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CSRD Newsletter

Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023.1.27

Miriam's Message -- CSRD is Delighted to Make the Following Announcements:

Dr. Jayanthi Sankar is our new Scientific Portfolio Manager in Mental Health

Jayanthi is a scientist with a strong background in research methodology and data science. She received her master’s degree and PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Madras, India. She then completed a 1-year post-doctoral fellowship in cerebral malaria research at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, India. She joined the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) as a post-doctoral fellow in 1998 and studied the role of oxygen-based free radicals in drug-induced neurotoxicity. She continued her career at NIDA for over 25 years, eventually becoming a staff scientist in the Molecular Neuropsychiatry Research Branch. During her time at NIDA, she conducted preclinical and clinical research on substance use disorder, focusing mainly on epigenetic and genome-wide approaches to provide greater clarification of the biological substrates of drug addiction and to open avenues of research aimed at identifying rational targets for drug development. In 2007, Jayanthi completed a master’s degree in bioinformatics at the Johns Hopkins University as a part-time student and has experience developing a relational database of clinical data. Furthermore, Jayanthi was the leading investigator for the methamphetamine self-administration animal model study, which was aimed to understand compulsive drug-taking behavior. She has published over 70 papers, served as a guest-editor and a reviewer for 18 peer-reviewed journals. She has also co-chaired symposia on substance use disorder research at the American Society of Neurochemistry (ASN), Society for Biological Psychiatry (SOBP) and International Society for Drug Abuse Research (IDARS). In addition, she has extensive experience mentoring over 55 students, including post-doctoral, PhD and post- baccalaureate students and served as a reviewer for NIDA SDFDR (Scientific Director Fellowship for Diversity in Research) and summer research internship program. Jayanthi will be a remote employee, working from her home in Maryland.

Kristina Nord, MSW, LICSW, has been hired into our new Clinical Trial Manager position

Kristina joined ORD as a health science specialist in CSRD in 2016 supporting clinical trials. She joined ORD after serving details with CSRD, QUERI, and HSRD. Previous to her role in CSRD, she was a project manager at the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center, managing a portfolio of projects in health services and implementation research funded by HSRD, National Institute of Mental Health, and the State of Michigan, among other agencies/programs. She is a licensed independent clinical social worker. She is looking forward to her new role as Clinical Trial Manager in CSRD, working with individuals in the field and across ORD.

--From the desk of Dr. Miriam Smyth, Acting Director, CSRD 

Dr. Kristine Yaffe is the 2022 John B. Barnwell Awardee

CSRD is pleased to announce that Dr. Kristine Yaffe has been named the 2022 John B. Barnwell Awardee for Outstanding Achievements in Clinical Science. This award is CSR&D’s highest honor for outstanding achievement in clinical research.  Dr. Yaffe is Chief of Neuropsychiatry and Director of the Memory Evaluation Clinic at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System and Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology and Director of the Center for Population Brain Health at UCSF.  The award recognizes Dr. Yaffe’s exemplary record of involvement in, and service to, the VA and to clinical science, and (of particular note) her significant contributions as a scientific leader in the field of dementia where she is leading the identification of modifiable risk factors for dementia.  With more than 600 peer-reviewed articles, Dr. Yaffe’s research has had a significant impact on dementia research. Her mentorship activities are also exceptional. Her mentees have, in turn, become leaders in dementia research. She plays critical leadership and advisory roles at SFVAHCS. She is a significant asset for the VA and the Veterans we serve. Dr. Smyth extends her thanks to colleagues in the San Francisco R&D Service for all they have done to support Dr. Yaffe’s research.

2023 Barnwell Applications due Feb. 1

The 2023 Barnwell Award Applications are due by February 1, 2023. The John B. Barnwell Award (Barnwell Award) is the Clinical Science Research and Development Service’s highest honor for outstanding achievement in clinical research that advances the diagnosis, prevention and/or treatment of diseases and disorders in the Veteran population.

Nominations for this award must come from the VA Medical Center through the local R&D Office. To be eligible for the Barnwell Award, nominees must meet specific qualifications. For further details, please review the program guide and instructions by searching Barnwell Award at the ORD website:

John Blair Barnwell Award (va.gov)

Questions may be directed to Dr. Mark Roltsch (Mark.Roltsch@va.gov).

2023 Middleton Nominations due Feb. 1

Nominations for the Middleton Award are due by February 1, 2023.  The William S. Middleton Award is the highest honor awarded by Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development Service (BLR&D) for outstanding scientific contributions and achievements in the areas of biomedical research. More information and submission instructions for the Middleton Award can be found at:  https://www.research.va.gov/services/blrd/middleton.cfm, or you can contact Carol.fowler@va.gov.

Summer Research Program Meeting Held

VA ORD Scientific Portfolio Managers Mark Roltsch, Shakeria Cohen, and Carol Fowler attended a meeting of Principal Investigators (pictured above) for the ORD sponsored Summer Research Program (SRP) in Charleston, South Carolina, on January 19-20.  Principal investigators from the 21 VA sites met to discuss plans for the Summer 2023 session, which will be the second year of a 3-year pilot to provide research experiences for students from underrepresented populations. In the inaugural session in Summer of 2022, the sites welcomed 115 student participants from across the country.  More information on the VA SRP can be found at:  https://www.research.va.gov/programs/dei/srp.cfm.

Centralized Positions Webinar Announced

The VA Office of Research and Development Centralized Promotions managers are hosting office hours and a webinar where they will share exciting new developments for HR classification and the GS promotions procedures that will take effect in the Spring of 2023.

Date:  Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Time:  1-2 p.m. ET

Weblink:  https://veteransaffairs.webex.com/veteransaffairs/j.php?MTID=m00374dea4602e1270e2af4a80132e37c

Just in time Deadline is February 8

February 8, 2023, is the deadline for Spring 2022 applications, released in eRA Just in Time (JIT) in August 2022, to clear JIT. Principal Investigators (PIs) are encouraged to upload materials to JIT areas incrementally, as soon as they are completed, to allow time for ORD staff to review and make decisions. There is no need to wait for all JIT areas to be ready as this causes additional delays.

Only Research and Development (R&D) office staff users with signing official (SO) roles can submit JIT data. After uploading documents into eRA Commons JIT, PIs should alert their local R&D office SO to submit the JIT data. Documents uploaded into JIT areas need to be submitted in order for Office of Research and Development (ORD) staff reviewing the documents to make a decision (approve or reject) in a timely manner.

If you need additional information, please contact: VHACOBLCSRDJIT@va.gov.

RFAs Released for ORD Research Supplements to Promote Diversity and Partnerships/Webinar to be Held

The ORD Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee has released the RFAs listed below for ORD-wide research supplements. These RFAs can be found at https://vaww.research.va.gov/funding/rfa.cfm.

• RD-23-029 Research Supplements to Promote Diversity – mentored research supplements for early career scientists from underrepresented populations. Applications due July 6, 2023.
• RD-23-030 Research Supplements to Promote Partnerships with Scientists Associated with Minority Serving Institutions* to Enhance Diversity in VA Research -  to support partnerships between VA Investigators and investigators at non-VA institutions, including, but not limited to Minority Serving Institutions. Applications due April 6, 2023.

These will be offered as Type 3 supplements to active VA Merits funded by BLRD, CSRD, HSRD, and RRD.

An informational webinar is scheduled for 3-4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, February 15, 2023. 

Weblink for webinar: https://veteransaffairs.webex.com/veteransaffairs/j.php?MTID=m407716d2432aeda155fc962a59e86284  

The webinar will be recorded.

For more information: Carol.Fowler@va.gov.

Intent to Fund Notices Distributed

The CSRD Fall round of intent to fund notices were sent to stations last week.

CSRD DMC Seeking Members

The CSRD Data Monitoring Committee (DMC), that provides data and safety monitoring for CSRD funded projects, is seeking new members. For more information, please contact DMC Manager Tamara Paine, DBA. (Tamara.Paine@va.gov). 

CSRD Contact Information

Career Development: VHACADEReview@va.gov

Clinical Trials: clin-review@va.gov

General Mailbox: VHABLRD-CSRD@va.gov (Please note this is a shared mailbox that should be used for general questions that will triaged by staff to the appropriate individual.)

Just in Time Mailbox: VHACOBLCSRDJIT@va.gov

Newsletter: Lucindia.Shouse@va.gov