MHRI at the NCURA Meetings in 2018

Guest Blogger:
Tina Stanger

Director, Office of Contract and Grant Management

As the year winds down to the last few weeks, many of us will reflect on what we’ve accomplished this past year and what we hope to accomplish in the next. As part of my own reflection, I wanted to take a moment and share how many of our associates have been participating in the global research administration community. Several MHRI associates attended the NCURA National Meeting in Washington, DC, as well as the NCURA Region II meeting in West Virginia.

In early August, NCURA held its 60^th Annual Meeting of the Membership in Washington, DC, allowing several staff to take advantage of the local event.  MHRI staff attended sessions on topics related to Pre-Award Administration, Post-Award Administration, Compliance, Departmental Management, International Research Administration, Clinical Trials/Research, and Career-Skills. Attendees from MHRI included Chad League, Christiana Akede, Emily Paku, Tina Stanger, and Kiara Calbart. Emily and Tina presented “Clinical Trial Jeopardy!” for the Medical/Research track. The theme of the conference was “Demonstrating Resilience and Advancing the Profession,” and offered a keynote by Kevin Carroll from Hanger Clinic. He developed WintersGel and a prosthetic for a baby dolphin that was featured in the movie “A Dolphin’s Tale,” which ultimately led to the creation of the Hanger ComfortFlex Socket Systems used on human amputees.

In October, NCURA Region II held their annual meeting in Wheeling, West Virginia. MHRI staff spoke at every medical/clinical track session for this conference. That is correct, we ran the show this year! The following speakers were there to represent MHRI:

• Patricia Tanjutco: “Overview of FDA’s Bioresearch Monitoring Program, Clinical Site Readiness and What to Do During Inspections”
• Candice Vance: “My PI Was Selected For a Clinical Trial…Now What?”
• Candice Vance, Karen Barnes, Tina Stanger: “False Claims & Clinical Trial Billing: Recent Audits & Lessons Learned”
• Amy Crupiti, Tina Stanger: “Investigator-Initiated Clinical Trials”
• Amy Crupiti, Tina Stanger: “Is it an NIH Clinical Trial?”
• Emily Paku, Patricia Tanjutco, Tina Stanger: “Clinical Trial Recruitment Centers: A Panel Discussion”
• Emily Paku, Tina Stanger: “Clinical Trial Jeopardy!”

Some participants’ comments on the presentations included:

“It’s good to see that there are people that really care about important topics like this”

“All three speakers clearly have passion, extensive knowledge, as well as dedication to this work”

“One of the best sessions I’ve been to. Please think about doing a longer session on this topic.”

“This was an excellent introduction to IIT contracts. I highly recommend the speakers and the topic. I suggest they expand this into a workshop.”

I am truly proud and thankful for all our associate's efforts, whether they are attending to learn more or those who are willing to share their knowledge. Participating in professional development opportunities such as these make us more well-rounded in our knowledge, allows us to learn how our colleagues handle the same hurdles as us and makes us (MHRI) part of the global research community.

NCURA is a professional society that “advances the profession of research administration through education and professional development programs, the sharing of knowledge and experiences, and the fostering a diverse, collegial, and respected global community.” NCURA offers several avenues for education including: 3 national conferences a year, regional meetings, traveling workshops, and various webinars throughout the year.