Updating and evaluating a research best practices training course for social and behavioral research professionals.

Introduction: The clinical and translational research workforce involved in social and behavioral research (SBR) needs to keep pace with clinical research guidance and regulations. Updated information and a new module on community and stakeholder engagement were added to an existing SBR training course. This article presents evaluation findings of the updated course for the Social and Behavioral Workforce.

Evaluation of the long-term outcomes of the University of Michigan's Practice-Oriented Research Training (PORT) program.

The University of Michigan created the Practice-Oriented Research Training (PORT) program and implemented it between 2008 and 2018. The PORT program provided research training and funding opportunities for allied healthcare professionals. The program consisted of weekly didactics and group discussion related to topics relevant to developing specific research ideas into projects and funding for a mentored research project for those who submitted a competitive grant application.

Implementing a mentoring program for clinical research professionals: A novel professional development initiative for university health research staff.

Clinical and translational research relies on a well-trained workforce, but mentorship programs designed expressly for this workforce are lacking. This paper presents the development of a mentoring program for research staff and identifies key programmatic outcomes. Research staff participating in this program were matched with a senior mentor.

Developing relevant assessments of community-engaged research partnerships: A community-based participatory approach to evaluating clinical and health research study teams.

Background/objective: In 2017, the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR) and community partners in Flint, Michigan collaborated to launch a research funding program and evaluate the dynamics of those research partnerships receiving funding. While validated assessments for community-engaged research (CEnR) partnerships were available, the study team found none sufficiently relevant to conducting CEnR in the context of the work. MICHR faculty and staff along with community partners living and working in Flint used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to develop and administer a locally relevant assessment of CEnR partnerships that were active in Flint in 2019 and 2021.

Adapting an Expanded Access program to enable investigational treatments for COVID-19.

Retrospective case studies of initiatives supported by the National Institutes of Health's Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) hubs can be used to identify facilitators and barriers of translational science. This case study investigates how a CTSA Expanded Access program adapted to changing FDA guidance issued in 2020 to support clinicians' treatment of COVID-19 patients in Michigan. We studied how this program changed throughout the pandemic to support physicians' requests for remdesivir, convalescent plasma, and other uses of unapproved drugs and novel medical devices.

Best Practices in Social and Behavioral Research: A multisite pilot evaluation of the good clinical practice online training course.

Introduction: The Best Practices in Social and Behavioral Research Course was developed to provide instruction on good clinical practice for social and behavioral trials. This study evaluated the new course.

Methods: Participants across 4 universities took the course (n=294) and were sent surveys following course completion and 2 months later.