We were pleased to hold the 5^th Annual Great Plains IDeA-CTR Scientific Meeting on October 6-7^th. The event featured distinguished speakers and a CTR Superstar competition aimed at catalyzing clinical and translational research. This two-day event was held in conjunction with the UNMC College of Medicine Research Retreat. Matthew Rizzo, MD, FAAN, Principal Investigator of the GP IDeA-CTR, moderated the event.

Distinguished speakers and presentations included:

• Hal Stern, PhD – Statistical approaches for studying early-life experiences and their impact
• James Tcheng, PhD – Data makes the difference – the journey to “good data”
• Keyonna King, DrPH, MA – Leveraging community partnerships to develop innovative research designs
• Richard Miller, PhD – Creating engineering innovators: remaking engineering education to prepare engineering “stem-cells”

The CTR Superstar competition, featured four promising finalists who presented innovative research pitches. A panel of esteemed judges including, Alice Ammerman, PhD (Mildred Kaufman Distinguished Professor, Department of Nutrition, Gillings School of Global Public Health and Director, Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, UNC Chapel Hill); Michael Dixon, PhD (President & Chief Executive Officer, UNeMed); Major General, USAF (Ret.) Richard J. Evans III (Executive Director, NSRI); and Michael Yanney (Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Burlington Capital, formerly America First Companies L.L.C.) presided over the event. Bin Duan, PhD, presented a research pitch on “Sprayable multifunctional hydrogel for postoperative abdominal adhesions prevention” and was our CTR Superstar winner. Dr. Duan will receive pilot funding to develop his work.

The Annual Scientific Meeting continues to be an effective conduit for sharing ideas, networking and advancing clinical and translational research. We look forward to next year, and hope that we will be able to meet in person!