News and Announcements

Arthritis Care & Research is soliciting manuscripts for a themed issue addressing topics related to pain science and therapy in the context of rheumatic diseases. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• Quality of care and models of care related to pain management 
• Understanding and applying pain phenotypes 
• Longitudinal patterns of pain and pain transitions 
• Patient perspectives on pain treatment and outcomes 
• Mechanisms by which social risk factors impact pain outcomes 
• Clinical trials of pharmacological or non-pharmacological therapies focused on pain outcomes
• Heterogeneity in pain outcomes in response to pharmacological or non-pharmacological therapies
• Innovative methods for measuring pain 

Original Articles, Brief Reports, and Reviews will be considered for the themed issue. 

All manuscripts will be peer reviewed per the journal’s usual processes. (Submission in response to this themed issue call for manuscripts does not guarantee acceptance.) The editorial team will select papers for publication based on reviewer ratings and the balance of subject matter with other accepted manuscripts. It is possible that manuscripts submitted for the themed issue may be accepted for publication in a regular issue of Arthritis Care & Research rather than the themed issue.
 
Please follow the formatting requirements found in the Author Guidelines section. Normal page charge policies will apply for manuscripts accepted for the themed issue. 
 
The deadline for submission is March 31, 2025.
 
For further information, contact the Editor of Arthritis Care & Research, Dr. Kelli D. Allen; email: kdallen@email.unc.edu

Dr. Rowland Chang was honored with the Lifetime Champion of Yes Award at the Arthritis Foundation 2024 Freedom of Movement Gala in Chicago.

Read more about this achievement here

This October, NUCATS is launching the Art of Science Communication, an 8-week course designed for researchers at all career stages that provides essential training in effectively communicating scientific research to nonexpert audiences.

Participants will gain the skills and confidence to present their work in various settings, from formal public lectures and presentations to informal outreach events. The course features video lectures, background material, and live weekly discussions focusing on crafting impactful messages, generating interest, and engaging with audiences.

The course is open to all faculty and staff within Feinberg, but registration is limited. Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your communication skills.

Interested in registering? Please email Abbey Dahl (abbey.dahl@northwestern.edu) for registration information. 

2024 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The Pat & Shirley Ryan Family Research Acceleration Fund is pleased to announce the 2^nd round of the Seed Grants for Translational Research. These seed grants provide an exciting opportunity for Northwestern University faculty to accelerate the commercialization of innovative and high-potential research in the life sciences.

The Fund aims to advance translational research discoveries in both engineering and medicine that have the potential to create a meaningful and immediate impact on society. Areas of interest include drug discovery, sensing and measurement, rehabilitation, regenerative medicine, surgery and transplantation, artificial intelligence, and computation.

Proposals will be accepted through August 31, 2024. Typical awards will be funded with a one-year budget ranging from $100,000 to $300,000.

Please refer to the 2024 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS for detailed information on the proposed funding mechanism, eligibility criteria, and submission requirements.

The recording of the informational session for the 2nd Round Ryan Acceleration Fund competition can be found here (VPN required).

Questions should be addressed to ryanrafund@northwestern.edu.

The 2024-25 NUCATS Series on Developing and Enhancing Mentoring Relationships, is a set of monthly 90-minute workshops exclusively for faculty. Registration for each session is made available a month prior. This year, all workshops will be held in-person on the second Thursday of the month from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Dates are listed below:

• October 10, 2024
• November 14, 2024
• December 12, 2024
• January 9, 2025
• February 13, 2025
• March 13, 2025
• April 10, 2025
• May 8, 2025
• June 12, 2025

In addition to the annual offerings of "Establishing and Aligning Expectations," "Cultural Awareness to Enhance Mentoring Across Differences," and "Articulating your Mentoring Philosophy and Plan," sessions will explore "Challenging Mentoring Interactions" and "Mentoring Across Generations."

Further details on the upcoming series will be sent in the coming weeks. If you have any questions in the meantime, please email Morgan Barrowman. Interested in enrolling in the Mentor Training Certificate Program? Visit our website to find out more.

Wearable technologies, created to continuously collect personal health data, automatically gather high-frequency information outside clinical settings. Their popularity in research has generated large-scale time-series datasets. In this lecture Margaret Banker, PhD, assistant professor of Preventive Medicine in the Division of Biostatistics, will explore the various methods, ranging from conventional to more novel approaches, for analyzing these datasets. As part of the Statistically Speaking lecture series presented by the NUCATS Institute's Biostatistics Collaboration Center, this talk is intended to be educational, introductory, and appeal to a broad audience.

When: Tuesday, February 13, noon

Please contact Abbey Dahl (abbey.dahl@northwestern.edu) for information regarding the location of this event

Join Galter Health Sciences Library and Learning Center for a two-part interactive workshop. Participants will gain knowledge and actively participate in the multi-step process of crafting a thorough search strategy for systematic and scoping reviews. The workshop will demonstrate effective methods for searching diverse information sources and preparing the necessary documentation for the final manuscript. Faculty, staff, students, and researchers are invited to attend.

Prerequisite Classes and Trainings:

• PubMed
• Conducting a Systematic Review: Part 1 — Planning the Process or Conducting a Scoping Review
• Conducting a Systematic Review: Part 2 — Tools & Resources (also applicable to scoping reviews)
• Topic Searching in PubMed: Using the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Register for the Two-Part Interactive Workshop:

• Conducting Systematic and Scoping Reviews: Search Development and Documentation — Part 1, Wednesday, March 13, 2024, 12-1 p.m. via Zoom. Registration required
• Conducting Systematic and Scoping Reviews: Search Development and Documentation — Part 2, Wednesday, April 12, 2024, 12-1 p.m. via Zoom. Registration required

Kristi Holmes, PhD, professor of Preventive Medicine, director of Northwestern’s Galter Health Sciences Library and chief of knowledge management for the Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (I.AIM), has been named the new associate dean for knowledge management and strategy at Feinberg.

In her new role, Holmes will direct the development of new infrastructure and guidelines to support the sharing of knowledge within Feinberg to accelerate research and discovery.

Read More Here

Effective May 8, 2023, the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) will withdraw from the NIH Parent R21 Exploratory/Developmental Grant funding opportunities, including:

• PA-20-195: NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• PA-20-194: NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Clinical Trial Required)

Instead, NIAMS has issued the following Notice of Special Interest (NOSI), to support innovative projects that introduce novel scientific ideas, model systems, tools, agents, targets, and technologies that have the potential for significant impact, and to substantially advance research within the NIAMS core mission. 

• NOT-AR-23-006: NOSI: Supporting Exploratory/Developmental Research Focused on NIAMS Core Mission Areas

NIAMS will not accept any applications (new or resubmission) in response to the parent R21 funding opportunities after May 7, 2023, without referencing an appropriate NIAMS NOSI. Applications for non-clinical trial, or mechanistic clinical trial Exploratory/Developmental Research within the NIAMS core mission areas should reference the R21 NOSI NOT-AR-23-006.

Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to consult NIAMS program staff for their specific research area of interest to assess the relevance of their application topic.

View the full list at NIAMS Funding Opportunities.  

The DMS policy promotes the sharing of scientific data to accelerate biomedical research discovery. It does so, in part, by enabling validation of research results, providing accessibility to high-value datasets, and promoting data reuse for future research studies. The DMS policy takes effect Jan. 25, 2023.

Under this policy, NIH expects that investigators and institutions:

Plan and budget for the managing and sharing of data

Submit a DMS plan for review when applying for funding

Comply with the approved DMS plan

The University has developed several resources and services for Northwestern's research community to support investigators' compliance with the DMS policy. You can access these resources online.

(Communication from Milan Mrksich, Vice President for Research)

Congratulations to MPIs Daniel Pinto PhD, PT and Rowland Chang MD, MPH, for their new NIAMS R21 Award, Computer-guided Action Planning to Support Physical Activity (CAPPA) for Employees with Chronic Knee Symptoms.

As described in the project summary, the goal of this program is to test a brief, scalable PA coaching intervention that can assist employees with chronic knee symptoms attain and maintain healthy physical activity (PA) behavior in two worksites in the Midwest. CAPPA is a 12-week pilot randomized controlled trial that will 1) use computer-guided action-planning behavioral intervention to support employees in making PA action plans for their health, 2) use data transmitted from a personal fitness tracker (Fitbit) to support coach and employee knowledge about PA performance, and 3) Inform on optimal step up times for participants who do not substantially increase PA. CAPPA will put PA feedback in a Movement Dashboard to support study participants. The CAPPA intervention will use each participant’s preferred communication mode (text, voice call, or video chat) to attain and sustain healthy PA behavior at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois and Advocate Aurora Health. Follow-up measures of PA, pain and physical function are planned at treatment completion and three months following study completion.

Congratulations Dan and Bing!

A five-year grant renewal from the National Institutes of Health provides critical support to clinical investigators at Northwestern as they continue research to improve the lives of people with or at risk for rheumatic diseases and musculoskeletal conditions.  

The FIRST-DailyLife center received initial support from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) in 2017, funded by a Core Center for Clinical Research P30 grant (P30AR072579).

READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT

The Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Services Institute's Center for Education and Career Development (CECD) is launching a Mentor Training Certificate Program this fall. This program consists of in-person and online workshops designed to train faculty in becoming effective clinical and translational research mentors.

This program is open to faculty who hold appointments in the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Faculty in other colleges may participate if they are engaged in biomedical research.

To read more about the program or to enroll, follow THIS LINK.