ctsi – global health program: providing more solutions in more countries for more researchers

Clinical and TranslationalScience Institute / CTSIat the University of California, San Francisco

CTSI – Global Health ProgramProviding more solutions in more countries for more researchers

2

CTSI – Global Health Program• To support global health researchers, CTSI partnered with Global Health Sciences to create

the Global Research Enterprise Support (G-RES)

• G-RES work groups address:

Regulatory Issues

CHR now handles remote sites and multiple international IRB’s

Budgetary Issues

Travel Safety and Health

UCSF’s occupational health travel clinic now available

• G-RES Website compiles regulations, advice and experience:

In-country human research

Salary scales

Allowable expenses

Budgets and award management

3

G-RES Website

http://globalhealthsciences.ucsf.edu/Research/gres/

Work Group Issues

4

CTSI – Global Health Program• UCSF International Projects Database

A central repository of information that can be mined for collaboration, communication, expertise, and development of new proposals

Face page is an interactive heat map with clickable dots highlighting projects in different geographical locations

Search function keys to principal investigator name, keywords, or country

Search results include links to CTSI Profiles, department descriptions or research pages

Lists extramurally funded projects, funding source, start and end dates of funded projects

• Currently includes more than 3,000 extramurally funded projects awarded to more than 600 UCSF investigators, working in more than 100 countries on 6 continents. International projects total more than $80 million in annual funding.

5

UCSF International Projects Database

6

A Focus on Faculty Needs!

• Its most recent work group, the International Research Advisory Council (IRAC) brings more than 20 faculty (and membership is open!) from across all four schools to work on common solutions for the international researcher. Based on their feedback we will:

Build “Global Health Community Connections”

Create linkages between the International Projects Database and Profiles

Break down barriers through shared problem solving and common solutions

Build global health research at UCSF through increased opportunities to meet and collaborate

7

Real Time Solutions!Issue Raised at March 2011 IRAC Meeting

• Issue: NIH grants now require IRB approvals before releasing funds. However, IRBs in foreign countries (Uganda) require payment of IRB application fees before releasing the initial review approval. For our research NGO that does not have working capital, it is a problem to have any funds available to pay these IRB fees up front. This impacts both large grants (RO1, UO1, PO1, etc) as well as jr investigator projects such as those through CFAR. What solutions have been found or could be found at UCSF to solve this catch-22 problem? 

• Solution: NIH allows for funding of project related expenses up to 90 days prior to the start of the award. If approved for award, the IRB application fees would be allowed as a pre-award costs. In addition, UCSF has a process in place for the setup of the fund prior to award setup with approval from the Department. Guidelines for Fund advance request and setup can be found at http://or.ucsf.edu/cg/9142-DSY.html

8

Next Steps

• Link International Projects Database more effectively with Profiles to enrich global health content

• Expand IRAC to provide safe space for active global investigators to share ideas, expand collaborations and invite active participation of Jaime Sepulveda to solidify GHS partnership

• Create social networking tools as community-building process

• Provide administrative support for visiting international scholars