Letter from the Co-Directors: Fall 2025
Renewing Our Commitment to Translational Science and Research
This summer, we worked diligently with our partners at the National Center for the Advancement of Translational Sciences (NCATS) to sort through the final details of our Clinical and Translational Science Award. We have received our notice of award, and once the restrictions are released, it will take us through the next seven years of supporting translational science and research at the University.
New iterations of the Career Development K12 and T32 awards will also enable us to support education and early career development for researchers who are dedicated to developing more treatments for all people, faster. We have received notices of award for both and are working through the logistics to appoint trainees and scholars to these grants.
Translational Science Events at URMC
Our staff is hard at work organizing our flagship event, Translational Science Day, which will take place on October 29. We are folding Community-Based Participatory Research Day into the event, highlighting community involvement as key programming. More information about the event will be forthcoming.
Our Translational Science branch successfully launched Translational Science Grand Rounds this year, bringing in top-tier translational science experts from other institutions while also giving University faculty opportunities to share their knowledge with research teams working in the field.
These events will continue on a monthly basis, with in-person presentations every quarter. Keep an eye on the University events calendar and our newsletter for more. Our next event is on October 9.
Education Mission
Our faculty and staff continue to provide expertise and guidance for research teams in various fields. For example, Jean-Phillippe Couderc, PhD, MBA, and Joan Adamo, PhD, hosted a Digital Health Retreat earlier this month. Cody Gardner is presenting to the Trial Innovation Network in early October on recruiting study participants through Meta advertising, and Carrie Dykes, PhD, and Edwin Van Wijngaarden, PhD, will present to the Department of Neurology on UR CTSI resources and services by the end of September.
Our K12 Program Director Jin Xiao, DDS, PhD, and Operations Director Andrew Thomas, MS, are updating the name of our career development programs, unifying them under a single umbrella: UR CTSI Translational Science Scholars. Externally funded scholars will now be known as NIH K12 Translational Science Scholars, while internally funded scholars will be known as Institutional Translational Science Scholars. This unified program will provide enrichment and benefits to both groups while highlighting the scholars as valued members of the translational science community.
Earlier this month, the National Center for Deaf Health Research organized another successful Deaf Strong Hospital event. Deaf Strong Hospital puts first-year medical students in a simulation with significant communication barriers to teach them about the challenges Deaf people face in the healthcare system. The event earned local media coverage and highlights the unique contribution of the center. We are awaiting updates from the CDC regarding the grant that makes the center’s great work possible.
This fall, the Community-Based Participatory Research course is about to welcome its eighth class, with 23 people registered to learn about this collaborative, barrier-breaking approach to research.
Research Support
The Office of Clinical Research (OCR) continues to provide excellent service to research teams in a challenging environment. That service is due to OCR’s expert staff, such as Becky Dennis, who is celebrating 10 years of service to the University this month. Congratulations, Becky!
OCR’s Joshua Cook has been handling communication with URMC research teams who have been dealing with issues related to a third party vendor. With daily updates and issues brought forward by research teams, Joshua has led communications with professionalism and patience in a challenging situation.
Informatics and Analytics is preparing to soft launch the new de-identified Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) database. OMOP will enhance the use of electronic health record data for research, enabling secure accessibility by researchers while significantly reducing the risk of exposing protected health information. This effort builds upon the research data infrastructure of SERDA, a previous project. It will be open to all researchers later this year after an initial pilot program this fall and winter. Jack Chang, PhD, will co-present on the topic at the Healthcare Data & Analytics Association conference at Vanderbilt next month.
Informatics is also developing data infrastructure and software for biobanks and tissue repositories. Anthony Corbett, Andrew Watts, Jill Payne, Jen Dutra, and Alicia Tyrell are developing and will manage the data for several large biobanks across the University.
These are unique, powerful projects and expertise that UR CTSI brings to the University—capacity multipliers that strengthen research in very direct ways.
Going into the end of 2025, we are very optimistic about our institute’s future.
The future starts with the people who work here. We have two new hires to celebrate: OCR Instructional Designer Emily Denzler and Informatics Research Data Engineer II Mikhail “Mike” Shapiro. They join a team that is ready to help take University research to the next level in 2026 and beyond.
Thank you for taking this journey with us—and we hope to see you at Translational Science Day on October 29!
Sincerely,
Co-Directors Karen Wilson, MD, MPH, and Martin Zand, MD, PhD
Jonathan Raab | 9/23/2025
