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CSRD Newsletter

Vol. 5, No. 10, 2023.10.31

CSRD Welcomes Maria Negrete as Budget Analyst

It is our pleasure in CSRD to welcome Maria Negrete as a budget analyst.  She joined CSRD in September, being mentored by Administrative Officer Lisa Eiben, and will be splitting her time initially between CSRD and ORD Fiscal (as she continues to cover some fiscal items).  Maria assisted CSRD in FY23 closeout and opening FY24 under the current continuing resolution.  She has been with ORD Fiscal for a year and a half first as a contractor and then converted to a Federal employee in May 2023.  She lives in San Antonio, Texas, and is a retired Army Medical Service Corps Officer.

Other Support October: PI and Key Personnel Other Support Documents Principal Investigators’ (PI) Other Support and all senior/key personnel Other Support documents must be signed and combined into one PDF document and uploaded into JIT. All individuals who contribute in a substantive, measurable way to the scientific development or execution of the project, whether or not salaried, are considered as Other Support. Consultants may be included if they meet this definition. Each personnel’s Other Support document(s) must have their respective signature (electronically or handwritten).

Summer Research Program

Morehouse School of Medicine and Atlanta VA Summer Research Experience was held on August 1. These students presented at the MSM symposium about their research experience.

In September, the PIs from the Summer Research Program met in Phoenix to discuss the results and what worked well and what can be improved.  The SRP increased its participation of students from 113 last year to 176 this past summer.  Below are team members of the SRP. Underneath the photo is a word cloud of the most frequently used words in the survey of the students who participated in the SRP this summer The bigger words are the ones that came up more frequently in the data. The SRP will be in the last year of the pilot program in FY24. A new RFA for FY25 SRP should be coming out in December of 2023.

Please Meet and Greet Us

October 31-November 4

• Dr. Vetisha McClair is attending the "International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) 39^th Annual Meeting" in Los Angeles, CA

November 1-3

• Dr. Joseph Constans will be attending the "2023 National Research Conference for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms" in Chicago, IL

November 11-15

• Dr. Miriam Smyth and Dr. Jayanthi Sankar from CSRD will be attending the "Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience" at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. Others attending from ORD will be Dr. Carol Fowler, Dr. Audrey Kusiak, and Erin Spaniol

November 17-18

• Eric Schwinder will be presenting on November 17 about VA research funding opportunities at a grant writing workshop hosted by the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) in Bethesda, MD. Dr Mark Roltsch will be sending a video message but is unable to attend in person.

December 3-6

• Dr. McClair will be attending "American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) 62^nd Annual Meeting" in Tampa, FL, and representing CSRD on the Funding panel on Sunday, December 3.

CSRD DMC is Seeking Members

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.

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 be triaged by staff to the appropriate individual.)

Just-in-Time Mailbox: VHACOBLCSRDJIT@va.gov

Scientific Portfolio/Program Managers: BLR&D and CSR&D Contact Information (va.gov)

Newsletter:  Lucindia.Shouse@va.gov