities and activities over the next five years to advance this mission for the American people.

April 8, 2026 | 1:30-2:30 p.m. CDT

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