Basic Sciences Strategic Plan Accomplishments

Accomplishments as of December 2023

Accomplishments related to action item 1: Improve communication of Building Community efforts to graduate and postdoctoral trainee communities.

• Continuing to highlight Building Community efforts in In the Know.
• Building Community Steering Committee is engaged in strategic planning for work moving forward.
• Communications team subcommittee is working on a communications plan.

Accomplishments related to action item 2: In partnership with UW Health, create SMPH affinity groups for underrepresented* trainees.

• UW Health/SMPH Employee Resource Groups (ERG)s launched in April 2022
• Disability and Neurodiversity ERG started in December 2023

Additional accomplishments of the SMPH Office of Office of Diversity and Equity Transformation that relate to this objective:

• DEI Learning
  • Bias in Hiring and Recruiting e-learning modules created in collaboration with SMPH HR
  • DEI presentation for faculty in the Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology
  • Medical Physics Department learning roadmap completed
  • Offered Searching for Excellence Workshop in collaboration with WISELI
  • DEI modules available in Canvas
• Continued collaboration with HR to create standard tools and workflows
  • Recruitment toolkit collaboration/feedback
  • Regular meeting cadence with Employee Relations and DEI
  • Regular meeting cadence with recruitment and DEI
  • “Stay interview” toolkit
• DEI Community of Practice
  • Separated Basic Science and Clinical Departments Communities of Practice
  • Basic Science Department CoP continues to meet every other month with discussions around faculty recruitment and evaluation standardization

*Underrepresented is defined as meeting one or more of the following criteria:

• High level of financial need
• First generation college student (neither parent received a baccalaureate degree)
• Students who contribute to the intellectual and cultural enrichment of the program because of their life experiences, including overcoming personal adversity or family hardship, records of extensive community service, or successful careers in other fields
• Significant barriers to achieving higher education, such as experience in the foster care system, living in a single-parent household, having an incarcerated parent, or responsibilities for providing financial support or primary care for other household members.

Accomplishments – 2023

• An implementation task force, composed largely of graduate program directors, met throughout the year to finalize the proposed plan for the Interdisciplinary Biomedical and Health Sciences Consortium (IBHSC). First class will start fall of 2025.
• The proposed plan was sent to all program steering committees. Programs will vote by the end of March 2024 on whether to join the consortium.
• Graduate program managers are meeting regularly to share best practices and plan joint recruiting for winter/spring 2025.
• Focus groups are being held with current SMPH graduate students to help design the First-Year Experience.

Accomplishments – 2022

• Created a task force with essential representation of various graduate student training groups to design a plan to centralize SMPH graduate training.
• The task force analyzed multiple integrated graduate programs from around the United States to model what would work best for SMPH.
• The task force outlined a graduate program integration plan with recommendations for implementation. This plan completed the goals of the first task force.
• An implementation task force, composed largely of graduate program directors, has been established and will begin meeting in January 2023 to finalize and implement the proposed plan.

Accomplishments as of December 2023

Action item 1: In alignment with campus and school goals to diversify the professoriate, develop program to train and retain underrepresented* postdocs as faculty.

• Reviewed postdoc to faculty programs for underrepresented* postdocs at peer institutions.
• Developed a SMPH postdoc to faculty program that creates a path for recruitment of underrepresented* postdocs that is coupled to retention as faculty member in SMPH departments.

Action item 2: Develop survey for postdocs to determine reasons for short average tenure within SMPH/UW-Madison.

• Analyzed postdoc duration data from peer institutions.
• Surveyed faculty about both the short duration of postdoc appointments and general recruitment. Determined that general recruitment is a larger issue than the time spent in lab as a postdoc.
• Utilized postdoc focus groups on mental health and wellness support to collect data on their experiences working in SMPH.

Action item 3: Enhance mental health and wellness support for graduate students and postdocs.

• Reviewed available mental health and wellness support for graduate students and postdocs.
• Updated the “Report a Concern” webpage to explicitly include postdocs.
• Conducted focus groups for postdocs focusing on mental health and wellness support.
• Determined best practices for onboarding new postdocs and building community with SMPH postdocs. Presented to department administrators and chairs to partner in implementation.
• Working with UW-Madison Office of Human Resources to develop health insurance 101 videos.
• Initiated a postdoc specific SMPH Collaborate event that includes a poster session to build community among postdocs.

Action item 4: Develop approaches to increase the number of postdoctoral and graduate trainees from underrepresented* groups.

• Developed a SMPH postdoc to faculty program that creates a path for recruitment of underrepresented* postdocs that is coupled to retention as faculty member in SMPH departments.

Action item 6: Create new awards for SMPH learners

• This action item was added in 2023
• Created a program to recognize postdocs who apply to F32 fellowships and earn high scores but are not awarded.
• Awarded Shapiro Fellowship funds to graduate students who apply to F31 pre-doctoral fellows and earn high scores but are not awarded.

Goals for each action item

*Underrepresented is defined as meeting one or more of the following criteria:

• High level of financial need
• First generation college student (neither parent received a baccalaureate degree)
• Students who contribute to the intellectual and cultural enrichment of the program because of their life experiences, including overcoming personal adversity or family hardship, records of extensive community service, or successful careers in other fields
• Significant barriers to achieving higher education, such as experience in the foster care system, living in a single-parent household, having an incarcerated parent, or responsibilities for providing financial support or primary care for other household members.

Accomplishments as of December 2023

Action item 1: Identify faculty directors of research core clusters recently established by the Dean’s office and task them to understand staffing/equipment needs within each core cluster.

Accomplishments related to goal 1: Identify directors of individual or groups of core clusters and organize quarterly meetings between them and the newly recruited Senior Director of SMPH Cores.

• The Senior Director of SMPH Cores identified an advisory group that meets monthly to discuss topics critical to the operation of cores. In 2022, major topics included the development of a system to manage finances and “sharing the word.” In 2023, major topics included financing equipment purchases, managing service contracts, rate settings, and the development of user workshops.

Accomplishments related to goal 2: Develop an investigator survey to obtain data on the frequency of use, timeliness, expense, and overall quality of cores (including questions to understand why investigators may have chosen to avoid the use of one or more core facilities).

• The SMPH Core Advisory Group developed an investigator survey to obtain data on overall satisfaction, frequency of use, timeliness, expense, and suggestions for improvement in 2022 and launched it in October 2023. The results of the survey will be distributed to shared resources in 2024.

Accomplishments related to goal 3: Task core cluster directors to define resources and staff/equipment needs that exist within individual research cores.

• Equipment and staff needs were a focal point in both the 2022 and 2023 annual reports.
• Equipment needs were requested as part of the 2023 shared resources survey.
• In both 2022 and 2023, four cores received Core Revitalization Grants from OVCRGE to upgrade equipment.

Accomplishments related to goal 4: Review requests for core augmentation (staff/equipment), based on core cluster directors’ recommendations and determine cost sharing models to be responsive.

• A request for potential Core Revitalization Grant proposals was sent to all shared resource leaders in August 2023, allowing priorities to be set and commitments budgeted for the 2024 grant cycle. Five proposals received six matching funds.
• Similar requests for proposals will also be made for NIH Shared Instrument Grants (SIG) and High-end Instrument Grants (HEI). Commitments have already been made for 2024.
• A budget has been developed to provide matching funds for internal and external infrastructure proposals.

Accomplishments related to goal 5: Develop a standardized approach to address requests for funding to support instrument acquisition, including requests for matching support requested to enhance the competitiveness of extramural and intramural grant applications.

• The SMPH Core Advisory Group continues examining whether Smartsheets would be the best software to manage several core-related workflows including instrument acquisition. The UWCCC has implemented Smartsheets to manage finances and requests, including pilot proposals. A Smartsheet workflow is being developed for equipment requests.

Accomplishments related to goal 6: Develop approaches to facilitate interactions among investigators, staff, and trainees (ie., core facility open houses, collaborative training opportunities, etc.).

• Some shared resources have developed use training sessions.

Action item 2: Develop a training module for core facility staff and associated administrative units on culture/customer service, as well as a mechanism for cores/units to receive feedback.

Accomplishments related to goal 1: Facilitate more centralization of SMPH core facility administration and operations through the recruitment of a new Senior Director of SMPH Cores.

• Richard Halberg was appointed Senior Director of SMPH Cores in September 2022.

Accomplishments related to goal 4: Develop questionnaires to enable faculty, staff and learners to provide feedback to core facility staff and administrative units.

• A user survey was developed and launched in 2023.

Action item 3: Promote research core facility open-houses and training events to engage new users and facilitate interaction among investigators. 

Accomplishments related to goal 2: Develop ways to expose core users to new technologies.

• Announcements and links were added to the SMPH Shared Resource website in 2023.

Action item 4: Identify targeted opportunities that leverage our emerging strengths.

Accomplishments related to goal 1: Define standardized processes by which research cores can be responsive to RFAs to support instrument acquisition.

• The SMPH Shared Resources website was revamped in 2023. Updates include a Facilities and Equipment Statement, Line Diagram, Rigor and Reproducibility Statement, and Letter of Support template for each shared resource.

Accomplishments as of December 2023

Accomplishments related to action item 1: Develop metrics to measure, compare and update external funding activities in SMPH, including multi-PI funding.

• Analyzed NIH funding for SMPH and five peer institutions, identified areas for growth, and discussed opportunities with the school’s leaders.

Achieved – Action item 2: Maintain updated list of NIH Faculty Councils and encourage leaders at UW-Madison SMPH to participate in these important activities.

• Identified current SMPH faculty who serve on NIH institute advisory councils and developed a system to update this information annually.
• Facilitated an invitation from the Center for Human Genomics and Precision Medicine (CHGPM) to Mark Craven, PhD, Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, who recently completed a term serving on the NHGRI’s National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research. Dr. Craven presented a seminar to the CHGPM community about ANVIL, an upcoming cloud-based data commons for NHGRI-supported public genomics data to facilitate analysis, and about NHGRI’s vision of using machine learning models to improve biological interpretation.

Achieved – Action item 3: Create professional events that foster social connections

• Created SMPH Collaborate, an event series that fosters connections among investigators, researchers, and learners through the sharing of research discoveries and building of community.

Goals for each action item

Accomplishments as of December 2023

Achieved – Action item 1: Clarify the use of the integrated packet as a way to apply for promotion for the Biological Sciences Divisional Committee.

• The integrated case continues to be a well utilized option. In the last three years we have had 12 faculty successfully go up for promotion to associate professor with tenure using the integrated case and one person appointed at advanced rank using the integrated case.
• We continue to talk about the integrated case in multiple venues.
• The option is discussed in the Pathways to Promotion—Tenure Track workshop.
• Used mostly by clinician-scientists.

Achieved – Action item 2: Incorporate DEI work in the SMPH promotion guidelines as appropriate.

• Many of the suggestions that we made to enhance the recognition of DEI in the Biological Divisional Committee tenure guidelines were incorporated (see the highlighted version of the guidelines currently on the Faculty HR website to review.)
• Additions were made to the CT track guidelines.

Accomplishments related to action item 3: Clearly define the importance and benefits of service and outreach to the university, the advancement of science, and the well-being of Wisconsin communities and underserved populations.

• We developed a document that includes advice on how to write candidates’ statements for the tenure track dossier that includes advice on Service as an area of significant accomplishment.
• In the last three years, we have had five cases before the Biological Sciences Divisional Committee for promotion to associate professor that have chosen Service as an area of significant accomplishment. All cases were successful. We have also had three appointments at advanced rank before the Divisional Committee that utilized Service as an area of significant accomplishment, and all were successful.
• Future steps: We will continue to distribute and publicize the document referenced above so there is wider awareness and usage. Will be adding more examples of Service as an area of significant accomplishment to our promotions tool kit.

Accomplishments related to action item 4: Improve mentoring and promotions oversight committee functions in SMPH departments.

• The Office of Faculty Affairs and Development, in collaboration with ICTR and the Office of Basic Research, Biotechnology and Graduate Studies, offers mentoring workshops for assistant and associate professors.
• Meeting with departments as requested to present updates to promotions guidelines for all tracks and training for oversight committees.

Accomplishments as of December 2023

Action item 1: Together with the Basic Sciences Strategic Leadership Committee, create a task force to understand the research landscape in SMPH and identify areas in which philanthropic resources should/could be raised.

• Appointed task force members whose roles include serving as basic science content experts, facilitating funder engagement, and contributing to the development of task force workflows.
• Worked with SMPH leadership to generate a list of priorities.
• With the Office of Basic Research, Biotechnology and Graduate Studies, developed white papers for each priority.

Action item 2: Collaborate with UW Foundation to connect SMPH principal investigators and training programs with foundations having interests and goals that align with PI research interests.

• Engaged PIs from the Center for Health Disparities Research and Institute for Diversity Science as well as PIs working in children’s cancer and Alzheimer’s and other dementias

Action item 3: Create and implement basic science philanthropy development plan.

• Developed and maintained foundation relations program infrastructure that includes:
  • Work with UW Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA) leadership to engage interim Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education regarding “future-state” of private, foundation funding to support priorities.
  • An RSP-WFAA recurring meeting.
  • An all-UW Foundation Funding Working Group recurring meeting.
  • Refinement of processes for leadership to regularly evaluate and re-order top fundraising priorities.

• • Creation of a process for leadership to regularly evaluate “calls for proposals” and decide whether to pursue specific funding opportunities.

• Ongoing efforts to identify existing personal professional relationships between a UW faculty/staff member and an individual within each identified prospective funder foundation, as a potential means for better understanding foundation goals and accelerating initial discussions.

• Identified prospective funders and cultivated a subset of prospective funders
• Established robust communication with Science Philanthropy Alliance, which represents industry and family foundations interested in funding fundamental research, technology development, and research training.

Goals for each action item

Accomplishments as of December 2023

• The SMPH hosted a workshop open to all UW-Madison faculty interested in competing to become a new Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator

The initial action item was achieved in 2023: Work with and provide support for efforts to implement the data use agreement between SMPH and UW-Health/other clinical partners.

The implementation team has expanded its work and is making progress on a second action item: Establish hybrid (HPC and cloud) environments for analysis of Omics and Imaging data, i.e., Platform R.

Accomplishments as of December 2023

• The objective was expanded in 2023. The original objective was “Expand our expertise in quantitative biomedical imaging (QBI) and define new approaches for diagnostic biomarker discovery.”
• “AI in Imaging and Medicine: Breaking Silos, Building Bridges:” The Department of Radiology and the Data Science Institute hosted a free, full-day seminar on Oct. 6, 2023, focusing on the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), imaging and medicine. This event brought together researchers and clinicians from across campus for cross-disciplinary discussion and presentations.

Accomplishments as of December 2023

Objective 11 has one action item: Develop or improve methods, metrics, and tools needed to study root causes of health disparities.

The Center for Health Disparities Research (CHDR) produces the metrics that enable federal, state and private health equity payor strategies including those within the US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Key accomplishments in 2023 include the following:

• Optimization of the Area Deprivation Index (ADI). In response to U.S. Census Bureau changes to criteria for defining block groups, reapportionment of block groups resulting in geographic boundary changes, and developments in telecommunications technology since the last decennial Census, CHDR researchers tested and validated logical, substantive, and evidence-based changes to the 2020 ADI that better represent the material and technological conditions of 2020. These methodological changes will be carried through in subsequent vintages and versions, ensuring continued relevance and accuracy of the tool.

• Continued development of the Expo-AD infrastructure, the first nationally-aligned National Institute on Aging (NIA) repository optimized for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) disparities-focused exposome intake, linkage, and analysis. In 2023, the project saw:
  • cybersecure platform builds and workforce capacity expansion, now complete.
  • geocoding and cross-sectional linkage to time concordant ADI for over 9000 decedent participants; these data have been linked to NACC for demographics, neuropathology outcomes and other UDS/MDS variables.
  • over 5000 decedent MRI scans from 15 sites have been curated.

Accomplishments related to Goal 1: Facilitate establishment and growth of the Center for Health Disparities Research (CHDR).

2023:

• The Center filled 37 key positions to keep pace with its administrative, data engineering and data science, and research operations demands.
• Executive Leadership of the Center welcomed an additional deputy director and an Associate Director of Informatics, expanding the Center’s scope and depth of expertise.
• With 47 affiliates and eight trainees, CHDR continues to encourage consultation and foster collaboration. The CHDR executive committee continues to review candidates and plans to send additional invitations each spring and fall.

2022:

• CHDR Cores in the areas of exposome research infrastructure, education, and scientific community continue to grow rapidly.
• 14 new and developing CHDR-industry partnerships are progressing. These include a number of large multi-national industry entities.
• CHDR investigators are informing federal government, industry, research and community health disparities initiatives. CHDR produces the metrics that enable federal, state and private health equity payer strategies including those within the US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Accomplishments related to Goal 2: Work with CHDR leadership to identify RFAs to which CHDR faculty could be responsive, particularly as collaborative teams.

2023:

• CHDR continues to grow its capacity for curating and disseminating opportunities, amplifying the work of its members, and expanding its reach. Through its strategic communication and dissemination efforts, CHDR’s audience currently exceeds 14K contacts; 2023 saw 4K net subscriber growth and sustained increases in engagement (10% increase in open rate, 6.5% increase in CTR) year-over-year.
• There are nine active awards administered by CHDR or resulting directly from CHDR-administered awards, with additional submissions planned for upcoming cycles.
• CHDR continues its efforts to diversify partnerships, funding, and collaboration through developing and sustaining relationships with industry and philanthropic partners. To date, CHDR has administered 10 data use agreements with external partners.
• CHDR continues to provide letters of support for aligned projects with 11 supported project proposals in 2023, facilitating new cross-disciplinary collaborations in the health disparities research space.

2022:

• CHDR has developed a number of new and evolving communications strategies to raise awareness of funding opportunities.
• Seven new CHDR-administered federal National Institutes of Health grants have been submitted during the past 12 months – five have been awarded, two are under review.
• CHDR provides letters of support for aligned projects and facilitates new cross-disciplinary collaborations in the health disparities research space.

Accomplishments related to Goal 3: Identify and compile lists of investigators and clinical practitioners by research areas/interests, with the potential to form inter/multidisciplinary research teams to apply for grant funding.

2023:

• Creation of the Health Disparities Research Working Group, led by Dr. Ryan Powell. The HDRWG engages in monthly discussions on the latest ongoing research in the field of health disparities. The intended audience is researchers and health professionals with an interest in health disparities research, spanning all levels of research experience and training. Presenters (who are often trainees and junior faculty) share their disparities-focused work, from developing initial research ideas to final research products, and receiving feedback from the group. In its inaugural run, the HDR Working Group held six hybrid events, drawing 30 participants, on average (40/60 in-person/virtual).
• Continuation/sustainment of CHDR Seminar Series. CHDR hosted four hybrid seminars in the 2023 cycle, drawing 95-100 attendees, on average (30/70 in-person/virtual).
• CHDR has developed and will pilot processes to assemble and support the development and implementation of policies, tools, and resource development related to publications, scientific collaboration, and data sharing while ensuring regulatory, legal and data-security requirements are met.
• To continue to promote scientific community building, CHDR is preparing to host a Neighborhoods Study convening event at AAIC 2024. In addition to the goal of scientific community building, the purpose and goals of the convening event are to share findings, collaborate on data sharing processes, and share opportunities for engagement in committees and subgroups. The EC has identified and continues to explore opportunities for convening events throughout 2024 and beyond.

2022:

• CHDR welcomed 41 new affiliates in 2022 representing the full SMPH spectrum of clinical, social, and basic science disciplines, presenting multiple opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and diverse scientific community building. Outreach strategy will continue.

Accomplishments as of December 2023

Objective 1 has one action item: Facilitate the use of genomics and data analysis pipelines.

Accomplishments related to Goal 1: Facilitate efforts for genomics pipelines and analyses integrated across multiple departments and centers of UW-Madison, including the Center for Human Genomics and Precision Medicine (CHGPM) and the Biotechnology Center. (Revised 2023; Incorporates original goal #1: Facilitate growth of the CHGPM.)

• 2023: Enhanced and operated the Precision Medicine Research Service.
• 2022: Established and staffed a Precision Medicine Research Service to fill the gap between biotech center and all other aspects of sample procurement/regulatory requirements, research strategy and analysis. This service makes NGS analysis accessible to any UW faculty member without the requirement of specialized knowledge.  This service is also creating standard analysis pipelines that can be shared among investigators.

Accomplishments related to Goal 2: Expand UW-Madison human genomics footprint spanning infrastructure, training, and collaborative research through external grant mechanisms. (Revised 2023; Incorporates original goal #2: Identify RFAs to which CHGPM faculty could be responsive, particularly as collaborative teams.)

• 2023: Identified projects for collaborative research grants.
• 2022: Coordinating with UW Health precision medicine leadership to identify RFAs for clinically integrated projects.

Accomplishments related to Goal 3: Work with CHGPM leaders to establish short- and long-range plans for CHGPM to catalyze human genomics at SMPH and UW-Madison, including the identification of programs and services that the center provides.

• 2023: Created a new leadership model for the center comprising two co-directors, a Clinical Director and a Research Director. Initiated recruitment for both positions.
• 2022: Beginning initial stages of strategic planning.

Accomplishments related to Goal 4: Develop marketing strategies to promote the mission and goals of CHGPM, as well as the programs and services the center provides.

• 2023: Continued and expanded regular speaker activities and CHGPM Research Symposium.
• 2022: The first annual retreat was held in Fall 2022: Advertising for the Precision Medicine Service.
• 2022: Regular seminars are underway.

Accomplishments related to Goal 5: Collaborate with the academic health system to facilitate consent for genomics and biospecimen research, to integrate clinical genomics into electronic medical records (EMR), and to support clinical/translational research, including interventional studies. (This goal was added in 2023.)

• Continued work with UW Health to expand WiscShare, including the development of a revised IRB protocol.

Accomplishments as of March 2024

Action item 1: Identify targeted opportunities that leverage our emerging strengths.

Accomplishments related to Goal 1: Develop new mechanisms to highlight RFAs to specific scientists (including multi-investigator teams) who would be highly competitive, particularly with appropriate administrative support for grant submission purposes.

• Developed mechanisms to improve dissemination of funding opportunity announcements through a more targeted approach by developing strategic funding plans for targeted investigators/groups and training research administrators and scholars to identify funding opportunities for specific investigators and scientific areas.
• Gathered data on all UW-Madison grants eligible for diversity supplements and the amount of funding from diversity supplements over the past five years. Goal is to use this data to increase the number of diversity supplements applied for and received at SMPH through awareness and medRAMP support.
• With SMPH IT, developing a weekly funding announcement email to all Investigators and Research Administrators.

Goal 3: Develop approaches to incentivize collaborations between investigators focused on the creation of new technologies and investigators working on specific pathogen/organism/disease states to spur new innovations.

• Work in progress

Achieved – Goal 4: Redesign the medRAMP website to better reflect its purpose and highlight key funding opportunities.

• New leadership identified for medRAMP, which was subsequently rebranded as medRISE (Research Investigator Support and Education)

Achieved  – Goal 5: Assess and potentially revise the funding model that supports the medRamp Grant Office to provide investigators administrative support for submission of large and complex grants (e.g., P & U grants, etc).

• Implemented a new fee structure in 2022.

Accomplishments related to action item 2: Scan campus for research areas of strength where new training grants could be awarded.

• Used NIH reports and feedback from T32 administrators to gather and analyze data on UW-Madison T32 training grants, including comparisons to peers. Identified gaps and areas of strength, including the need for administrative support. Office of Training Grant Support hired a new staff member to provide administrative support for T32 development and management.

Goals for each action item

Accomplishments as of December 2023

Action Item 1: Expand our portfolio of industry partners.

• Conducted clinical department meetings about the state of clinical research and how to increase opportunities with industry.
• Established quarterly strategic site partnership meetings with key industry partner to discuss pipeline studies. Will replicate this model to establish routine touch points with additional industry partners.
• Participated in UW Clinical Trials Institute (CTI)’s Onboarding and Training Program Advisory Group to establish appropriate education materials for new clinical trials professionals at UW.
• Member of the planning committee for the WI Collaborative Clinical Research Professionals Conference May 2024, which will highlight to stakeholder from across the state the clinical research performed at UW.

Action Item 2: Create a model for developing Center(s) of Excellence for industry studies in specific disease/therapeutic areas that can be expanded and applied to other specialties.

• Drafted action plan to address better engaging PIs for research:
  • Ask new PIs to join research protocols.
  • Increase efforts to educate/mentor new PIs.
  • Provide more outreach/education for faculty investigators about the services that CTI provides.
  • Identify other training opportunities for PIs.
• Seek input from potential PIs on list of companies to engage.
• Facilitated introductions between industry partners and several faculty investigators for potential research collaborations.
• Drafted criteria to establish a clinical research Center of Excellence:
  • Build relationships with key companies to bring on disease-specific studies.
  • Understand and meet or exceed the expectations industry sponsors have for academic partners.
  • Conduct clinical studies with committed, engaged physicians in alignment with their area of expertise.
  • Identify patient cohorts that could benefit from clinical studies.
  • Seek to be a leader in incorporating equity and diversity in clinical trials.
  • Successfully engage with patient populations about relevant studies.
  • Provide access to centralized, highly trained clinical research staff to support conduct of studies.
  • Conduct high quality research, making our site more desirable for industry studies.
  • Establish and grow the reputation of UW’s Center of Excellence.

Action Item 3: Enhance the quality of community engagement interactions by SMPH faculty and staff.

• Co-developed with CTI the Clinical Trials Participant Liaison PVL, a new position that will seek to establish collaboration opportunities where industry, patients and researchers work together.
• Engage companies that have indicated interest.
• Identify faculty/staff who can lead these educational sessions on best practices for engaging with key community stakeholders.
• Established working group of campus stakeholders and subject matter experts to create a model for engaging with indigenous populations in Wisconsin on the topic of data sovereignty, with the goal of advancing policies pertaining to intellectual property with tribal partners.

Action Item 4: Proactively align basic science researchers with potential clinical collaborators.

• Generated list of faculty champions.

Goals for each action item.