Research Education, Training, and Career Development (RETCD) Core

Jack ZwanzigerDr. Jack Zwanziger

Director, CCTS Research Education, Training, and Career Development Core

Director, Health Policy & Administration, School of Public Health; Director, Center for Health Services Research, Institute for Health Research and Policy

Dr. Jack Zwanziger has the distinction of having two doctoral degrees under his belt. His first is in Physics from Cornell and the second is in Policy Analysis from the Rand Graduate School. The driving force behind the switch from Physics to Policy analysis was a compelling and life long interest in understanding the various ramifications of health policy. He moved from the University of Rochester to UIC in 2003, and he is currently the Director of Health Policy and Administration at the School of Public Health at UIC. He is also the PI on a K30 Clinical Research Training grant, and one of the architects of the recently awarded CTSA pilot grant. In CCTS, as a Director, he is in-charge of developing and administering the education component or the education and training (ET) core.
The purpose of the RETCD core is to train the future clinical and translational science researchers. The existing programs, and those in development, are described below.

  • Educational Programs and Professional Development Opportunities

  • EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
  • Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Science (K30 Clinical Research Training Program). The Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP) was funded by the NIH in September 2005 using the K30 Curriculum Development funding mechanism. The program enrolled its first class in Fall 2006. Twenty trainees, from ten disciplines, including pharmacy and several medical and surgical specialties, are enrolled in the K30 program for the 2008-2009 Academic Year. The program, which grants an MS degree, is designed to provide clinicians with the skills they need to become CT researchers, including study design, biostatistics, epidemiology, ethics, and statistical computing. Students participate in a series of workshops and carry out a mentored research project that culminates in a publishable paper and a grant application both based on the results of the mentored research project. Feedback from the trainees after the first two years of the program is very encouraging with several already using the research skills they have acquired to begin to develop research programs. For example, one trainee, a clinical pharmacist working in a transplant unit, is developing the research infrastructure to study fungal infections in immuno-compromised patients. For further details visit: www.crtp.uic.edu.

    • Intensive Summer Program A one week intensive clinical research methods course is sponsored by the CCTS RETCD and Clinical Interface Cores. This course discusses research methods, examines the best approaches to clinical research, outlines the steps required for conducting clinical research, provides instruction on critiquing peer-reviewed articles, and reviews the ethical considerations of clinical research including requisite IRB approval and HIPAA requirements. The course is conducted over a five day period, for six hours per day. Course content is designed to aid clinicians and others interested in incorporating research into their clinical practice as well as postgraduate students in applied health sciences, dentistry, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy.

      In collaboration with other CCTS components, we anticipate developing several versions of this program that are oriented to four distinct student groups: undergraduates, pre-doctoral clinical students, community clinicians, and project coordinators primarily RNs). We plan to put some of these versions online and will also develop an option where the course will be provided over three consecutive weekends.

      For information about upcoming intensive programs, please visit: cores33webs.mede.uic.edu/crtp/shortprograms.htm .

      • Certificate in Quantitative Methods in Clinical Research This fully online certificate program will be structured around the methods used in moving from a CTS research idea to conducting the resulting study, so as to provide clinicians with the tools they need to engage in research. The topic areas to be included are study design; ethical treatment of human subjects; regulatory requirements; epidemiology, univariate, bivariate and multivariate statistical methods; statistical computing; data management; and primary data collection. The Certificate will be offered entirely online and will take one year on a part-time basis to complete. This program will provide access to CTS education for many clinicians, particularly fellows and clinical faculty unable to commit the time necessary for the MS CTS program. The program is currently pending approval for Fall 2009. For additional information, visit cores33webs.mede.uic.edu/crtp/shortprograms.htm .

      • "Introduction to Clinical and Translational Science" Undergraduate Course
        • UIC provides an Honors College option for undergraduate students at UIC who seek additional academic challenge and extra-curricular opportunities. Students accepted to UIC may apply, and their acceptance is contingent on exceptional academic accomplishments. Members of the Honors College may take honors courses or participate in an array of out-of-classroom experiences each semester, including an undergraduate research assistant program. We intend to offer an elective one credit, one semester Honors College course, entitled "An Introduction to Clinical and Translational Science," which will introduce students, most of whom have a background in the natural sciences, to CTS. It will outline the range of research questions and accompanying methodologies used in CTS and demonstrate how to refine some questions to testable hypotheses. It will also outline the steps involved in the attempt to test these hypotheses: research design, analysis plan, subject protection, patient consent and IRB application, patient recruitment, data collection analysis, results, and implications. This introdroductory course is currently in development.

      • PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

        • Translational Research Seminar Series This seminar series, organized by the CCTS Novel Translational and Collaborative Studies Core, is a monthly 1 hour educational seminar, held on the 4th Wednesday of each month from 12:30-1:30 in COMRB 5175, that aims to extend professional knowledge among a diverse group of clinicians, including physical therapists, occupational therapists, physicians, nurses, dentists, and other health professionals, in areas critical to success in clinical and translational research. The series stimulates and supports research that has direct clinical relevance and facilitates the growth of a stronger clinical translational research community. To view archives of past seminars, visit Past CCTS seminars

      • Professional Development Workshop This workshop introduces trainees to a variety of professional development topics, including resources for preparing an individual career development award application, responding to grant critiques, exploring various funding sources, submitting an NIH grant, the IRB process, and getting the most from the mentor-mentee relationship. The workshop is tailored to the experience level and needs of the trainees. For more information, visit Seminar Series

      • Works-In-Progress Seminar Series. During this monthly seminar series, trainees in the Clinical Research Training Program (K30) and CCTS Scholars Program present their current research activities. In addition, students in related programs, such as the BIRCWH, are invited to participate. The series provides a true interdisciplinary opportunity for trainees in these programs, who are at quite different stages in their professional development and from different disciplines, to both provide and receive critiques of their research ideas. We regard this workshop as an important component in the development of an interdisciplinary mentoring community. For further details and to access the schedule of meetings, visit Seminar Series

      • Library of the Health Sciences (LHS). The Library of the Health Sciences offers workshops focused on instruction and consultation in locating and evaluating scientific research indexed in scholarly databases (e.g., Medline, Embase) and in grey (unpublished) literature. The workshop will also provide training for using NCBI databases. Consultation with health sciences librarians in searching the literature is also available for trainees. For a schedule of workshops, please visit LHS

      • Management of Clinical Studies Workshops. Senior clinical researchers, including members of the RETCD Mentoring Academy will conduct workshops on a variety of topics related to the management of clinical studies with a focus on leadership skills, managing interdisciplinary teams, budgeting, and other skills required for successfully developing a clinical research program. Proposed workshop topics currently include "What Do I Need to Know to Successfully Manage a Clinical Study?," "The Power of Numbers: Recruitment and Retention in Clinical Studies," "How Do I Work with a Statistician?," "Pitfalls of Pilot Work: How Do I Stay Out of Trouble with the IRB?," "Time Management: Is There Life Outside of UIC?," and "Successfully Negotiating for Resources in Periods of Tight Funding." We intend to present at least four programs each year with new topics proposed by members of the RETCD Mentoring Academy, CCTS leadership and Core directors, and others in the clinical and translational research community. These workshops are currently in development.


      • CCTS SCHOLARS PROGRAM
        Program Director, Dr. Phil Marucha
        This mentored post-doctoral (K12) training program supports fellows and junior faculty as they transition into careers as independent CT investigators by providing an extended period of protected time for didactic material, multidisciplinary mentoring, and interdisciplinary research experience to enable them to make the transition to independent investigators. For further details and RFA announcements, visit Scholars Program


      • PRE-DOCTORAL EDUCATION FOR CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL SCIENTIST PECTS)
        Program Director, Dr. Larry Tobacman
        The T32 PECTS program will provide formative training and experience in CTS research at the career outset for biomedical PhD students beginning careers in translational research. Trainees will carry out a translational dissertation project under the mentorship of both basic and translational researchers. For additional details and for the current RFA, visit PECTS