Please join us for the 7th annual symposium hosted by the Institute of Clinical and Translatio nal Sciences.

This year's theme highlights differences in transl ational research versus translational science and how projects can be adapt ed to overcome longstanding challenges along the research pipeline. Highli ghts include keynote address from Ruth O'Hara\, Ph D (Stanford University)\, and presentations and panels providing real-w orld examples of utilizing translational science principles in research.

Speakers

Keynote Speaker

Ruth O’Hara\, PhD
Director\, Spectrum\, Stanford Center for Clinical and Translational Research and Education\; Se nior Associate Dean of Research\, Stanford School of Medicine\; Lowell W. a nd Josephine Q. Berry Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences\, Sta nford University

O’Hara is the Senior Associate Dean of Research at t he Stanford University School of Medicine and the Lowell W. and Josephine Q . Berry Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She directs a broa d interdisciplinary clinical research program\, encompassing cellular model s\, physiological predictors\, and brain and behavioral assays of psychiatr ic\, medical\, and cognitive disorders. The core of O’Hara’s research is to investigate how cognitive information processing deficits subserve affecti ve symptoms in psychiatric disorders and interact with key brain networks i ntegral to these disorders. Her body of research has played a key role in s hifting the paradigm to defining\, assessing\, and targeting psychiatric di sorders more fully based on their cognitive information-processing deficits and underlying neurocircuitry. Her current research interests are in sleep \, pediatrics\, and aging.

Pres enters

Jacob Greenberg\, MD\, MSCI
Assistant Professor\, Neu rosurgery and Orthopedic Surgery\; Co-Director\, Patient Safety and Quality Improvement\, Department of Neurosurgery\; WashU Medicine

Greenberg is an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Orthopedic Surgery at Washing ton University and is also co-director of patient safety and quality improv ement in neurosurgery. He completed his undergraduate\, medical school\, an d neurosurgery residency at Washington University before going to the Cleve land Clinic for a complex spine surgery fellowship. His clinical practice f ocuses on the surgical management of patients with spine disease\, particul arly cervical and lumbar disease. Dr. Greenberg’s academic focus is on usin g clinical research methods\, data science\, and clinical informatics tools to improve outcomes for patients with spine disease. His work is currently supported by the NIH\, DoD\, as well as a variety of institutional and soc ietal funding sources.

James Krings\, MD\, MSCI
Assistant Prof essor of Medicine\, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine\; WashU Medicine

Krings is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmon ary & Critical Care Medicine at WashU Medicine. He received his medical deg ree from Stanford University and completed his residency in internal medici ne at Northwestern University before returning to his home of St. Louis to complete his Pulmonary & Critical care training at WashU. He is a graduate of multiple programs within the ICTS\, including the MTPCI\, MSCI\, KL2\, and Mentored Training in Implementation Science (MTIS) Program. He is curre ntly supported by a K23 for his work on a study entitled “CHEST: A Collabor ation with Community Health Centers to Implement SMART for Asthma.”

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Mark Lowe\, MD\, PhD
Professor of Pediatrics\, Gastroenterology\, Hepatology & Nutrition\; Harvey R Colten Professor of Pediatric Science\; Senior Associa te Dean for Research\; Vice Chancellor for Research\; Vice Chair\, Pediatri cs Clinical Affairs and Strategic Planning\; WashU Medicine

Lowe is t he Harvey R. Colten Professor of Pediatric Science\, the Vice Chancellor fo r Research\, and Senior Associate Dean for Research at WashU Medicine. He o btained a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and worke d at the National Institutes of Health before attending medical school at t he University of Miami. He did a Pediatric residency and fellowship in Pedi atric Gastroenterology at St. Louis Children’s Hospital before joining the faculty at WashU Medicine. Lowe spent 14 years at UPMC Pittsburgh Children’ s Hospital as the Chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology before returning to W ashU Medicine in 2017. His research interests are the biochemistry of fat d igestion and understanding the mechanisms of chronic pancreatitis in childr en.

< strong>Laura McPherson\, DPT\, PhD
Assistant Professor\, Physical Therapy and Neurology\; WashU Medicine

McPherson is a biomed ical engineer\, neuroscientist\, and physical therapist. Her research ident ifies mechanisms of pathological neural control of movement in the multiple sclerosis and hemiparetic stroke populations and how they relate to motor deficits. Long-term goals are to leverage this information to develop targe ted rehabilitation therapies that are personalized to each patient’s unique pathophysiology and to provide sensitive disease monitoring tools. Her re search team uses a combination of non-invasive recordings of motor unit pop ulation discharge\, biomechanical measurements\, and computational neurosci ence approaches. Her translational science line of research is developing a large-scale open dataset to increase the rigor and efficiency of translati onal research in her field.

Chri stine O’Brien\, PhD
Assistant Professor\, Biomedical Engi neering
McKelvey School of Engineering
WashU\, MO

O’Brien i s an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at WashU with a secondar y appointment in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Her research is focused on developing and translating non-invasive optical spectroscopy an d imaging tools to solve global problems in maternal-fetal health. She obta ined her PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University and complet ed postdoctoral training at WashU Medicine in the Department of Radiology. She launched her independent research program with projects focused on the development of novel wearable sensors for the early detection of postpartum hemorrhage and novel strategies for preterm birth detection and investigat ion.

Max Petersen\, MD\, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine\ , Endocrinology\, Metabolism & Lipid Research
WashU Medicine

Pet ersen is an active clinical and translational investigator focused on the i nteractions among nutrition\, obesity\, and insulin resistance in people. R ecent areas of investigation include the physiology of metabolically health y obesity and the impact of dietary macronutrient composition on metabolic health during weight loss. He is a KL2 Career Development Award Scholar at WashU Medicine. Additionally\, his research has been recognized with awards from the Endocrine Society\, the Obesity Society\, and the American Physic ian-Scientist Association. He sees patients with diabetes\, obesity\, and r elated diseases in the endocrinology clinic of WashU Medicine.

Mary Politi\, PhD
Professor\; School of Public Health\; WashU\, MO

Politi is a Professor at the School of Public Health at WashU. Her primary research interests include health communication and shared decision-making. Her work helps patients and the public understand health information\, explore what is important to them when making health decisions\, and collaborate to mak e evidence-informed decisions that meet their needs. She also focuses on re ducing the financial toxicity (burden of care costs) of health care through insurance decisions and discussions about cost-saving strategies. Politi’s research includes engaging communities with unmet health needs and includi ng them in both research and dissemination efforts. She works to ensure tha t her research is relevant to end users in clinical and community settings.

Lauren Roland \, MD
Assistant Professor\, Otolaryngology
WashU Med icine

Roland is an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology at the WashU School of Medicine. She is a rhinologist with an interest in fungal sinusi tis and the intersection of pathogen and host nasal epithelium. She studies invasive fungal sinusitis\, a rare infection with high mortality\, which p rimarily affects severely immunosuppressed patients. She also specializes i n anterior skull base disease\, including chronic rhinosinusitis\, nasal po lyps\, nasal obstruction\, and CSF leaks.

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Moderators

Christina Gurnett\, MD\, PhD
A. Ernest and Jane G. Stein Professor of Neurology\;
Director\, Division of Pediatric and Developmental Neurology\; Co-Director\, Intellectual and Developmental Dis abilities Research Center\; Associate Director\, Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences\; WashU\, MO\; Neurologist-in-Chief of St Louis Chil dren’s Hospital

Gurnett runs an active neurogenetics research program that has had continuous NIH funding since 2005\, supporting her work to st udy the genetic basis of musculoskeletal and neurodevelopmental disabilitie s. Her research reflects her strong commitment to improving equity in genet ic testing\, as she currently leads a large-scale R01 genome sequencing stu dy of African Americans with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Her commitmen t to community-engaged research is highlighted by her leadership of two Nat ional Institutes of Health-funded Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics-Underse rved Population (RADx-UP) projects whose goals were to study communication strategies to increase SARS-CoV-2 testing in schools for children with inte llectual and developmental disabilities. As a highly sought-after mentor\, Gurnett also co-directs the Precision Medicine Pathway for graduate student s and is the co-PI of an R25 providing intensive summer research experience s in pediatric neurosciences for high school students from underrepresented backgrounds.

< a href="https://infectiousdiseases.wustl.edu/people/william-g-powderly/" ta rget="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">William Powderly\, MD
J. William Campbell Professor of Medicine\; Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Sciences\; Director\, Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences\; Larry J. Shapiro Director\, Institute for Public Health\; Co-Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases\; WashU\, MO

Powderly is currently the Director of the Washington University Institu te for Public Health\, Director of the Institute of Clinical and Translatio nal Sciences\, and Co-director of the Division of Infectious Diseases. He h as been actively involved in HIV-related clinical research for thirty years . He has been a member of numerous advisory groups on HIV and infectious di seases for the NIH\, the CDC\, the Canadian Institute for Health Research\, and the European Medicines Agency. His major recent focus has been on tran slating scientific advances to a wider population to improve public health.

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Nancy Sweitzer\, MD\, PhD
Associate Director\, Insti tute for Clinical and Translational Sciences (ICTS)\; Director of Clinical and Translational Science Award Translational Workforce Development (CTSA T WD)\; Director of Clinical Research Training Center (CRTC)\; Vice Chair of Clinical Research\, Department of Medicine\; Director of Clinical Research\ , Cardiovascular Division\; WashU Medicine

Sweitzer is a Professor an d Vice-Chair for Clinical Research in the Department of Medicine at WashU M edicine. She is also the Associate Director of the Institute for Clinical a nd Translational Sciences. Sweitzer is an advanced heart failure and transp lant cardiologist\, and clinical scientist recognized for her leadership an d experience in clinical trials. She has led and collaborated on numerous c linical trials sponsored by the NIH and by industry and academic sponsors\, including leadership roles in the TOPCAT and PARAGON trials in HFpEF. She has previously served on and chaired the Clinical Trials Review Committee o f the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of NIH. Sweitzer earned her u ndergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania\, her doctorate in ph ysiology\, and her medical degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madis on. She did her post-graduate training in medicine\, cardiology\, and heart failure and transplant cardiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Agenda

8:30 am	Attendee check-in
9:00 – 9:20 am	Welcome by ICTS Director William Powderly< /a>\, MD School of Medicine Remarks by Mark Lowe\, MD\, PhD\, Vice Chancellor for Research ICTS Update and Future Directions Dr. Powderly will highlight ICTS achievements and discuss future initiatives as the ICT S embarks upon its 18^th year of consecutive funding from the Nat ional Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.
9:20 – 9:50 am	Introduction by William Powderly\, MD Keynote address : Ruth O’Hara\, PhD Director\; Spectrum\, S tanford Center for Clinical and Translational Research and Education “The Role of CTSAs in the Science of Translation”
9:50 – 10:05 am	Q&A with Dr. O’Hara Moderated by William Pow derly\, MD
10:05 – 10:50 am	Research Panel: Transi tioning from Translational Research to Science: Real-World Examples P anelists: Laura McPherson\, PhD\, DPT\; Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy< /li> Christine O’Brien\, PhD\; Assistant Professor of Engineering (Biomedical) Mary Politi\, PhD\; Professor\, School of Public Health Moderated by Nancy Sweitzer\, MD\, PhD
10:50 – 11:00 am	Break
11:00 – 11:45 pm	Junior Investigator Flash Talks: Integration of Translational Science Principles Max Petersen\, MD\, PhD\; Assistant Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology\, Metabolism\, & Lipid Research) Lauren Roland\, MD\; As sistant Professor of Otolaryngology Moderated by William Powder ly\, MD
11:45 am – 12:30 pm	Research Panel: Harnes sing Disruption for Translational Science Panelists: Jacob Greenberg\ , MD\, MSCI\; Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery James Krings\, MD\, MSCI\; Assistant Professor of Medi cine (Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine) Ruth O’Hara\, PhD < /ul> Moderated by Christina Gurne tt\, MD\, PhD
12:30 – 1:00 pm	Boxed lunches av ailable