November 27, 2018—Using a systems approach and bettering communications between entities in the regulatory environment could improve Institutional Review Board (IRB) performance, according to a recent study by ACTRI researchers. Published in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, the article by John Fontanesi, Anthony Magit, Jennifer J. Ford, Han Nguyen, and Gary S. Firestein is highlighted as one of the top three by the journal’s new Editor-in-Chief.
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October 8, 2018—UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) and UC San Diego Institute of Engineering in Medicine (IEM) are pleased to announce a new seminar series that highlights the research projects from the Galvanizing Engineering in Medicine (GEM) grant program.
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October 8, 2018—Tia Levine (formerly Thompson) has joined UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) as the new Director of Operations. She came on board in early September. Levine previously had been at Human Resources, where she managed a large team and led key process improvement initiatives that have had a positive impact on UC San Diego Health, the School of Medicine and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
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October 3, 2018–UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) and partners are teaming up with local blood banks to create remote clinical trial sites as a way to increase trial participation.
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September 6, 2018—Four clinician-engineer teams from UC San Diego have been selected to receive the 2018 Galvanizing Engineering in Medicine (GEM) awards. GEM, an initiative of UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) and UC San Diego Institute of Engineering in Medicine (IEM), brings engineers and clinicians together to develop innovative technologies that can be applied to solving challenging problems in medical care.
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August 30, 2018—ACTRI leader Christina Chambers, PhD, MPH, is spotlighted in news outlets across the country for her recently published study about marijuana concentrations in breast milk.
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August 9, 2018—Eugene Sato, PhD, has joined ACTRI as the project manager for the Tricorder Device Development Project, which kicked off in June. In this new role, Sato is responsible for working with the top competitors from the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE to test their next-generation Star Trek®-inspired medical devices.
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August 3, 2018 – UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Kathryn A. Gold, MD, as co-director of the ACTRI Division of Clinical Research Services (CRS), effective immediately. In her new role, Dr. Gold will co-lead the CRS with Mark S. Wallace, MD, who has served as director of the division since 2010. Dr. Gold joined ACTRI as associate director of CRS in July, 2017. more
July 9, 2018—Dr. Erik Viirre, MD, PhD, is a medical neurotologist, a space geek, and a techie. He flew the Zero G aircraft with Stephen Hawking, spent time with Arthur C. Clarke at the author’s home in Sri Lanka, and counts author and XPRIZE founder Dr. Peter Diamandis as a friend. And he is devoted to helping his patients. He was integral in bringing the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE to UC San Diego.
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June 26, 2018 – Congratulations to the nine ACTRI-supported students who received their medical degrees and Master’s of Advanced Studies (MAS) in Clinical Research from UC San Diego School of Medicine on June 3. The students were supported by ACTRI through the TL1 long-term training program.
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June 26, 2018 – Kathryn Tringale, MD, whose primary research interest in the field of radiation oncology is the use of advanced imaging techniques to predict neurocognitive performance after radiation therapy, has received the UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) Fourth-Year Medical Student Award. Dr. Tringale received the ACTRI award on June 2 during the Graduating Class Award Luncheon at the School of Medicine.
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May 15, 2018 – A new video, “Clinical Trials Made Easy,” has been created to help the public learn about trials and navigate an easy-to-use website called ClinicalTrials. Co-developed by UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI), ClinicalTrials lets investigators and volunteers search through thousands of clinical trials throughout the University of California health system to find studies and opportunities relevant to them.
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May 15, 2018 – Dr. Rohit Loomba, an internationally recognized thought leader in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), is the featured speaker at the ACTRI Seminar on July 19 at 2 p.m. at the ACTRI Building Auditorium, where he will present, “Innovations in Non-invasive Imaging Assessment of Treatment Response in NASH.” During a recent Q&A in his ACTRI Building office, he discusses his research.
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May 14, 2018 – Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, talked about his experiences running the FDA for President Obama and how big data is being used in academic and commercial research in his keynote address for the 2018 Translational Science Symposium hosted by UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI).
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April 24, 2018 – Eric Mah, Assistant Dean for Clinical and Translational Medicine, has received the 2018 UC San Diego Annual Integrity Award. The awards program recognizes individuals, departments, organizational units and students who have made outstanding contributions in support of UC San Diego's commitment to integrity.
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April 11, 2018 – Former FDA commissioner Robert Califf, MD, and four researchers supported by UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) delivered inspiring presentations during the 2018 ACTRI Translational Science Symposium on April 5. The theme of the program was “Emerging Issues and Solutions in Infectious Disease.”
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March 22, 2018 – Get up! Prolonged sitting has been tied to cardiovascular disease and diabetes, but interrupting sitting with brief standing breaks could have health benefits. And the type of interruption may make a difference, especially for your heart. A newly published pilot study of sedentary older women suggests that short standing breaks improve cardio-metabolic health. Lead researcher Dorothy Sears, PhD, with support from UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) through the Voucher Program, enrolled ten at-risk, overweight or obese postmenopausal women and tested three sitting interruption conditions.
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February 27, 2018 – UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) announces Kevin King, MD, PhD, as the recipient of the 2018 Daniel T. O’Connor Memorial Award. The O’Connor award provides an additional $5,000 to the top ranked ACTRI 2018 pilot project recipient. King received a 2018 pilot project award from the ACTRI to support his study, “Clinical Pilot of Single Cell Analysis during Human Cardiac Ischemia and Infarction.”
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February 27, 2018–UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) announces the selection of 14 Pilot Project grant awardees for 2018. Pilot Project grants are one-year competitive cash awards for researchers to obtain preliminary data. Thirteen 2018 awardees are from UC San Diego and represent seven departments, and one is from San Diego State University in the department of psychology. Recipients were awarded in the categories of clinical and translational research and, for the first time, two were selected in the category of life course research.
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February 27, 2018–Performing an act of kindness may be good for your health. So could the sweet anticipation of a reward and keeping a journal of things for which you are grateful. Results from a pilot study conducted by Charles Taylor, PhD, and supported by ACTRI, indicate that doing good deeds and finding the positive in daily life can actually make one happier. Taylor’s findings were published last year in the journal
Depression and Anxiety and led to a two-year $1M National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) grant with the potential to receive additional funding.
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January 23, 2018–Computational biologist Hannah Carter, PhD, has been named a 2017 Azrieli Global Scholar by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR). Carter, an assistant professor of medicine at UC San Diego in the Division of Genetics, is one of 15 early career researchers receiving the two-year appointment, which includes $100k in research support.
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