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, 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:

Translational Science Lesson:

How to drive innovation by learning how to work with clinical data sets.

Speaker: 

Andrew Boyd, MD
Professor, Biomedical & Health Information Sciences
UIC College of Applied Health Sciences
Associate Director of Informatics Integration, Education & Collaboration
UIC Center for Clinical and Translational Science 

Project Case Study:

This presentation will provide the current Epic research functionalities, resources, and updates.

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: 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

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.

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

Topic: Career Development

Description:

In this special panel session, PIs, OVCR representative, and UIC Corporate and Foundation Relations will share their experience with the current state of foundation funding. 

Panelists:
Niranjan S. Karnik, MD, PhD
J. Usha Raj Professor of Psychiatry & Pediatrics, University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago
Co-Director, UIC Center for Clinical & Translational Science

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

Rebecca Milczarek, Ph.D.
Assistant Director, Office of Research Development
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Illinois,Chicago

Elise Carlson
Executive Director of Foundation Relations
UIC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Advancement

Swapna Naidu
Director of Foundation Relations
UIC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Advancement

Moderator:
Tina Grieco-Calub, PhD
Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry
University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago

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

Topic: Clinical Trial Operations/Finances

Description:

This session will provide a high-level overview of the Principal Investigator’s key responsibilities in fiscal management for sponsored projects and highlight best practices for effective project management throughout the award life cycle.

Speakers:

Katrina Lopez, MPA
Associate Director, Compliance
Office of Sponsored Programs 
University of Illinois Chicago

&

Kristen Scheurich, CRA
Associate Director, Proposals
Office of Sponsored Programs
University of Illinois Chicago

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

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.

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.