Inaugural Virginia Clinical Research Conference inspires and strengthens the commonwealth’s clinical research enterprise
By Anne Dreyfuss
C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright
Center for Clinical and Translational Research
The ballroom inside the Hilton Hotel in downtown Richmond was standing room only on Friday morning, when more than 200 clinical research professionals from across the commonwealth gathered for the inaugural Virginia Clinical Research Conference.
“At the end of every clinical trial, there is a family waiting,” keynote speaker
T.J. Sharpe said to the crowd of clinical and translational scientists who had assembled for the first conference aimed at strengthening the clinical research enterprise throughout the state. The conference, titled “Engagement: 2019,” was hosted by the Virginia Commonwealth University C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research with participation from VCU Health and the VCU Office of Research and Innovation.
“We designed the conference as an opportunity to
work with academic medical centers across the state,” said Wright Center Director
F. Gerard Moeller, M.D. “We wanted to identify ways to become more engaged
with one another, as well as the communities we serve, as we work to design,
test, and deliver innovative treatment options for patients.” In addition to
VCU and VCU Health, attendees hailed from institutions including Eastern Virginia
Medical School, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech Carilion
School of Medicine, Inova Health System and Bon Secours Health System.
In his presentation, Sharpe talked about how enrolling in a clinical trial saved
his life. In August 2012 — just weeks after the birth of his second child — Sharpe was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, which is the most dangerous form of skin cancer. His physician gave him less than two years to live. “My purpose wasn’t
to be a cancer survivor,” Sharpe said. “It was to be a dad, husband, brother and
uncle, but to do that I needed to find a treatment that would give me a chance to fulfill my purpose.”
Knowing the five-year survival rate for metastatic melanoma hovered between
15 and 20 percent, Sharpe enrolled in two clinical trials to try to beat his long
odds of survival. Now nearly seven years after the diagnosis and living cancer
free, the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-resident has forged a career as a patient
advocate and clinical trial experience expert, making it his life’s mission to
share the value of clinical research with audiences around the country. “I’m
dance dad now on Tuesdays, taking my daughter back-and-forth to dance,” Sharpe
said. “These days, my wife and I take the kids on white water rafting trips and
go hiking in Maine.”
Sharpe urged the crowd of clinical research professionals to think of him and
countless others like him who depend on research they do every day. “My other
purpose now is to bring my message to the clinical research world and implore
those who have the ability to affect the lives of patients to do so,” he said.
“It gave me hope to know there were researchers out there doing incredible work
and I wanted to be a part of that. I wanted the opportunity to help other people
and make the world a better place through clinical trial participation.”
Throughout the daylong conference, attendees discussed how they can work
together to help more people like Sharpe. At packed workshops centering on topics
including how to engage the community, use big data and work more closely with
investigational pharmacists, attendees shared perspectives and collaborated on
new opportunities in clinical research.
“Uncovering your unconscious bias makes all the difference in the world as a clinical researcher,” said VCU School of Nursing associate professor Jo Lynne
Robins, Ph.D. Robins was a panelist at an interactive workshop on engaging community partners in the practice of clinical research, where researchers and
community health providers exchanged experiences and advice for how build better relationships. “The reason we do research is because we want to make a difference in patients’ lives,” Robins said. “We need to find common ground where we’re all committed to the same thing.”
At a breakout session on research ethics, Francis Macrina, Ph.D., posed a
hypothesis that it should be possible to tailor a curriculum of responsible research
conduct aimed at clinical and translational scientists. “We can and should begin to
tailor responsible conduct of research curricula to specific audiences. One size
doesn’t fit all anymore,” said the former vice president for research and innovation
at VCU.
At the end of the conference, prizes were awarded for poster competition presentations. Thomas Corey Davis, Ph.D., who is an assistant professor and vice chair of clinical affairs in the VCU College of Health Professions Department of Nurse Anesthesia, was awarded the best poster in the category clinical research best practices/quality improvement/process innovations. Elizabeth Krieger, M.D., who is a fellow in the VCU School of Medicine Division of Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Care, was awarded the best poster in the category clinical science research.
“We hope for you to take these discussions beyond this conference,” said Wright Center associate director Antonio Abbate, M.D., Ph.D. At a panel discussion wrapping up the day’s events, Abbate urged conference attendees to apply what they had learned at the conference to their daily research. “There is a person, a face and a smile behind everything that we do,” he said. “Clinical research is an instrument that allows beautiful stories to occur.”
Poster competition awardees:
Clinical research
best practices/quality improvement/process innovations:
Title:“Assessing a Novel Method to Reduce
Anesthesia Machine Contamination: A Prospective,
Observational Trial”
Authors: Thomas Corey Davis, Ph.D., CRNA; Beverly
George-Gay, MSN, RN; Praveen Prasanna, M.D.; Emily M. Hill, Ph.D.; Brad Verhulst,
Ph.D.; Chuck J. Biddle, Ph.D., CRNA
Clinical science research:
Title: “A Novel KIRHLA Interaction Scoring System and its Effect on Transplantation Outcomes after HLA Matched Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation”
Authors: Elizabeth Krieger, M.D.; Roy Sabo, Ph.D.;
Victoria Okhomina; Catherine Roberts, Ph.D.; Sunauz Moezzi; Caitlin Cain;
Marieka Helou, M.D.; John McCarty, M.D., Rizwan Romee M.D.;
Rehan Qayyum M.D. MHS; Christina Wiedl, D.O.; Amir Toor, M.D.