Research Series

A series of research-specific workshops are scheduled annually to meet the career development needs of postdoctoral trainees through senior investigators across the health sciences. Sessions are all currently being held via Zoom. Register for workshops that support your professional goals!

September 11, 2023 Know Your K: Writing a Successful Career Development Award Application for Basic Scientists and Clinical Investigators *RECORDING AVAILABLE*

Time: 3pm-5pm ET
Location: Virtual
Presenter: Mark S. Roberts, MD, MPP

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Description: Mentored Career Development Awards (also known as "K Awards") are the National Institute of Health's (NIH) primary grant mechanisms for supporting new and mid-career investigators, and are a key step in any researcher's career. In this session, Dr. Roberts will provide an overview of the application process including review criteria, describe the range of K awards, and then share step-by-step instructions on how to prepare an outstanding and successful K application!

Presenter Bio: Mark S. Roberts, MD, MPP, is Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Management, and holds secondary appointments in Medicine, Industrial Engineering, Business Administration and Clinical and Translational Science. A practicing general internist, he has conducted research in decision analysis and the mathematical modeling of disease for over 30 years, and has expertise in cost effectiveness analysis, mathematical optimization and simulation, and the measurement and inclusion of patient preferences into decision problems. He has used decision sciences to examine clinical, costs, policy and allocation questions in liver transplantation, vaccination strategies, operative interventions, influenza, COVID-19, HIV and the use of many medications. His recent research has concentrated in the use of mathematical methods from operations research and management science, including Markov Decision Processes, Discrete Event and Agent-based Simulation. As director of the Public Health Dynamics Laboratory, he continues to lead the development of simulation tools for representing complex diseases and the evaluation of policies to improve health and public health. He has been a principal or co-investigator on over 40 NIH grants and has published over 170 papers in peer-reviewed journals. During his career, he has served as a primary or secondary mentor for over 20 K-type or other training grants, as well as having served as a mentor for many fellows and graduate students. In addition, for 10 years he served as the director of degree-granting programs for the Institute for Clinical Research Education, where he developed and directed the Certificate and Master’s degree programs in Clinical Research, and co-directed the PhD program in Clinical and Translational Science. He has over 6 years of service on study sections for the NIH and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and served as the Chair of the Health Care Technology and Decision Sciences Study Section at AHRQ.

September 13, 2023 Increasing Your Research Visibility

Provided by University of Pittsburgh, Health Sciences Library System (HSLS)

Time: 11am-12pm ET
Location: Virtual
Presenter: Stephen Gabrielson

Description: In this session, we’ll discuss how making informed publishing decisions and managing your online researcher identity are effective ways to increase the visibility of your research. Different types of open access publishing models, including free ways to share your work, will be discussed. We’ll then take a deeper dive into how an Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCiD) helps distinguish yourself from other researchers, keeps your scholarly record up to date, and automates other researcher profile systems to showcase your impact. Students, faculty, and staff are all welcome to attend.

Upon completing this class, you should be able to:

Describe how publishing choices affect your research visibility.
Describe the benefits of using ORCiD.
Register for an ORCiD and add your works.
Compare different researcher profile systems and choose the ones that are right for you.

Class materials will be made available to class registrants. This class will not be recorded.

September 26, 2023 Navigating the Scientific Writing Process: A Matter of Skilled Mentoring, Explicit Support, and Learned Experience

Provided by University of Pittsburgh, Health Sciences Library System (HSLS) in collaboration with OACD

Time: 3-4:30pm ET
Location: Virtual
Speakers: Beatriz Luna, PhD, and Ashley C. Parr, PhD

Description: Scientific writing and communication are essential for advancing science, translating science and ensuring results reach a broad audience, and are critical to career development for both junior and senior scientists. A well-written manuscript conveys contributions to the field, situates the findings into broader frameworks, and most importantly, creates enthusiasm about the subject matter (Mensh & Kording, 2017). However, most trainees are not explicitly taught the skills necessary for effective scientific writing until they reach graduate school, during which time, they typically ‘learn by doing’ under the guidance of a skilled mentor, becoming more proficient as they gain first-hand experience through the writing, peer review, and publication processes. This seminar will provide guidance on structuring papers in a way that adequately communicates the main ideas of the paper, but perhaps more critically, how to navigate this process as a mentee, and how to support trainees through this journey as a mentor. Dr. Parr will describe her progression as she has learned to write with mentors with a diverse range of preferences and expertise, first as a graduate student (learning phase), next as a postdoctoral scholar (refinement phase), and presently as research faculty where she is finding her voice as an independent writer and developing her role as a mentor. Dr. Luna will describe the essentials for a good paper given her own publishing history, mentoring, reviewing for journals, and as Editor of a journal. She will also provide critical perspective into mentoring in scientific writing, supporting trainees with diverse writing styles, working to balance and adjust to the needs and experience level of each trainee, and how to support mentees through their development as scientific writers as they transition through graduate school to become independent researchers.

Speaker Bios:

Beatriz Luna, PhD, is the Distinguished Staunton Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics and Professor of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the founder and Director of the Laboratory for Neurocognitive Development, the founder and acting past president of the Flux Society for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Editor in Chief of the journal Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. Dr. Luna studies brain development, examining the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie the adolescent period, from decision-making to vulnerabilities to the emergence of mental illness. Her research uses multimodal neuroimaging methods including: functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), Magnetoencephalography (MEG), and Positron Emission Tomography (PET). The findings from her studies have led to an influential model of adolescent development, which indicates that the brain systems supporting executive processes are available by adolescence, but are driven by neural processes supporting motivation. Her model emphasizes that adolescence is a critical period of brain specialization in which adult modes of operation are determined - underlining vulnerabilities for the emergence of psychopathology. Dr. Luna has published over a hundred peer-reviewed articles describing her innovative studies, in addition to several review papers and chapters discussing her theoretical models of development. She has received numerous awards, notably the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering. Her research has been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Mental Health, and has informed US Supreme Court briefs regarding extended sentencing in the juvenile justice system. Her extensive media history also includes a cover story in National Geographic and a PBS Special with Alan Alda - “Brains on Trial”. Dr. Luna has mentored 15 PhD students from psychology, neuroscience, and bioengineering, as well as more than 10 postdoctoral fellows, and 7 junior faculty, all of whom have had a productive publishing history and successful careers.

Ashley C Parr, PhD, is a Research Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research characterizes how developmental changes in reward and cognitive systems support the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Dr. Parr uses multimodal neuroimaging (fMRI, rsfMRI, PET, MTR, tissue iron, and MRS) in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses to understand how the brain changes through adolescence to support the transition to adulthood. Her findings emphasize how individual differences in dopamine function contribute to the development of cognitive control and reward systems throughout adolescence, which have implications for the emergence of neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Parr is particularly interested in how dopamine interacts with other brain systems, how this gives rise to differences in decision-making across development, particularly exacerbated sensation seeking that is a feature of behavioral phenotypes such as substance use and delinquency behaviors that emerge and intensify during the adolescent period. Dr. Parr has published several peer-reviewed articles describing her innovative studies, in addition to several chapters contextualizing findings within theoretical models of development, and has mentored several undergraduate students throughout the course of her PhD and postdoctoral appointment. She has a particular interest in applying her findings in normative development to high-risk populations and translating her findings in order to inform policy within the juvenile justice system and develop preventative strategies for at-risk youth.

October 26, 2023 K99/R00: Pathway to Independence Award *RECORDING AVAILABLE*

Time: 3-5pm ET
Location: Virtual
Presenter: Cesar G. Escobar-Viera, PhD, MD
Panelists: Lacey Heinsberg, PhD, Sierra J. Stringfield, PhD

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Description: The K99/R00, or "Pathway to Independence" award, helps trainees transition from a mentored postdoctoral research position to an independent research position. Applicants do not have to be US citizens or permanent residents, making this a popular funding mechanism for trainees. Because of the complexity of the application process, this standalone session was developed to help you learn how to successfully write one by learning from those who have already done so! Dr. Escobar-Viera provided an overview of the K99/R00 application. Panelists spoke about their own experiences in writing successful applications and shared how they personalized different sections to showcase their individual strengths and future research goals.

If you didn't attend the September "Know Your K" session, we encourage you to view the recording on the OACD’s website before attending this session.

Moderator's Bio:

Cesar G. Escobar-Viera, PhD, MD, is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Program for Internet Delivered Interventions on LGBTQA+ Mental Health (PRIDE iM) at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Originally from the country of Paraguay, he is a psychiatrist and health services researcher with a master's degree in public health. As researcher, Dr. Escobar-Viera’s mission is to reducing mental health inequities among sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth and young adults through developing and testing social media-based interventions. Among other projects, he is the principal investigator of an NIMHD funded K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award that seeks to determine the influence of social media experiences on mental health outcomes among SGM young adults. When not thinking about ways to improve SGM people's mental health, he likes to spend time with his husband and their dog Benito, hiking, camping, traveling, going to concerts, and listening to music from the 20th century.

Panelist Bios:

Lacey Heinsberg, PhD, (she/her) is a nurse scientist with a program of research dedicated to uncovering biological and environmental targets for intervention to reduce the burden of obesity, diabetes, and related chronic and complex conditions. She has methodological expertise in omic-based research approaches and statistical genetics. As a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Human Genetics, her recent work has focused on a missense variant (rs373863828) in CREB3 Regulatory Factor (CREBRF) that has a significant effect on body mass index among the Pacific Islander population group. Paradoxically, the obesity-risk allele is protective against diabetes, making its functional role unclear. Dr. Heinsberg’s NICHD-funded K99 focuses on longitudinal metabolomics as a tool to develop an improved understanding of the variant’s impact on body size and composition in infants and toddlers from Samoa. Dr. Heinsberg will transition to the R00 phase of her award via a tenure-stream faculty position at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing in August of 2024.

Sierra Stringfield, PhD, earned her PhD in neuroscience from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She then joined the Pitt Department of Psychiatry as a postdoctoral scholar in the National Institute of Mental Health-funded Training in Transformative Discovery in Psychiatry T32 program under the mentorship of Mary Torregrossa, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry). Dr. Stringfield’s research is centered around understanding the behavioral consequences of cellular and circuit-level changes induced by drug exposure. During her training, she received a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) F32 grant to investigate the effects of adolescent cannabinoid exposure on cortical development. Continuing this research, Dr. Stringfield is currently principal investigator of a NIDA-funded K99 award focused on the molecular, neurotransmitter, and circuit-level changes that are induced by Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) self-administration. She has published her research on adolescent cannabis use in journals including Neuropharmacology, the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, and Behavioral Brain Research.

November 7, 2023 Mock K Award Study Section *RECORDING AVAILABLE*

Time: 3-5pm ET
Location: Virtual
Moderator and Panelists: Catherine Bender, PhD, RN, FAAN, Michael Gold, PhD, Mary Torregrossa, PhD

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Description: K awards, or the NIH’s Mentored Career Development Awards, are the NIH’s most common mechanism for supporting early career investigators. View this session to hear Pitt faculty with extensive study section experience review applications as part of a mock K study section. This session, led by Michael Gold, allowed participants to not only observe what a study section is like, but to also receive inside information regarding the study section review process.

If you didn't attend the "Know Your K" session in September, view the recording here then attend this program to take a closer look at the workings of a study section.

Moderator and Panelist Bios:

Dr. Gold is a Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He earned his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of California Los Angeles in 1994 under the mentorship of Dr. John Liebeskind and received post-doctoral training in neuropharmacology and biophysics at the Universities of California San Francisco and Los Angeles under the mentorship of Drs. Jon Levine and Anna-Maria Correa, respectively. Dr. Gold began his academic career at the University of Maryland, Baltimore in 1998 under the chairmanship of Dr. Ron Dubner. In 2006 he was recruited to Pittsburgh by Dr. Jerry Gebhart, where he runs a lab focused on peripheral mechanisms of pain. His research in this field has focused on identification of factors, most commonly voltage-, Ca2+-, and ligand-gated ion channels, that enable sensory neurons to contribute to persistent pain, such as that associated with chronic inflammation or nerve injury. He serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Pain, the Journal of Pain Research, and the Neurobiology of Pain. Dr. Gold served on the scientific program committee for the Society for Neuroscience, the American Pain Society, and the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). Dr. Gold was elected to the Council of the IASP in 2012 and served as the IASP liaison to the American Pain Society Board. Dr. Gold is currently President of the US Association for the Study of Pain. Dr. Gold provides ongoing service on scientific advisory panels for the National Institutes of Health (which includes close to 50 panels focused on training grants), the Department of Defense and foreign funding agencies such as the Welcome Trust.

Dr. Bender is a Professor in the School of Nursing and Clinical and Translational Science Institute and Nancy Glunt Hoffman Endowed Chair in Oncology Nursing. She leads a program of research focused in two areas; 1) changes in cognitive function associated with cancer and cancer therapy and 2) disease and treatment-related symptoms and how symptoms and other factors influence adherence to cancer therapy. She is currently leading an NCI-funded study examining the use of aerobic exercise to improve cognitive function and brain health in women with breast cancer in the Exercise Program in Cognition and Cancer Study (EPICC). She has mentored numerous pre- and postdoctoral trainees and junior faculty and previously led a T32 in cancer survivorship which trained both pre- and post-doctoral nurse trainees. She is the co-sponsor for NCI-funded F99/K00 and K99/R00 scholars and has been a sponsor for F31s, American Cancer Society Career Development Awardees, and a KL2 scholar.

Dr. Torregrossa is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and faculty in the Center for Neuroscience and Brain Institute at the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to establishing her lab at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Torregrossa received postdoctoral training in addiction neuroscience at Yale University and the Medical University of South Carolina, and received her Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of Michigan in 2005. Dr. Torregrossa’s research investigates various of aspects of substance use disorders (SUDs), including how environmental factors in adolescence may increase risk for developing SUDs, neural mechanisms leading to the development of compulsive drug use, and identifying novel approaches to prevent relapse. Dr. Torregrossa has a particular interest in understanding how learning and memory systems are altered by drugs of abuse and the neural substrates by which drug-associated memories drive craving and relapse. Dr. Torregrossa is a project leader in the NIDA Center for Adolescent, Reward, Rhythms, and Sleep and a founding member of the Bridging Connections in Addiction Research program at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Torregrossa served on multiple NIH study sections including being a standing member and current chair of the BRLE study section, and has served on multiple K mechanism specific study sections.

November 14, 2023 Foundations of Quantitative Study Designs *RECORDING AVAILABLE*

Time: 3-5pm ET
Location: Virtual
Presenter: Gia Pittet, Au.D., Ph.D.

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Description: Did you know that many publications are rejected by journals because of faulty study design? Developing a well-thought-out study design is critical in ensuring successful analysis and interpretation. This workshop walks you through the conceptualization and design process of a quantitative study, including how to develop a research question, how to generate a hypothesis and avoid common mistakes, and determining research design elements such as variable types and operationalization, sampling, and appropriate statistical methods. Dr. Pittet, who has expertise in both clinical and health service research, facilitates this session.

Presenter Bio: Gia Pittet, Au.D., Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She earned her Doctor of Audiology degree from the University of Florida and completed her internship at University of California San Francisco, where she continued working as an attending Audiologist, specializing in vestibular diagnostics, adult amplification, and pediatric electrophysiology. She earned her Ph.D. in Administration Health Services with a specialization in Strategic Management from University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her dissertation research was performed in collaboration with the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at University of California Los Angeles under the leadership of Dr. Aman Mahajan, focusing on predictive modeling of factors that influence persistent postoperative opioid use. Her research interests at the University of Pittsburgh include the impact of disparity and social determinants on post-operative complications.

January 18, 2024 Funding Your Research Through Foundation Grants *RECORDING AVAILABLE*

Time: 12-1pm ET
Location: Virtual
Presenter: Greg M. Delgoffe, PhD

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Description: Discover how to externally fund your research through foundations and easily identify the ones that are right for you at any career stage! Learn how philanthropic grant applications differ from traditional government-based proposals.

Are you looking for funding opportunities to kickstart your research career or to move it to the next level? Learn about the benefits and risks. Also learn about Pivot, which is a searchable funding opportunity and expertise database. Users can conduct searches for funding opportunities, save searches, and receive funding alerts tailored to your scholarly profile.

Presenter Bio: Greg Delgoffe, PhD, is Associate Professor of Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Delgoffe has a long-standing interest in understanding the intersection of metabolism and nutrient sensing and T cell fate. He received his Ph.D from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2010, and completed postdoctoral training at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in 2014. He started his lab at the University of Pittsburgh in July of 2014 with a Seahorse and a dream. He has an appointment in the Department of Immunology, and his lab is located at the Hillman Cancer Center.

February 13, 2024 Developing a Successful Fellowship Application: A Primer for Postdocs & Graduate Students *RECORDING AVAILABLE*

Time: 3-4:30pm
Location: Virtual
Presenter: Nick Giannoukakis, PhD

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Description: Attend this session to learn how to write a successful fellowship (F30, F31, and F32) application! The purpose of the NIH F-type training grant is to provide support to promising graduate and post-doctoral applicants who have the potential to become productive, independent investigators in health-related research fields relevant to the missions of participating NIH institutes. This session will start with an overview of the F-award and then illuminate the grant submission/review process, outline how to prepare a successful grant, describe a mock study section, and cover scoring and funding. It will be presented by Nick Giannoukakis, PhD, a member of the Division of Experimental Pathology and a member of the Cellular and Molecular Pathology Graduate Training Program, who has a successful track record mentoring graduate students and postdocs who have forged independent research careers.

Bio: Nick Giannoukakis, PhD, began his scientific studies at McGill University (Montreal, Canada), receiving his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in 1992 and 1997, respectively. He then went on to complete a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the fields of gene and cell therapy for autoimmune disease and transplantation tolerance. He held the position of Associate Professor of Pathology and Immunology and he was also a member of the Division of Experimental Pathology and the Cellular and Molecular Pathology Graduate Training Program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In the summer of 2014, he joined the Allegheny Health Network as part of the newly-created Institute of Cellular Therapeutics where he continues his translational medicine research endeavors in the following major areas: i) Immunomodulation approaches for the treatment of autoimmune disease and transplantation tolerance; ii) Regulatory immune cells; iii) Immunomodulation-based clinical trials for diabetes mellitus (type 1 and type 2). As an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, he teaches topics on pancreas and thyroid development and pathology, cell and gene therapy approaches in diabetes mellitus, and immunobiotherapeutics in courses offered by the Department of Pathology and the Department of Immunology. He is also Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, where he directs and teaches the Molecular and Cellular Immunology course. He has mentored graduate, MD/PhD students, as well as clinical fellows who have evolved into outstanding clinicians, research scientists and academic faculty in the USA, Europe, and Asia. Dr. Giannoukakis is considered a pioneer in the field of tolerogenic dendritic cell therapy for autoimmunity as he was the first to demonstrate the safety and potential efficacy of these cells in preserving the function of the residual insulin-producing cells of the pancreas in type 1 diabetic patients. He is a primary inventor on a number of patents related to gene, cell, and nanoparticle vaccine therapy for autoimmunity and he is one of the founders of RezQ Bio, a biotechnology entity leveraging dendritic cell and nanoparticle vaccine therapy for autoimmunity. He is a regular member of the NIH NIDDK NRSA Fellowship panel and the NSF Drug Delivery and Drug Development SBIR panel.

February 28, 2024 Developing Competitive NIH Research Project Grant Applications

Time: 3-5pm ET
Location: Virtual
Presenter: Michelle Kienholz, PhD

Description: Each grant application should be appreciated as a positive experience that gives you opportunities to think deeply and creatively about your science and its future impact, to talk with others about ideas and collaborations, and to find and ask for help. In this session, you will learn to efficiently leverage each step in the grant development workflow from conceptualization to submission to make your application as competitive as possible, including how to best utilize NIH resources and personnel. We will focus on NIH research project grant applications (e.g., R01, R21, R03), but the concepts are transferable to other funding mechanisms and sponsors.

Presenter's Bio: Michelle Kienholz, PhD, who provides research development and science writing support to the University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute, has partnered for the past 38 years with scientists and clinicians from all disciplines at dozens of universities to develop competitive grant applications for the NIH and many other grant-making federal agencies and foundations. She also volunteers her time and experience on her blog, Medical Writing, Editing, and Grantsmanship, through which she has learned the most common and vexing questions of researchers who seek funding from the NIH and how best to foster a productive partnership between investigators and NIH personnel.

March 6, 2024 Writing Competitive NIH Institutional Training Grant Applications *RECORDING AVAILABLE*

Time: 3:30-5pm ET
Location: Virtual
Moderator: J. Richard Chaillet, MD, PhD
Panelists: Jeffrey L. Brodsky, PhD, Julie A. Phillippi, PhD, Charles S. Sfeir, DDS, PhD, Elsa S. Strotmeyer, PhD, MPH

To access the recording and slides for this session, email oacd@pitt.edu.

Description: Join your faculty colleagues at this session where Dr. Chaillet will provide an overview of T-series funding mechanisms and highlight the institutional support and resources available to our training grant community. He will be joined by a panel of current Pitt training grant directors who will describe strategies for identifying training grant faculty, highlight the features of stellar training plans, and share their insights and experience on writing competitive training grant applications. There will be plenty of time to ask your own questions, as well.

Pitt currently supports 60+ NIH institutional training grant programs. During our first Training Grant Summit in June 2022, senior leadership recognized Pitt's institutional environment, facilities, and faculty, which have long been recognized for supporting exemplary pre- and postdoctoral training, and emphasized their commitment to do even better as an institution to provide world-class training to emerging scientists across the University and to continue our work towards diversifying the scientific workforce. This session is in response to one of the Summit's outcomes, which is to leverage existing institutional resources and networks of support.

Moderator's Bio: J. Richard Chaillet, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also a Scientist Administrator, Office of Research, Health Sciences (OORHS), in the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences. His research area is epigenetic inheritance and effects of DNA methylation on mammalian development. For many years, as part of his own research, present position in OORHS, and service to the biomedical research community, he has written NIH grant applications, worked with PITT faculty on preparing grant applications, and been a member of NIH study sections to review grant applications. The applications he has reviewed include many types: ones for research awards (R type), mentored career development awards (K type), individual fellowship awards (F type), program project awards (P type), and training awards (T type).

Panelists' Bios:

Jeffrey L. Brodsky, PhD, holds the Avinoff Chair in Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, and attended the University of Illinois where he received his bachelor's degree in Biochemistry, graduating magna cum laude with honors in 1985. He then entered the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology graduate program at Harvard University, receiving his PhD in 1990, and worked with Prof. Guido Guidotti on regulation of the sodium pump in the brain. Next, he moved to the University of California, Berkeley for post-doctoral research as an American Cancer Society Research Fellow and studied with Prof. Randy Schekman (Nobel Laureate, 2013), who pioneered the use of the yeast model to define how proteins are trafficked within the cell. Prof. Brodsky joined the Faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh in 1994 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2000. In 2006 he was promoted to Full Professor and was awarded the Avinoff Chair. Prof. Brodsky’s work now focuses on understanding how misfolded proteins are recognized and destroyed in the cell, and how defects in protein architecture can be corrected using drugs and genetic approaches. Based on his work, he received the University of Pittsburgh Chancellor's Outstanding Research Award in the Junior Division in 1998 and the Chancellor’s Outstanding Teaching Award in 2008, as well as the Pitt Innovator Award in 2007. In 2013, Dr. Brodsky was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and in 2022 he was again awarded the Chancellor's Outstanding Research Award (Senior Division). He also leads the Center for Protein Conformational Diseases on campus. Prof. Brodsky has served on the editorial boards of three journals, has published >250 scientific papers, holds 3 patents, and has acted as a scientific consultant for several disease foundations and biotech/pharmaceutical companies.

Julie A. Phillippi, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Departments of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Bioengineering since 2012. Prior to this position, she held an appointment for five years at the rank of research assistant professor (non-tenure stream). She received her BS (Microbiology) in 2000 from Penn State University, her PhD (Biological Sciences) in 2005 from Carnegie Mellon University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative in 2007. Dr. Phillippi is affiliated faculty of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Center for Vascular Remodeling and Regeneration. Her research scope broadly encompasses cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) dynamics in cardiovascular diseases. One focus of her laboratory is the role of the perivascular ECM in aortic disease. Dr. Phillippi’s laboratory has been funded by awards from the NHLBI and UPMC Health System’s Competitive Medical Research Fund. She currently serves as an elected member of the Faculty Assembly and University Senate (2016-2018). Dr. Phillippi is an Associate Editor with Science Advances, of the Science family of journals published by AAAS. She is a native Pittsburgher and in her spare time enjoys running, biking, yoga, photography, and pursuing culinary interests with her family.

Charles S Sfeir, DDS, PhD, is the Associate Dean for Research, Director of the Center for Craniofacial Regeneration, and Chairman of the Department of Periodontics at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Sfeir has secondary appointments in the departments of Oral Craniofacial Sciences, Bioengineering, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He received a DDS from the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France. He also earned an MS in Periodontology, and a PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. His research is multidisciplinary and translational in nature, focusing on developing therapies for craniofacial and dental diseases. Recently he has focused on 1) developing dental devices using resorbable metals for bone and periodontal regeneration. 2) novel treatment for periodontal disease by modulating the immune system. Dr. Sfeir’s research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense. Among his latest federally funded research activities, Dr. Sfeir is principal investigator (multi PI) of the NIH funded Michigan-Pittsburgh-Wyss Resource Center to accelerate craniomaxillofacial technologies toward FDA submissions.

Elsa S. Strotmeyer, PhD, MPH, is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her PhD in Epidemiology from the Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh in 2000, and completed a subsequent Post-Doctoral Fellowship on the NIA T32 Epidemiology of Aging Training Grant in the Department of Epidemiology. She was a founding member of the University of Pittsburgh Postdoctoral Association, serving as a Co-Chair. Dr. Strotmeyer has contributed to the field of geriatric medicine through pioneering work on the complex inter-relationships of peripheral nerves and musculoskeletal function with findings that peripheral nerve impairments with aging and in diabetes are critical to bone loss, muscle function, and lower extremity performance. Her current research focuses on metabolic risk factors and related conditions with aging associated with neuromuscular declines in the etiology fall injuries, mobility, disability and mortality. She has published over 100 original articles, and was awarded several prestigious honors including an invited lectureship and the 2007 Health Sciences Research Award from the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) with subsequent GSA Fellow status. Dr. Strotmeyer is Co-Chair of the Cross Cohort Collaboration (CCC) Steering Committee and its Aging Epidemiology Working Group, which promotes scientific collaboration across multiple cohort studies. She was editor of the 2015 Clinics in Geriatric Medicine “Diabetes and Aging” issue and is on the Editorial Board for Women’s Midlife Health. Dr. Strotmeyer serves as a Co-Director of the NIA T32 Epidemiology of Aging Training Grant and the primary instructor of Epidemiology of Aging Methods and Epidemiology of Aging Workshop. Her committee service at the University Senate and Provost Office has been extensive, with a focus on equity issues. Dr. Strotmeyer is committed to diversity in research and education, through her academic service and specifically for her research on geriatric health outcomes.

March 19, 2024 Introduction to Mixed Methods Research *RECORDING AVAILABLE*

Time: 3-5pm ET
Location: Virtual
Presenter: Gia Pittet, Au.D., Ph.D.

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Description: Most research studies use a single method, but mixed methods has emerged as a research design drawing on the strength of both approaches and providing a more complete picture. Mixed methods lets the researcher integrate both method types to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the research. In this workshop, Dr. Pittet will provide an overview of mixed methods research including its definition, rationales for using it, underlying philosophical assumptions and basic designs. We will discuss how to develop a research question(s), select an appropriate design considering methodology components of timing, integration, and priority, and inference techniques.

Presenter Bio: Gia Pittet, Au.D., Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She earned her Doctor of Audiology degree from the University of Florida and completed her internship at University of California San Francisco, where she continued working as an attending Audiologist, specializing in vestibular diagnostics, adult amplification, and pediatric electrophysiology. She earned her Ph.D. in Administration Health Services with a specialization in Strategic Management from University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her dissertation research was performed in collaboration with the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at University of California Los Angeles under the leadership of Dr. Aman Mahajan, focusing on predictive modeling of factors that influence persistent postoperative opioid use. Her research interests at the University of Pittsburgh include the impact of disparity and social determinants on post-operative complications.

April 1, 2024 R01 Budget Nuts & Bolts *RECORDING AVAILABLE*

Time: 4-5pm ET
Location: Virtual
Presenter: Stephanie Panach

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Description: Learn about the nuts and bolts of an R01 budget straight from the SVCHS Research Administration Office! This overview will provide you with an understanding of the types of budgets, the vocabulary specific to grant budgets, what is and isn't allowable, and more. There will be plenty of time for you to ask your own questions, as well.

Presenter Bio: Stephanie Panach is the Director of Health Sciences Research Administration at the University of Pittsburgh.

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