Position: Research Personnel

Topic: Career Development

Description:

The Center for Clinical and Translational Science has organized a comprehensive educational certificate program for UIC research staff involved in human subjects research [clinical and translational, community-based and/or social/behavioral research].

Primary Audience: New and/or experienced Research Coordinators, Research Specialists, or Staff who work on research projects that involve human subjects, targeting those with project, personnel and/or grants management responsibilities.

Program Goals:

• Offer opportunities for training and professional development for research coordinators and other staff that will add value as they advance their careers at UIC.
• Increase knowledge and self-efficacy of research staff in performing their job responsibilities.
• Provide a seal of approval that Principal Investigators recognize as representing minimal competence when hiring and promoting research staff.
• Communicate standards and best practices for the responsible conduct of research specific to the roles and responsibilities of research coordinators at UIC.

Elements of the RC+ Certificate Program:

• Proof of CITI Trainings
• Complete online course modules
• Attend Best Practice Hour seminars
• Attend Master Classes

*Certificate program is ONLY open to Research Staff at UIC.

Position: Research Personnel

Topic: Clinical Trial Operations/Finances

Description:

This presentation will provide an overview of financial management related to research studies. It will cover study budgets, managing UIC and sponsor requirements, and issues that arise in research studies.

Speaker:

Michael Isaac
Assistant Director of Research Operations
UI Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office
University of Illinois Chicago

RC+ Program:
Core Competency #5: Study and Site Management

Contact: Sudeshna De, Lawrie Zhang, ccts-training@uic.edu

Position: Research Personnel, Graduate Students, Pre & Post-Doctoral Trainees, Faculty

Topic: Data Management

Description:

Dr. Rondelli, Division Chief of Hematology and Oncology and Chair of the Cancer Center Data and Safey Monitoring Committee, will discuss the requirements for data and safety monitoring of clinical trials and the role of a Data and Safety Monitoring Board.

Speaker:

Damiano Rondelli, MD 
Michael Reese Professor of Hematology
Chief, Division of Hematology/Oncology
Director, Blood & Marrow Transplant and Cell Therapy, Dept of Medicine
Director for Global Partnerships, Center for Global Health
College of Medicine, University of Illinois Chicago - UI Health

Contact: Sudeshna De, Lawrie Zhang, ccts-training@uic.edu

Position: Research Personnel

Topic: Data Management

Description:

The focus of this presentation will be to answer the following questions:

1.  Why is data management critical for the conduction of clinical trials?

2.  Why is it so critical to record when data is missing?

Speaker: 
Andrew Boyd, MD
Professor, Biomedical & Health Information Sciences
Assoc. Dir., Informatics Integration, Education & Collaboration
Biomedical Informatics Core, CCTS

RC+ Program:
Core Competency #6: Data Management & Informatics

Contact: Sudeshna De, Lawrie Zhang, ccts-training@uic.edu

Position: Research Personnel

Topic: Study/Site/Lab Management

Description:

The CCTS Master Class seminar series helps clinicians, research coordinators/specialists and other health research personnel develop a better understanding of conducting human subjects research at UIC. These immersive training workshops enable participants to implement best practices for human research subject protection, recruitment, study conduct, and data safety/security.

The Master Class on Project Management: In the Field will be held over 2 days, about 2.5 hours per day, and is designed to increase research coordinators’ knowledge and confidence regarding project management, with a focus on study implementation.

When: Wednesday, October 29th, 2025 from 1 PM - 3:30 PM and Thursday, October 30th, 2025 from 1 PM - 3:30 PM 

Register for Zoom link! 

*The program will be recorded, and the recording will be made available to registrants for this seminar

Contact: Sudeshna De, Lawrie Zhang, ccts-training@uic.edu

Position: Research Personnel

Topic: Data Management

Description:

This presentation will cover key features of REDCap, account set-up, main screens, and provide an overview of the process to create a new project. 

Speaker:
Rachel Lane, MS
Research Specialist, Biostatistics Core
Center for Clinical and Translational Science
University of Illinois Chicago

RC+ Program:
Core Competency #6: Data Management & Informatics

Contact: Sudeshna De, Lawrie Zhang, ccts-training@uic.edu

Position:

Topic: Biomedical Informatics/Data Science

Description:

QUICKSet, or “Query UIC Knowledge Set,” is the CCTS Biomedical Informatics Core built version of the i2b2 (Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside) framework. The purpose of this tool is to allow researchers to access de-identified clinical data from the UI Health system to obtain aggregate patient counts. QUICKSet can facilitate a study by helping researchers to quickly establish the feasibility of carrying out a research study or clinical trial, work through hypothesis creation by continually modifying their own searches, and to identify potential cohorts for clinical trials.

Completion of this training module is required to gain access to the QUICKSet system. To request a consultation or supplementary service at CCTS, please visit Research Ally.

Position:

Topic: Human Subject Protections

Description:

CIRTification: Community Involvement in Research Training is a human research protections training program designed especially for community partners. If you will be involved in research and responsible for recruiting research participants, obtaining informed consent, or collecting data, this training is for you.  This course will cover:

• Introduction to Research: The basic terminology, activities, and people involved in research and various ethical considerations.
• Research History: Some research abuses that have happened in the past and the rules we have now to prevent those abuses.  This module also introduces the goals of community engagement in research and the important responsibilities shared by community research partners.
• Eligibility & Recruitment: The importance of adhering to study inclusion/exclusion criteria and best practices identifying and recruiting research participants.
• Informed Consent: The key components of informed consent, the kinds of information included in the consent form, how to respond to participants’ questions about enrollment and withdrawal, and discussion of practical challenges and good practices.
• The Institutional Review Board: The people on the IRB, the process of submitting to the IRB, and the criteria that IRBs apply to the review of research.
• Collecting & Protecting Data: How to protect participant privacy and keep data safe and confidential during collection, transport, and storage.
• Handling Issues in the Field: What do to if you suspect a co-worker of falsifying data, run into a study participant outside of work, and get challenging questions from study participants.

Position: Graduate Students, Pre & Post-Doctoral Trainees, Faculty

Topic: Career Development

Description:

Successful career development grants need a strong research concept, a solid career development plan, and skillful writing. CCTS Grant Writing Coaching Groups can help support you! Modeled after successful formats from the National Research Mentoring Network, these small groups are geared toward senior postdocs writing K99/R00 proposals and junior faculty writing other types of K grants. (Other types of career development proposals are also welcome.) With support from peers and a senior faculty coach with NIH reviewing experience, 4-5 participants will work together to refine their Specific Aims pages, sketches, and career development/training plans.

Current meetings are on Tuesdays at 12 PM (5 openings) via Zoom.

Eligibility:

To participate, you must

• Be a senior postdoc or junior faculty member planning to submit a K99, other types of K proposal, or similar career development proposals like AHA or ALA.
• Have an aims page drafted (no matter how rough)
• Have identified a primary mentor
• Planning to submit a proposal for deadlines in October 2025 (or February 2026) 

Position: Faculty

Topic: Mentoring/Leadership

Description:

CCTS is holding another research mentoring training for faculty at UIC. The training will use the state-of-art Entering Mentoring curriculum developed by the Center for Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  The effectiveness of the training was supported in a randomized control trial published in Academic Medicine (89:774-782, 2014).  

We are offering the eight-hour interactive training next month in two in-person sessions (10am - 2pm) held on Wednesday, September 17th, and Wednesday, September 24th. 

These sessions will be held in-person in WROB 461.

Position: Research Personnel, Graduate Students, Pre & Post-Doctoral Trainees, Faculty

Topic: Translational Research Technology

Description:

Make your research broader: Expanding your research and reach from Translational research to Translational science

Translational Science Lesson:

How to identify the [potential] translational science in your work and share it to drive the advancement of all health research.

Speaker: 

Robin J. Mermelstein, PhD
Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology, UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Co-Director, UIC Center for Clinical & Translational Science

Project Case Study:

"Expanding your research and reach from Translational research to Translational science"

While Translational Research focuses on the process of translating discoveries to practical application, Translational Science offers a broader framework and innovative methods to improve the translation of knowledge into real-world solutions. This seminar will discuss the origin of the confusion between these two terms, a framework to better understand how the collaboration between Translational Research and Translational Science can drive innovation, and the impact on the translational workforce.

Contact: Sudeshna De, Lawrie Zhang, ccts-training@uic.edu

Position: Research Personnel, Graduate Students, Pre & Post-Doctoral Trainees, Faculty

Topic: Clinical Trial Operations/Finances

Description:

Dr. Reizine will discuss the role of the investigator in assessing adverse experiences occurring during clinical trials, and how investigator assessments are integral to identifying adverse requiring expedited safety reporting.

Speaker:

Natalie Reizine, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology

Contact: Sudeshna De, Lawrie Zhang, ccts-training@uic.edu

Position: Research Personnel, Graduate Students, Pre & Post-Doctoral Trainees, Faculty

Topic: Data Management

Description:

TBA

Speaker: 

Andrew Boyd, MD
Professor, Biomedical & Health Information Sciences
Assoc. Dir., Informatics Integration, Education & Collaboration
Biomedical Informatics Core, CCTS

Contact: Sudeshna De, Lawrie Zhang, ccts-training@uic.edu

Position: Research Personnel

Topic: Clinical Trial Operations/Finances

Description:

The CCTS Master Class seminar series helps clinicians, research coordinators/specialists and other health research personnel develop a better understanding of conducting human subjects research at UIC. These immersive training workshops enable participants to implement best practices for human research subject protection, recruitment, study conduct, and data safety/security.

The Master Class on Financial Management: Post award will be held over 2 days, about 2 hours per day, and will cover post-award and activities related to financial management in the post-award period. 

When: Wednesday, January 28th, from 1PM-3PM and Thursday, January 29th, from 1PM-3PM  

Register for Zoom link! 

*The program will be recorded, and the recording will be made available to registrants for this seminar

Contact: Sudeshna De, Lawrie Zhang, ccts-training@uic.edu

Position:

Topic: Human Subject Protections

Description:

CIRTification Refresher: Continuing Education

This course is for users who have completed CIRTification: Community Involvement in Research Training and are required to take continuing education in human research protections per their institution's requirements. If you have not completed CIRTification: Community Involvement in Research Training, please complete that course first before taking this refresher.

In this course, we will review key concepts and cover some new ideas. We hope you gain new knowledge and skills for research.  This course will cover:

• Overview of Key Concepts: Review of the research process, the people involved and the tasks.
• Doing Trustworthy Research: Review the importance of following the IRB-approved research protocol, keeping data safe, and protecting privacy and confidentiality. You will also learn how to handle some tricky situations, including problems that may be unexpected.
• Overview of Informed Consent: Review key components of informed consent and good practices for responding to participants’ questions about enrollment, withdrawal and other issues.
• Research in Different Communities: Review considerations for doing research with people from different communities, including people who do not speak English, adults who cannot legally make decisions for themselves, and people who may have trouble saying “no” to an invitation to research.