The Clinical and Translational Science (CTS) Pilot Program at NC TraCS is now accepting applications for our CTS Pilot Awards. These awards support projects that advance translational science—the field focused on understanding the scientific and operational principles that underlie each step of the translational process—with up to $50,000 in direct costs for a period of one year.

NC TraCS is holding information sessions via Zoom for investigators interested in learning more about this funding opportunity. Topics covered during the session include:

• What is Translational Science as distinct from Translational Research?
• Application procedure, including required application components, important dates and contact information
• Program-specific grantsmanship tips
• Q&A

Presenters
David Peden, MD, MS
Director, CTS Pilot Program
NC TraCS Institute

David Carroll, PhD
Director, Research Funding Development
NC TraCS Institute

Kaitlin Zalcikova, PhD
Program Manager, CTS Pilot Program
NC TraCS Institute

register

Wake Forest Clinical and Translational Science Institute's CTSI Day

The Wake Forest Clinical and Translational Science Institute's CTSI Day is an annual day-long event that brings together researchers, trainees, and partners for workshops, presentations, and collaboration. The day concludes with the Scholar Showcase poster session—a lively and engaging event highlighting a variety of clinical and translational research projects and fostering cross-institutional connections through feedback, discussion, and networking.

Location:
Biotech Place, Atrium and Auditorium
575 Patterson Ave, Winston-Salem, NC 27101

Learn more, view the agenda, and register at ctsi.wakehealth.edu

REGISTER

HOPE: Establishing Oncology Hybrid DCTs Across NC

Join the UNC Network for Research Professionals (NRP) for a hybrid education session on establishing oncology hybrid decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) across North Carolina.

1. Learn the importance of access to clinical trials to the community
2. Understand how hybrid decentralized clinical trials can be compliantly operationalized
3. Understand tools to help patients, providers, and the study team work together on patient management in a hybrid decentralized environment

In-person location: Brinkhous-Bullitt room 219

Register

In this advanced topics course, several common use cases for automations using Qualtrics Workflows will be presented.

Register

Engagement in Research Nuts & Bolts: Specific Approaches for Engaging Patient & Community Partners in Research

There is no "one-size-fits-all" approach to engaging patient, community, or other partners in your research. Rather, there are a variety of engagement methods to suit your study's needs, your research team's capacity, and your partners' interests.

This online training will describe three common approaches for working with patient, community, and other partners in your research: 1) consultative community feedback sessions; 2) advisory boards; and 3) sustained collaboration with partners as members of the research team.

The session will cover considerations for choosing these specific engagement methods, as well as concrete processes and steps for implementing each approach. Participation in our Engagement in Research 101 training is not required to attend this session; however, some knowledge of engagement, whether from prior training(s) or personal experience, may foster deeper understanding of the material in this session.

Presenters:
Alicia Bilheimer, MPH - Director of Engaged Science, NC TraCS
Veronica Carlisle, MPH, CHES - Senior Community Health Educator, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC)
Nisha Datta, MS - Senior Project Manager, NC TraCS
Simone Frank, MPH - Senior Project Manager, NC TraCS
Jennifer Potter, MPH, CHES - Senior Program Coordinator for Clinical Outreach, LCCC

Register

Engaging Patient, Community, and Other Partners in Your Research is a multi-part online training series. You may register for the entire series OR any single training session. This training series was developed collaboratively with patient, community, and researcher partners and is co-sponsored by the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and NC TraCS Institute.

Department of Health Sciences: 2026 Research Excellence Awardees

Please join the Department of Health Sciences Office of Research & Scholarship for their April research forum featuring three PhD students discussing their research.

The hybrid forum will take place in person (MacNider 321, LUNCH provided) and via Zoom. Please register to attend.

Questions? Contact the Department of Health Sciences Office of Research & Scholarship at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Register

Addressing Statistical Challenges in Long COVID Research: Auxiliary Variable-Dependent Sampling Designs and Clustering of Complex Data Types

Long COVID is a chronic condition following acute SARS-CoV-2 infection and is characterized by a variety of persistent and potentially disabling symptoms. In this talk, we will take a deep dive into how various statistical challenges have been addressed in the analysis of adult and pediatric data from the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative.

First, we will discuss the study’s resource-efficient design in which certain assessments are only performed in a subset of individuals, with sampling based on values of auxiliary variables. This sampling occurs repeatedly over multiple visits until an individual is selected, yielding a sample drawn with complex time-varying selection probabilities dependent on auxiliary variable trajectories, and temporal dependence between the timing of sampling and timing of outcome measurement.

Second, we will discuss cross-sectional and longitudinal clustering of complex data types, including social determinants of health and repeated measurements of self-reported symptom data. These approaches include novel Bernoulli mixture modeling and latent Markov models with sparse negative-unlabeled data for characterizing Long COVID progression.

Speaker:
Harrison Reeder, PhD
Instructor in Investigation, Massachusetts General Hospital Biostatistics
Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School

This event is being cross-promoted by the NC BERD Consortium, a collaboration of the CTSA-funded BERD cores at UNC-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and Duke University School of Medicine.

PCORnet and STAR Clinical Research Network Roadshow Workshop

This hybrid event is designed for investigators and industry partners who are new to PCORnet and STAR Clinical Research operations. Attendees will gain a clear understanding of PCORnet and the STAR CRN's capabilities, explore meaningful insights, and discover opportunities to spark new collaborations in medical research.

Agenda

Working With STAR CRN & PCORnet

• Overview & Leveraging the PCORnet® Front Door
• Proposal Development Q&A
• Partner Engagement

Breakout Sessions

• Observational Research Design
• Clinical Trials & Cohort Studies Design

Interactive Networking & Collaboration Opportunites

Date/Location

April 16, 2026
12 - 4 p.m. (lunch included)
Erwin Square Plaza, 2200 W. Main St., Wing B Training Room 252, Durham, NC 27705

Join virtually or in person!

Register

Cosmos Spark: Discovering Tools, Community, and the Future of Research

Join UNC Health for a Cosmos informational session. Epic Cosmos is a tool researchers can use to do analytics and research across many sites.

The session will highlight Cosmos's capabilities, outline governance and access pathways, feature a current Cosmos user who will demonstrate how the platform supports real‑world research, and conclude with a Q&A to support next steps.

This event is open to all UNC Health and UNC employees.

What is Epic Cosmos?
Read more about it here: Epic Cosmos

REGISTER

Statistical Planning for NIH-Style Grant Proposals

The Biostatistics Service of NC TraCS is hosting a special seminar for investigators considering submitting NIH grant applications in an upcoming application cycle. This session provides a practical guide to designing and describing statistical analysis plans in NIH-style proposals. No deep statistical background is required.

Participants will learn how reviewers evaluate analytic sections, how to work effectively with biostatisticians, and how to justify power and analytic decisions in ways that strengthen the overall proposal. The session highlights common pitfalls and offers clear strategies for aligning study aims, design, analysis, and sample size to produce proposals that are both rigorous and persuasive.

Please note: This event will not be recorded. Materials such as slides or handouts will be shared with documented attendees only.

Presenter:
Marcy Boynton, PhD
Biostatistician, NC TraCS Institute
Assistant Professor, Division of General Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology
UNC School of Medicine

Register