CSRD is pleased to announce that Dr. Matthew Rettig has been named the 2023 John B. Barnwell Awardee for Outstanding Achievements in Clinical Science. This award is CSRD’s highest honor for outstanding achievement in clinical research. Dr. Rettig will be receive the award and also be recognized on May 13 during National VA Research Week as described in the article that follows.
Dr. Rettig is a genitourinary medical oncologist and Chief of Hematology-Oncology at the VA Medical Center in Greater Los Angeles. He is the national Co-Director of the VA Precision Oncology Program Cancer of the Prostate (POPCaP). He serves as a Professor of Medicine and Urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he was appointed to Medical Director of the Prostate Cancer Program. Dr. Rettig received his medical degree from Duke University and completed internal medicine residency at the University of Washington, before going on to a hematology-oncology fellowship at UCLA. Dr. Rettig’s clinical research focus is advanced prostate cancer. He has bench, translational and clinical research programs that span diagnostics, prognostics, therapeutics and drug development in genitourinary malignancies.
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In honor of National VA Research Week, May 13-17, the Honorable Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, is scheduled to host a live-streamed award presentation recognizing five exceptional investigators, May 13, from 1-2 p.m. EST. This year’s theme is “Building Community Through Research,” as the VA celebrates researchers’ contributions to both the Veteran community and the Health Science community as a whole. This year’s awardees include CSRD-funded investigator Dr. Matthew Rettig, the CSRD 2023 Barnwell Awardee and CSRD-funded investigator from VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care
VA researchers make up innovative teams that have historically developed effective treatments for tuberculosis, invented the CAT scan and the pacemaker, and performed the first-ever liver transplant. More recently research investigators have been critical to supporting the PACT Act, Women's Health, Telehealth, suicide prevention, the President’s Cancer Moonshot, and much more.
Dr. Mark Roltsch has been accepted into the highly competitive VHA Associate Coach Development (ACDP) Program. The robust and extensive coach development experience is offered by VHA National Center for Organization Development with a goal of developing solid coaching skills to leverage day-to-day, while also supporting VHA colleagues with impactful internal leadership coaching. This 14-month program will prepare Dr. Roltsch for certification as a coach in International Coaching Federation (ICF). He will join other coaches in the program in supporting VHA employees with coaching. Those who are interested in VHA Leadership Coaching should go to the webpage Coaching Enrollment (sharepoint.com). You could even sign up with Dr. Roltsch as your coach in training and assist him with his training. Dr. Roltsch is a Health Science Officer/Scientific Portfolio Manager in CSRD. He also is co-chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Group.
March into Memoradum of Understanding (MOU)
Investigators with joint appointments at the VA and an affiliate university should use an MOU defining the distribution of the investigator's time and effort at the two sites. A template is available on the ORD website at https://www.research.va.gov/funding/jit.cfm.
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- Scientific Portfolio Manager, Dr. Nicholas Simon, will be attending the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting April 6-10, 2024, in San Diego, CA.
- CSRD Acting Director Dr. Miriam Smyth and Scientific Portfolio Manager Dr. Vetisha McClair will be attending the Society of Biological Psychiatry (SOBP) Annual Meeting May 9-11, 2024, in Austin, TX.
April 3 is Deadline for DEI Opportunities
Please distribute widely to interested parties. Application instructions may be found at: https://www.research.va.gov/funding/diversity.cfm.
The Office of Research and Development, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee announces two funding opportunities:
- SUPPORT FOR DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION TRAINING FOR VETERANS AFFAIRS FIELD RESEARCH EMPLOYEES
Applicants can request up to $5,000 to support training or education in topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The education or training should be focused on raising awareness of perpetual, institutional, and other barriers that may influence workplace culture, recruitment, and retention. Funds must be expended by September 30, 2024. Training must be completed within a year of the award.
Applications must be submitted to the mailbox VHACOORDDEIWG@va.gov with the subject line “DEI Training” by April 3, 2024. Please include applicant and station name in the subject line
- LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT FOR VA EMPLOYEES AFFILIATED WITH AN ORD PROGRAM/SERVICE
Applicants can request up to $8,000 to support participation in a leadership development course or program (excludes attendance to meetings and conferences). The professional development training must be organized by an accredited institution or federal agency and focus on leadership skill development (e.g., Graduate Health Administrative Training Program, Partnership for Public Service leadership development programs). Funds must be expended by September 30, 2024. Training must be completed within a year of the award.
Applications must be submitted to the mailbox VHACOORDDEIWG@va.gov with the subject line “Professional Development Training” by April 3, 2024. Please include applicant name and station name in the subject line.
Please direct any questions to VHACOORDDEIWG@va.gov
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The CSRD Data Monitoring Committee that provides data and safety monitoring for CSRD-funded projects, is seeking new members -- oncologists, biostatisticians, neurologists, and others. 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 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
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