Center for Nursing Research DUSON Strategic Research Funding Report (July-Dec 2017)

Research Center Core Infrastructure Support

One goal of the strategic plan is to develop an infrastructure that fosters research faculty mentorship and development to be competitive for NIH level funding. The Chancellor’s grant allowed the creation of four new, full‐time positions to expand the services and level of support offered to DUSON research scientists. Recruitment began in Spring of 2017 and is now complete; all positions are filled and orientation is accomplished.

Senior Clinical Research Coordinator (SCRC). Caroline Bishop oversees the startup process for all newly funded grants and functions as research staff while personnel are being hired. With the Chancellor’s grant, nine DUSON pilot studies have been awarded this fall. Caroline is responsible for timely implementation and oversight.

Senior Information Systems Analyst. Jackie Allen works closely with DHTS and DOCR to manage REDCap database builds, data cleaning, DEDUCE pulls and data extraction from the Duke EMR for research projects. Since being hired in August, Jackie has built 27 REDCap databases. She has also been involved in numerous EMR extractions.

IT Programmer. Zachary Stowell is an iOS and Android Developer who works with DUSON research scientists, along with Duke clinicians and engineers, to design and build the next generation of mobile and web‐based applications and point‐of‐care technologies. He is currently involved in four IT research projects.

Director of Research Development. Dr. Gina Della Porta joined the CNR in September 2017 to support faculty with project design, research team formation, and grant proposal writing. She is currently working with faculty to discuss research projects and develop timelines for 12 faculty who will submit proposals to the NIH in June.

Support for DUSON’s Research Areas of Excellence (RAE)

The Chancellor’s grant provides resources for faculty mentorships and development within the RAEs.

• Clinical Innovation RAE contributed to the launch of a new University & Health System wide endeavor, the "Duke Mobile App Gateway". Ryan Shaw, PhD, RN is the new Faculty Director.
• Methods & Analytics RAE is working to establish relationships with other statistical centers across Duke.
• Population Health RAE created a combined pilot grant call with the CTSI; 3 pilots were awarded.
• Precision Health RAE launched the Biomarkers Lab and held the first Biomarkers workshop.

There is a marked increase in NIH research grant submissions. Eighteen NIH and eight non‐NIH proposals were submitted this fall, in comparison to five NIH and eight non‐NIH submissions in 2016. CNR pilot project submissions also increased from 5 applications in 2016 to 13 in 2017. (Figure 1)Consulting Research Experts. During the summer of 2017, six research consultants from across the country were hired to mentor junior research faculty. These individuals are providing consultation for grant writing and submissions. They are participating in think tanks, specific aims sessions and MOCK reviews.

PILOT project funding. Through the summer and fall, nine pilot grants were funded within the CNR.

• Dr. Devon Noonan, Population Health (with CTSI)
• Dr. Leigh Ann Simmons, Population Health (with CTSI)
• Dr. Ellie McConnell, Population Health (with CTSI)
• Dr. Hyeoni Kim, Clinical Innovation/Precision Health
• Dr. Deb Allen, Clinical Innovation
• Dr. Qing Yang, Methods & Analytics
• Dr. Rachel Richesson, Clinical Innovation
• Dr. Ann Marie Walton, Clinical Innovation
• Dr. Karin Reuter‐Rice, Population Health