In This Week’s Update:

COVID-19 Updates:
- National COVID Patient Database Now Has 4M Patient Records
- NIH Funding: School Disruption Impact on Kids' Mental Health
Funding for Community-Based Participatory Research
Apply Now: 2021 Design Labs in Clinical Effectiveness Trial
TODAY: UR CTSI Analytics Colloquium
New Guide to Allyship for Gender Equity and Beyond
Addressing Anti-Asian Racism and Violence
Promoting Health Research at URMC
CHeT Talk: Using Real-World Evidence to Make Better Decisions
Managing Epidemics with Consumer Wearables
Save the Date for Upcoming EQ-DI Webinars
TIN Webinar: The Innovative Climate of Study Teams
Planetary Health Alliance Meeting and Festival
Funding Opportunities

COVID-19 Updates:

National COVID Patient Database Now Has 4M Patient Records
The National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C), a one-of-a-kind collection of clinical data for COVID studies, now has data derived from electronic health records of more than 4 million people, including more than 1 million patients who tested positive for COVID. Any UR researcher who is interested in this cloud-based resource of harmonized data can register with N3C and request to use this immense data resource. Learn more about the process and requirements for data access, including data security training.

NIH Funding: School Disruption Impact on Kids' Mental Health
When the COVID pandemic hit, kids were quickly sent home while new remote-learning systems were hastily erected. And there have been many starts and stops for kids' education over the past year. The NIH is now offering funding to investigate the mental health impact of the COVID pandemic on school-aged children, specifically ages 3 - 12. Particularly, they want to know how school disruptions have impacted the mental health, cognitive, social and emotional development of children. Data will help to balance health risks for various public health mitigation strategies affecting children in the current pandemic as well as future public health emergencies. Apply by Saturday, June 5.

Funding for Community-Based Participatory Research

The UR CTSI offers up to $15,000 for community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects through its CBPR pipeline-to-pilot grant. This award is intended for academic and community partners who have completed the UR CTSI's CBPR course or who have demonstrated experience in CBPR. Research teams must consist of one faculty member or trainee (graduate student, medical student, resident, postdoc or fellow) or a staff member with a faculty mentor from the University of Rochester and at least one community partner from the greater Rochester area. Apply by Monday, May 3, 5:00 pm.

Apply Now: 2021 Design Labs in Clinical Effectiveness Trial

The Trial Innovation Center, led by Johns Hopkins University and Tufts Medical Center, is looking for clinical investigators who are interested in pursuing innovative clinical trial designs to participate in its annual Design Lab workshops. The Innovations in Clinical Effectiveness Trial Design Labs explore innovations in clinical trial design in the context of the full development pathway for drugs and new treatments, with a particular focus on innovative clinical effectiveness trial design. Learn more and apply by Friday, May 7.

TODAY: UR CTSI Analytics Colloquium

The UR CTSI Analytics Colloquium is TODAY, 12:00 – 1:00 pm and will feature two 30-minutes talks:

Reconstructing dynamic regulatory and signaling networks from time-series single-cell data, presented by Ziv Bar-Joseph, Ph.D., a FORE Systems Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University; and
The influence of diet and physical activity on sleep, depression, glucose regulation during pregnancy, presented by Ying Meng, Ph.D., R.N., assistant professor in the University of Rochester School of Nursing.

New Guide to Allyship for Gender Equity and Beyond

The AAMC Group on Women in Medicine and Science has just published a guide for gender equity allyship that defines allyship, describes how to act as an ally and explores barriers to becoming an ally. While the toolkit was created with gender equity in mind, many of the ideas and tools are applicable to allyship for other group identities, including race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. UR CTSI Director of Diversity and Inclusion John Cullen, Ph.D., was the lead author of the guide, which builds on a presentation he gave at the 2019 AAMC Leadership Forum.

Addressing Anti-Asian Racism and Violence

Anti-Asian racism and violent attacks on the Asian community have increased in recent months, capturing national headlines. The Racial Equity Tools website, which is designed to support individuals and groups working to achieve racial equity, includes as set of resources to address anti-Asian violence. The site offers resources on trauma and healing practices as well as tools, research, tips, curricula and ideas for people who want to learn more and help those working for racial justice at every level – in systems, organizations, communities and the culture at large.

Promoting Health Research at URMC

If you have walked through the Saunders Research Building recently, you may have noticed a few new health research banners. Those banners are part of a renewed campaign to promote participation in health research at the University. The campaign, which is being run by the UR CTSI, also includes a toolkit of health research marketing materials that University members can download and share with their patients or community members, or can use as inspiration to create their own study ads. Learn more about the UR CTSI’s Recruitment Tools.

CHeT Talk: Using Real-World Evidence to Make Better Decisions

The next CHeT Talk will feature Carolyn Magill, MBA, CEO of Aetion, Inc., who will discuss the transition from fee-for-service to value-based care, population health, and using real-world evidence to inform health care's most critical decisions.
Date: Tuesday, April 13
Time: 12:00 – 12:30 pm

Managing Epidemics with Consumer Wearables

The Public Health Grand Rounds will host Girmay Berhie, Ph.D., MSW, MSIS, dean of the Scool of Public Health at Jackson State University, who will present, Managing Epidemics with Consumer Wearables. This presentation will focus on the establishment of a digital tele-medicine lab through a specific research project geared toward managing epidemics using wearable digital devices.
Date: Friday, April 16
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm

Save the Date for Upcoming EQ-DI Webinars

Equity-Focused Dissemination and Implementation (EQ-DI) Science examines the process by which scientific evidence is implemented in clinical settings and communities with a focus on addressing health equity. Save the date(s) for the spring EQ-DI webinar series:

April 20: Opportunities to Advance Research on Health Equity & Sustainability in Implementation Science, by Rachel C. Shelton, Sc.D., M.P.H., associate professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University.
April 27: Intervention Failure? Maybe it’s Fidelity, by Wendi Cross, Ph.D., professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at URMC.
May 4: State of the (Implementation) Science in Designing Intervention Feasibility and Pilot Studies, by James McMahon, Ph.D., associate professor in the University of Rochester School of Nursing.

TIN Webinar: The Innovative Climate of Study Teams

There are increasing demands to have more rapid clinical trial innovation in order to develop novel treatments more quickly and cost-effectively. The challenges that COVID added to the landscape of clinical trials also bring the potential for new pathways of innovation. Join the next Trial Innovation Network (TIN) webinar featuring Veronica Bubb, M.S., CEO of Abond, to hear about the potential factors driving the decision to use an innovative study design.
Date: Wednesday, April 21
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm

Planetary Health Alliance Meeting and Festival

The 4th Planetary Health Annual Meeting titled Planetary Health for All: Bridging Communities to Achieve the Great Transition, will be held during Planetary Health Week, April 25-30. This virtual conference aims to highlight collective planetary health values; showcase change-making science, stories, and solutions; and build systemic solutions across economics, governance and civil society. Register now for this free event.