C. KENNETH AND DIANNE WRIGHT CENTER FOR CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH VCU BLOG

VCU’s research-dedicated MRI facility returns from a comprehensive renovation with a new Philips MR7700 — and capabilities that open new frontiers for investigators across the university. When a heavy crane appeared on East Cary Street in January, hoisting equipment above the roofline of a 3-story office building in downtown Richmond, it marked the beginning of […]

Every year on May 20, the global research community observes International Clinical Trials Day, commemorating the date in 1747 when Scottish physician James Lind conducted what is widely recognized as the first controlled clinical trial — a systematic test of scurvy treatments aboard a British naval vessel. This year, the C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright […]

After 12 years, 57 publications, and a hand in securing millions in research funding, Amy Olex, Ph.D., is leaving the Wright Center — but not VCU. Her bioinformatics pipelines powered landmark cancer research, her COVID data work shaped health policy across six countries, and her teaching, from the "Bioinformatics 101" seminar series to a graduate course still running today, brought hundreds of researchers into the fold. "I don't know of anywhere else where I would have been able to get all of that experience in one job," she says. "The Wright Center really put me in a unique position."

Two graduate students from the VCU C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research were among the top honorees at the 20th Annual Women’s Health Research Day. The event, hosted by the VCU Institute for Women’s Health on April 28, 2026, centered on the theme “Midlife Matters: Integrating Menopause Research, Innovation, and […]

A policy change effective for funding opportunities with due dates on or after May 25, 2026 affects how certain human studies are categorized — and funded. What’s Changing? The NIH has announced that Basic Experimental Studies with Humans (BESH) will no longer be classified as clinical trials. This is a significant shift that affects how […]

The Wright Center and VCU Health’s Enterprise Analytics built a specialized informatics pipeline within VCU Health’s Epic electronic health record (EHR) system to collect high-integrity data for a study on SNAP benefits. In the process, they earned national recognition for their software innovation.

I am making a personal appeal to every researcher in our community to pay close attention to the NIH’s new open access policy. This is especially critical for Principal Investigators and first authors. The stakes for our center are incredibly high: if even one paper that cites our Wright Center NIH grants is out of […]

Rather than focusing on the areas where mortality is highest, a multidisciplinary team is putting a spotlight on communities that are performing significantly better than expected despite facing the same risks as their neighbors who are struggling.

Are you stuck at a certain phase of your research project? We can help you get "unstuck" through the consultation services offered by the Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research. The Research Design Studio reached a major milestone with its inaugural pilot session in December 2025. Among the first participants was Alyssa Button, Ph.D., an early career researcher and a clinical psychologist in pediatric endocrinology at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU.

When a Virginia school district needed to turn a hydration policy into real-world habits, they partnered with VCU Wright Center lead Melanie Bean, Ph.D.. This wasn't a top-down approach; a Community Advisory Board of parents and teachers steered the research toward vital goals like dental health and healthy weight. Students even took the creative lead, designing "Water Hero" mascots to make hydration the "cool" choice.