About Us

This core is the heart of the IDeA-CTR program. Providing leadership and coordinating the successful day-to-day operations necessary to fulfill its shared vision, the core is helping to shape a robust infrastructure for advancing clinical and translational science in the Great Plains region. With this vision in mind, the core fosters communication among all stakeholders, oversees the budget and fiscal operations, leads committee organization and meetings, and facilitates innovative collaborations within our network and our communities. 

The core values transparency and welcomes input from all partners, community members, and program participants. This core seeks expert guidance from a series of advisory committees related to governance, policy, and procedural issues related to the management of research and educational activities. These committees assist in strategic problem solving, goal revision and strategic planning, and realignment of resources as opportunities arise.

This core provides support in research informatics needs by offering a rich repository of information technology resources. Through this core, we provide training and consultations to investigators looking to access large datasets, utilize clinical data, and adopt best practices when utilizing biomedical data in their research.

This core can provide support with data sharing plans, forming collaborative teams for your research, and assist with navigating informatics resources to ensure investigators can conduct successful and efficient research. 

This core provides investigators with expertise in biostatistics, epidemiology, and research design. Through this core, we provide various services, including data acquisition, study design, and data analysis. As part of services for IDeA-CTR members, we work closely with the Center for Collaboration on Research Design and Analysis in the UNMC College of Public Health to facilitate research support ranging from study design, the comprehensive development of research protocols and data analysis plans, to data management and data analysis.

This core also provides various tutorials on accessing population-based data sets and basic biostatistics and epidemiology training to clinical and translational investigators and host workshops and seminars to build cutting-edge statistical expertise related to clinical and translation research.  

This core builds capacity and cultivates partnerships between community partners and academic researchers across the translational research and community engagement spectrums. Through the promotion of systems change, the provision of resources and the application of Community-Based Participatory Research principles, this core supports community partners and researchers in building mutually beneficial research collaborations that aim to address locally relevant health priorities.

The core offers research consultations, trainings, workshops, and pilot funding to develop culturally humble, knowledgeable, and skilled researchers. The core also provides training and workshops to build research and evaluation capacity among community partners. The core works collaboratively with the other cores, advisory groups, the Community Advisory Board, and the Great Plains Primary Care Practice-Based Research Network to execute the overall mission of the CTR.   

The goal of this program is to provide a mechanism to test the most promising and novel clinical translational research projects, and help investigators obtain preliminary data necessary for successful investigator-initiated extramural grants. Applicants can choose from several pilot funding mechanisms to best suit their research needs. Awards range from $5,000-$100,000 for a one-year project, as well as access to resources of the Great Plains IDeA-CTR Network to support their research efforts.

The priorities for pilot grant projects are a combination of scientific and regional needs developed by the GP IDeA-CTR Community Advisory Board. Our intention is to support work that moves science forward and can be applied to address regional health issues. 

Professional development is a critical component of efforts to enhance research activities across our region. The goal of this core is to leverage and integrate the resources and strengths of the Great Plains IDeA-CTR Network to offer clinical translational research education, training, funding, and mentoring opportunities to develop successful translational research investigators.

In collaboration with our partner institutions, this core offers experiences and services that help build infrastructure in clinical translational research. Key strengths of this include:

1. Educational offerings for diverse audiences.
2. Training for mentors and mentor-matching for early-career translational research faculty.
3. Formal programs to support the development and retention of promising early-career translational research faculty.