Recently in People Category

After more than 20 years of service Carolee Wieneke retired from the University on October 3rd. Carolee was a valuable and valued employee who provided her skills and services to several university departments over the course of her career, most recently serving as Executive Administrative Assistant to Dr. Mark Herzberg. Carolee and her husband Tony plan to travel extensively beginning with a tour of the southern states in November. Additional trips Carolee has planned include visits with friends and family in Texas and a trip to Hawaii in the spring. Carolee plans to pursue her much loved photography hobby as she tours and when home in Minneapolis she hopes to spend much more time with her grandchildren. We extend our congratulations to Carolee on a fine university career and wish her much happiness as she enjoys her well deserved retirement.

Each month CTSI Connect will feature a staff member interview, so you can learn more about your colleagues. In September, we connected with Sheila Riggs, DDS, Associate Professor and department chair for Primary Dental Care.In addition to facilitating Community University Board meetings, Dr. Riggs was named director of the Office of Community Engagement for Health (OCEH).

I work in clinical research because: there is so much potential and opportunity to partner with the community to determine the best solutions to health issues that have vexed our communities for too long.
My typical duties or work day consists of: working with Andrea Leinberger-Jabari to maximize the work of the Office of Community Engagement for Health. I am also the Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the School of Dentistry. In this role, I work with faculty and students to maximize the educational experiences of dental, dental therapy, and dental hygiene students.
For recreation I like to: walk on the gravels roads that surround a 100 acre 'retreat' my husband and I own 2 hours south of the Twin Cities. I usually take our dog Josie with me on the walks.
My current or favorite read: Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams. It is a lightly written book that describes a portion of my summer vacation this year.

Favorite quote: I am one of seven siblings and we recently created a mission statement to guide the next generation of our (McGuire) family. "At our core, we are fair and self-respecting leaders who are responsible and do meaningful work to make our communities safe and secure and our society just."

CTRS is pleased to announce the development of three new "specialist" roles and services for investigators. This announcement will be made more broadly across the University as details about the processes and services are finalized.
 
Debbie Dykhuis has been named Junior Investigator Research Project Manager and will serve as the primary contact in CTRS for new clinical and translational research investigators.
 
Debbie will also serve as the T2/T3 Research Project Manager.  She will be the primary contact in CTRS for investigators proposing or conducting T2/T3 research. T2 research focuses on testing new interventions with implications for practice (Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials) and T3 research explores implications for population health (Phase 4 trials, Health Services research, clinical outcomes research).
 
Debbie's many years of experience will prove to be a valuable resource to new investigators.  Through her focused activities, new investigators will find accelerated pathways to productive research programs and eventual leadership in their areas of expertise.
 
Stacy Valenzuela will serve as IRB Specialist Research Project Manager (RPM).  In this postion, Stacy will be the primary contact in CTRS for providing IRB application and communication advice to investigators (including community partners), clinical research coordinators, and CTRS colleagues. This service will not supplant the full-service IRB application and communication work available to investigators who request RPM services for CTSI project development. Instead, this IRB specialist service will be available to researchers and others who may benefit from advice on completing IRB applications, writing consent forms, and communicating effectively with the IRB.
 
Stacy has more than four years of experience facilitating effective communication with Institutional Review Boards and providing related regulatory guidance to investigators.
 
Mark Herzberg, CTRS director, offers his thanks to Debbie and Stacy for their willingness to take on new responsibilities and to help develop these new specialized services. "The CTSI is proud that the special expertise of these dedicated professionals can be made available to our community.  We will be working to ensure that our community is fully aware and takes advantage of the special opportunites offerred by Stacy and Debbie."
 
Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.