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BLRD and CSRD will be hosting our annual Career Development Symposium on July 17 and 18. Investigators with BL or CS Career Development Awards with start dates in Calendar Year 2020 and Calendar Year 2022 have been invited to participate, and 51 awardees are scheduled to attend. We are looking forward to this opportunity to hear from our early-career investigators, answer their questions, introduce them to various ORD stakeholders, and build community.
The Military Suicide Research Consortium (MSRC) was an effort to integrate and synchronize U.S. Department of Defense and civilian efforts to implement a multidisciplinary research approach to suicide prevention. Funded by the Military Operational Medicine Research Program (MOMRP), with Defense Health Program funding, and managed by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP), this program funded a broad array of military and civilian suicide prevention research projects.
One of the requirements for receipt of research support was use of a Common Data Elements (CDE) measure and MSRC Demographics Form in data collection. The complete de-identified CDE data set was made available, upon request and approval, to investigators interested in obtaining the dataset for secondary analyses.
With the termination of the MSRC on March 31, 2023, the ORD-funded Suicide Prevention Research Impact NeTwork (SPRINT) became the custodian of the de-identified aggregate data. SPRINT has been charged with the responsibility for making these data available to researchers interested in military and Veteran suicide research. Upon request, SPRINT will provide data from MSRC funded projects to qualified Investigators. For more information on how to request access to MSRC data, what CDE are available, and additional information on MSRC, visit here.
The VA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee is pleased to announce a special collection of 13 articles published in the Journal - Health Equity. The articles showcase VA’s Health Equity research and DEI efforts. Highlights of the collection include an introductory column from Drs. Carolyn Clancy and Rachel Ramoni, research articles on health equity research from accomplished VA researchers, and articles from ORD staff on increasing representation of diverse Veterans in the Million Veteran Program and in clinical trials. The project was the brainchild of the late Mitch Mirkin from ORD Communications. A special tribute to Mitch is included. The special collection was released in print on June 25, 2023, and is also freely available online at https://www.liebertpub.com/toc/heq/7/1.
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Pictured above (from left) at the 2023 VHA Senior Leader Summit held June 12-16, 2023, in Phoenix, AZ, are Dr. Wendy Tenhula, Deputy Chief Research and Development Officer; Dr. Miriam Smyth, Acting Director, Clinical Science Research and Development; Dr. Holly Krull, Acting Director, Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development; and Marc Wynne, Deputy CRADO for Strategy, Partnerships, Outreach & Communication.
The deadline for Fall 2022 applications in eRA Just-In-Time (JIT) is August 15, 2023. Principal Investigators (PI) and stations with open applications in eRA JIT should endeavor to upload and submit documents to respective JIT areas that remain outstanding. It is recommended that JIT areas are completed incrementally, as soon as documents are available, rather than waiting until all documents are ready before submitting to eRA JIT. Incremental upload of documents to the appropriate eRA JIT area gives ORD staff sufficient time to make decisions on each JIT area.
If a JIT extension waiver is needed, please submit a request using the ORD JIT Extension Request form. Requests for a 30-day extension (at most 60-day extension for first time requests) should be submitted to eRA JIT or the vhacoblcsrdjit@va.gov mailbox. The justification memo should be detailed and include specifics of current progress on the outstanding JIT items, steps being taken to complete the items, revisions being made in response to IRB or R&D, and an approximate timeline for completion. The PI should prepare the document and the ACOS/R should sign the JIT extension request memo prior to submission.
The Foundation for NIH has recently released a brief video on the success of the ACTIV initiative for COVID-19 in which ORD participated (and is participating in its successor master trial). Please enjoy!
View ACTIV video
The following show results of our recent review of Letters of Intent (LOIs) received May 1, 2023, for Clinical Trials (CT) and Career Development Awards (CDA) The graphs depict trends over the last six cycles.
Merit Review Clinical Trial LOIs
Submitted: 29
Approved: 20 = 69%
Disapproved: 3 = 10%
Disapproved (Other Service): 2 = 7%
Disapproved (Standard Merit): 3 = 10%
Withdrawn: 1 = 3%
Career Development (CDA-1 and CDA-2) LOIs
Submitted: 24
Approved: 17 = 71%
Disapproved: 5 = 21%
Deferred to another Service: 2 = 8%
 
These will be offered as Type 3 supplements to active VA Merits funded by BLRD, CSRD, HSRD, and RRD.
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Budget: $100,000/yr for up to 2 years
- Applications will only be accepted through grants.gov/NIH Assist and reviewed via eRA commons.
The DEI supplement RFAs posted on the VA intranet, here: https://vaww.research.va.gov/funding/rfa.cfm
An informational webinar was held on February 15, 2023 and is posted here: https://www.research.va.gov/funding/diversity.cfm
For more information: Carol.Fowler@va.gov.
The CSRD Data Monitoring Committee (DMC), that provides data and safety monitoring for CSRD-funded projects, is seeking biostatisticians, neurologists, and other new members. For more information, please contact DMC Manager Dr. Tamara Paine at Tamara.Paine@va.gov.
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
Scientific Portfolio/Program Managers: BLR&D and CSR&D Contact Information (va.gov)
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