eRoundup for 12/05/08

Getting From Here to There:  Health System Transformation in Three Easy Steps is jointly presented by Emory University's Institute for Advanced Policy Solutions and the CDC in partnership with the CDC Foundation. The lecture will be held on December 8, from 4:00 until 5:30 p.m. in Emory's Rollins School of Public Health's Rita Anne Rollins Room 860. The lecture will include guest speaker Fred Sanfilippo, MD, PhD, executive vice president for health affairs, CEO of Woodruff Health Sciences Center and chairman of Emory Healthcare; moderator Kenneth E. Thorpe, PhD, executive director of the Institute for Advanced Policy Solutions and Robert W. Woodruff professor and chair of the Rollins School of Public Health's department of health policy and management at Emory; and discussant Bradley Perkins, MD, MBA, chief strategy and innovation officer and chief of the CDC Office of Strategy and Innovation. Reception immediately following. Please RSVP today to policyinstitute@emory.edu. For more information please contact Tarvis Thompson at tthomp8@emory.edu.

Insights into the global diabetes epidemic from some of the world's leading researchers held on Monday, December 8, from 5:00 until 7:30 p.m. in the Emory Conference Center. Organized by K.M. Venkat Narayan, Ruth and O.C. Hubert Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health and sponsored by Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health, and Emory Global Health Institute. For more information, please click here.

The NIH Patient-Reported Outcome Information Systems (PROMIS) Team has scheduled a series of teleconferences to address any questions or concerns from investigators interested in submitting an application in response to the recently released PROMIS Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs). The calls are scheduled for Wednesday, December 10 or Wednesday, December 17, both from 10:00 a.m. until noon. If you would like to participate in one of the teleconferences, please contact Dr. Phil Tonkins, (301)594.5032 or tonkinsw@mail.nih.gov, no later than two days prior to call date. Click for more information.

MSM assistant professor in the department of anatomy and neurobiology, Chiaki Fukuhara, PhD will present Use of patient-derived cells to predict lithium responses in bipolar disorder on Thursday, December 11, from 1:00 until 2:00 p.m. in the MRC Building, room G-14. The seminar is sponsored by MSM Clinical Research Center, the Master of Science in Clinical Research Program and the ACTSI. For more information please call (404)752.1780 or click here.

The Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at GA Tech is hosting a workshop on stem cell biomanufacturing on December 14 through 16 at the GA Tech Bioengineering and Bioscience Institute. The objective of this workshop is to develop a strategy and identify technologies to advance large scale production of stem cells. This two day workshop will include presentations and breakout sessions focused on the technologies and issues related to advancing stem cell biomanufacturing. Participants will include experts from academia and industry in stem cells, biological assessments, sensors, automation, and integrated systems. The workshop is co-sponsored by the ACTSI Translational Technologies and Resources (TTR) program. For more information please visit www.biomanufacturing.ibb.gatech.edu.

The 4^th Annual National Symposium on Predictive Health will be held December 15 through 16, at the Emory Conference Center. The ACTSI Translational Technologies and Resources (TTR) program is co-sponsoring the event. Faculty and staff members from Emory, Georgia Tech, Morehouse School of Medicine, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Kaiser, and the CDC can register free online. During registration, when asked "how did you hear about the symposium?" please credit the ACTSI. Please be sure to register as space is limited. For more information or to register please click here.

CDC researcher, Jon Kaplan, MD will present on December 16, at 5:00 p.m. in the Emory School of Medicine, room 110.  The lecture is sponsored by the Emory Renal and Infectious Disease divisions and by the Center for AIDS Research.

You are invited to participate in a brief survey on the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute (ACTSI). ACTSI is a partnership between Emory University, Georgia Tech, and Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) created to facilitate the translation of clinical science to community practice.  The ACTSI is intended to serve as a resource to scientists in the Atlanta community.

The survey will ask about your awareness of ACTSI and its resources and services for clinicians and researchers within the Atlanta community. This survey should take you no more than 15 minutes to complete. Your responses will only be reported in aggregate form. The results of the survey will help us decide what resources and services the ACTSI should offer and how best to communicate with the Atlanta research community. Please follow the link below or cut and paste it into your browser:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=pkCWzq9fAtkQM5OTFPaEbQ_3d_3d

Junior faculty members at the MD or PhD level from a wide variety of disciplines at Emory University, Morehouse School of Medicine, or Georgia Tech who are committed to an academic career in clinical and/or translational research and who have excellent potential to become independent clinical investigators are encouraged to apply to the KL2 – Mentored Clinical and Translational Research Scholars (MCTRS) Program. The KL2 award provides support for didactic and mentored research training for junior faculty members committed to a career in clinical investigation. The KL2 award includes 75% salary support per year for the junior faculty member, a technical budget for research costs and tuition, and some salary support for the trainee’s Lead Mentor.

The KL2 – MCTRS Program (formerly K12 program) is part of the Research Education, Training and Career Development (RETCD) Program supported by the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute (ACTSI), NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA).

Please see the program’s website, http://www.medicine.emory.edu/RETCD, for more details. Those interested in applying are urged to contact Cheryl Sroka at the ACTSI RETCD program office at 404-727-5096 or csroka@emory.edu.