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: Research Ethics

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 Informed Consent will be held over 2 days, about 2 hours per day, and is designed to increase research coordinators’ knowledge and confidence regarding the informed consent document and process.

When: Wednesday, August 27th, from 1 PM - 3 PM and Thursday, August 28th, from 1 PM - 3 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: Translational Research Technology

Description:

Make research better: Translational research vs. translational science

Speaker: 

Forthcoming

Project Case Study:

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. In this seminar, Dr. McCormack 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 CTSA workforce development.

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:

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

Topic: Biomedical Informatics/Data Science

Description:

Make your research more significant: Reducing bias in healthcare through AI

Translational Science Lesson:

How to use machine learning and artificial intelligence to improve health care services through clinical research and translational medicine.

Speaker: 

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

Project Case Study:

"Moving research into data science and AI: opportunities, risks and approaches to consider"

"Moving Research into Data Science and AI: Opportunities, Risks, and Approaches to Consider," explores how researchers across disciplines can effectively integrate data science and AI into their work. It highlights emerging opportunities for innovation, addresses ethical and practical risks—including bias, privacy, and reproducibility—and presents strategic approaches to ensure responsible and impactful application of these powerful technologies in scientific research.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Niranjan Karnik is an internationally recognized leader in psychiatry and behavioral health innovation. He holds the prestigious J. Usha Raj Professorship of Psychiatry & Pediatrics at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), where he serves as Director of the Institute for Juvenile Research, Co-Director of the Institute for Research on Addictions, Co-Director of the Center for Clinical & Translational Science, and Interim Director of the AI.Health4All Center. He also holds an appointment as a WOC Research Scientist at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. Dr. Karnik’s groundbreaking research integrates data science, digital health, and community-based interventions to address psychiatric and substance use disorders among society’s most vulnerable populations.

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: 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.