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Showing posts from May, 2017

The Art of Mentorship: “I Don’t Like Public Speaking"

Guest Blogger: Emily Paku
Program Coordinator,
Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science



The jitters right before the presentation, stuttering throughout the presentation, and a deep sigh of relief after the presentation--I’m sure I’m not the only one, right? In my role as Program Coordinator for the Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science Multisite Study Support and Recruitment UnitI interact with colleagues from various institutions and backgrounds. What I wasn’t prepared for was the number of presentations I'd have to give to the community.

While preparing for one presentation, I discussed my nervousness with Tina Stanger, MHRI’s Director of Contracts & Grants Management. Months later, Tina asked me to co-present at the National Council of University Research Administrators – Region II Meeting.  Talk about tackling your fears head first!
Luckily, with encouragement and coaching from Tina, Becky Montalvo and Karen Wade, I utilized my professional development funds for the conference. Boy, was it a professionally developing experience!
I not only had the opportunity to sharpen my public speaking skills, but also the opportunity to network with research administrators in the Mid-Atlantic region. I attended sessions related to my current position and sessions that provided information I can use in the future.

Through this journey, Tina taught me tips and tricks for public speaking. Because of this, I wasn’t as nervous during the presentation and I even learned some methods for engaging the audience. As a result of the information I learned at MHRI and Tina’s encouragement to present, I was able to share best practices with the attendees. 

We were strongly encouraged to submit our presentation for the next NCURA FRA/PRA conference! Not only did chair and committee members for the conference take the time to let us know that our group was very engaged, attendees stopped by to express how much they learned and how they enjoyed the session.
Thanks to encouragement and coaching received from Tina, Becky & Karen, I took advantage of the opportunity to learn and grow not only as an MHRI associate, but as a clinical research professional. Whether it’s to sharpen a rarely used skill, learn about things related to your field from colleagues and experts across the country or to face your fears: Take advantage of the opportunity!

Honoring Memorial Day 2017

This Memorial Day, we honor the men and woman of our nation's Armed Forces who have proudly and honorably sacrificed for the freedom of Americans everywhere.

And, to those who continue to valiantly serve, and their families, we appreciate your unwavering commitment. 

For your service, bravery and sacrifice, thank you.



Engaged MHRI Associates!

While the results of the Associate Engagement survey are being released at the Spring Town Halls next month, it's always nice to see the friends and colleagues at UTC engaged on a day-to-day basis! As Michele said "We work so well together, we coordinate our outfits without thinking about it!"
From left to right: Eva Hochberger, Brenda Tsai, Patricia Evans, & Michele Lee Clements. Photos by Jim Resiert
I hope everyone is able to attend an upcoming town hall and see how engaged MHRI associates are across the system, not just at the UTC offices.

Friday, June 9
University Town Center
Multipurpose Room
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Click here to add the UTC Town Hall to your Calendar

Wednesday, June 14

MedStar Union Memorial Hospital
Curtis Hand Conference Center
2:00pm to 3:00pm

Click here to add the MUMH Town Hall to your Calendar

Wednesday, June 21
MedStar Washington Hospital Center
True Auditorium
9:00am to 10:00am

Click here to add the MWHC Town Hall to your Calendar

Research on MedStar TV!


As many of you know, the new MedStar Health corporate offices in Columbia opened their doors at the new location recently. Just around the corner from the old building, it's a brand new space.

Around the same time, the Digital Team at MedStar launched MedStarTV. On screens across the MedStar system, from hospital to PromptCare, 'MedStar TV' provides information for patients about everything from tips to healthy living to events across MedStar. 

To my delight, I was happy to see (when I walked into the new building) not only a TV system promoting MedStar, but one showcasing research as a banner along the right border!  So, of course, I needed to take a picture and share it with you....




The Importance of Professional Development

Guest Bloggers:

Christina Stanger, MA, CRA
Director, Office of Contract and Grant Management, MedStar Health Research Institute


Ron Migues, MD
Scientific Administrative Director, MedStar Health Research Institute

We know, you’ve heard about the importance of professional development many times over, right? And there have been changes over the past year in how professional development and tuition assistance are being handled, right? Some staff are thrilled, and others not so much. We know, believe us, we know!

Being in management at a research institute means you automatically have to stay on top of changing regulations, political upheavals, new financial mandates, and specific agency changes. We have Uniform Guidance adoption deadlines, the final Common Rule and the single IRB, Research & Terms Conditions (RTC) implementations that are different for each sponsoring agency, DATA act compliance, changing proposal submission applications and systems…UGGHHH! And that is just the past year on the administrative side of things for federal awards. Being on the programmatic side of things is no easier. There are lots of changes and new ways of doing things popping up all the time in our 24/7 world. How do you keep up, and how do you keep your staff up-to-date on the latest and greatest without breaking the bank?

Thankfully, we can rely on our professional development funds. And, yes we know it is hard to stretch these funds! Sometimes you need to be inventive: speak at a conference to get free registration; look into volunteer work at a conference to see if you can work one day and attend sessions for free the next; search for local conferences; ask your department to pitch in a little extra (if they have it); build it into your annual budget; or build it into a grant proposal and dual-purpose the travel funds for both research meetings and professional development at a national conference.
We recently stretched our funds to the limit, but we were able to attend the most recent NIH meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana with a few other MHRI staff members. We pooled funds, discovered NIH has cheap registration fees, split hotel rooms, and took some cheaper flights with delays. However, we also learned a lot about upcoming NIH changes, spoke one-on-one with NIH experts, ate some awesome food in one of the greatest cities, and became good friends. The staff was immensely grateful, learned priceless information, and was actively engaged with NIH staff and what they were learning. We gained new contacts at NIH and brought back lots of peer review information to share at our upcoming PI Orientation. Here are a few photos of our group representing MHRI at the meeting and enjoying a lunch in New Orleans.

We highly encourage you to take advantage of your professional development funds, even if you have to be creative to achieve your needs. MHRI funds this because they know you and your staff are worth the investment. Also, what can top a happy and engaged staff that feels their professional development needs are being met?

Celebrating Nurses

Nurses are integral part to patient care and to clinical research. At MHRI, we have dozens of research nurses and at MedStar, there are dozens more involved in research through their clinical roles.I'd like to take a moment this week to thank all the nurses who help us advance health at MedStar.

The American Nursing Association designated 2017 as the year of the healthy nurse with a theme of "Nursing: the Balance of Mind, Body and Spirit".

Thank you to all nurses at MedStar for your commitment to patient care, in mind, body and spirit, and to advancing health through research.




A Grin and a Nod

Friends and Colleagues,

It was only a grin and a nod as he returned to the dugout, but I could tell. My son just came off the mound from pitching a very difficult inning against one of the best teams in his league. These boys were big and swinging the bat hard. It was great seeing his pride as the coach gave him a pat on the back—it was even greater to see him immediately thank the outfielder who had a stunning catch to retire the sides. Baseball is certainly a team sport.

Last week, MedStar Health associates from across the system came together to share in the teams’ pride of advancing health through research, education and innovation at the annual MedStar Health Research Symposium. It was a wonderful event that celebrated the cutting edge research that is taking place every day in our hospitals and clinics (pictures and highlights available on Notes from Neil).

To give you a feel of the event, let me share a few ‘grins’ and ‘nods’ with you:

  1. Throughout the event, it was fantastic to see live tweets (#MedStarResearch17) from MedStar departments and hospitals proudly congratulating their associates on their research.
  2. For the first time, two nurses had the highest scoring poster presentation. When we notified Kathryn Curtain, a registered nurse in the burn unit at MedStar Washington Hospital Center that her study on mobility was the award winner, she was quick to point out that it was a collaborative effort with her follow nurse and researcher, Shannon Walters. Research is certainly a team sport too!
  3. It brought together our broader community, including those that help support our innovative research. I found it empowering to watch the interaction between a philanthropy guest and an investigator to learn something new… from each other!
  4. The Symposium helped make new connections with creative minds – an Mi2 associates (Allan Fong) showcases a social networking algorithm (they built to find connections between the 350 posters presented) to our system Chief Medical Officer.
  5. And it catalyzed a continued conversation, such as the email after the event from a hospital president to the resident who presented his award winning research - the congratulatory email led to a deeper email conversation and a planned future meeting.
When you multiply these stories by 800 in attendance, we are clearly moving toward a learning healthcare system that encourages everyone to think differently, make new discoveries and become lifelong learners.

As we close out 2017 Research Week, I’d like to thank each MedStar associate who contributes to research . From the investigators, to the analysts, to the coordinators, to those who support the research team, you each play an important role in advancing the health of our community. Thank you – now go ahead and let that ‘grin and nod’ come out as you take pride in what we are doing at MedStar.

Neil




Read Focus at MedStarResearch.org/FOCUS.




Take 2 of #MedStarResearch17

I posted the embedded Tweets from the Sysmpoium yesterday, but wanted to make sure that my email-based readers were able to see the images. The images really show the scale of the event!

800+ researchers & leaders hear speak at symposium. Truly a major academic health system.

From @MedStarHealth
Congratulations research fellows!




Welcome to , keynote speaker Darrell G. Kitchen, MD, President and Chief Officer @AAMCtoday.





#MedStarResearch2017

This year marked the second year of live tweeting the MedStar Health Research Symposium through the @MedStarHealth twitter account. Looking back at the tweets, it builds out the story of the day and highlights how successful the event was!

A few stats, since we are researchers:
  • 34 mentions
  • 195 favorites
  •  5 retweets
You can see the whole story by searching #MedStarResearch17 on Twitter and Facebook.










6th Annual MedStar Research Symposium: Advancing Health and Knowledge

What another successful event!

In continuation of our record setting events, this year’s Research Symposium was the largest one to date! It was great to have residents and fellows join with investigators from across the system to present their research. With approximately 800 people attending and  350 abstract posters and case studies, everyone walked away energized and proud of the research at MedStar.

With abstracts from the breadth of research at MedStar, there was something of interest to everyone. Our exhibit spaces showed the depth of support for research at MedStar, with Philanthropy and Mi2 presenting the connections of their work to research. The exhibitor spaces showcase how we are supporting MedStar investigators across the system.

This was the first year that the Symposium was paired with a system-wide Resident Research Day. I was thrilled to welcome the top scoring residents and fellows to give oral presentations of their abstracts to their peers. The addition of case reports to the abstract presentations highlight the quality of research that our residents and fellows are completing.

We were joined by Darrell G. Kirch, MD, president and chief executive officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) for the keynote address. He shared some of the changes happening in Washington, how they can change academic medicine and how MedStar is ideally positioned for these changes.

I want to share my thanks and appreciation for all the investigators who submitted their research for the Symposium and to all who came out to support the investigative work that goes on throughout MedStar. My thanks to those associates who were on hand to host and support another great event.