Evaluation and PROGRAM components

Community Engagement
Education and Training
Regulatory Support
Research Design Ethics
Project Evaluation

Community Engagement
The Meharry Translational Research Center (MeTRC) and the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR) have united to offer research expertise to the community. The Meharry-Vanderbilt Community Engaged Research Core (CERC) builds partnerships and adds the scientific element to community work groups. Through workshops/training, consultation, mini-grants, educational material, and use of core facilities, the CERC is working one-on-one with communities to improve citizen health and broaden neighbors' health knowledge. For more information, contact the CERC at 615.936.2565 or cerc@vanderbilt.edu.

Regulatory Support
The goal of MeTRC is to reduce investigators' administrative burden and improve participant safety and regulatory compliance through process standardization, information technology, and other services to investigators and clinical research personnel. In partnership with VICTR, MeTRC has made available to researchers a knowledge base of regulatory matters and created a one-stop-shop (the StarBRITE tool) that helps them navigate through complex, interdisciplinary projects. It has also enhanced Meharry's clinical research function with the patient advocacy and experiment-design functions now available in the Participant and Clinical Interaction Resource (PCIR). If you have questions about regulatory support at Meharry, contact PCIR at 615.327.5725.

Research Design Ethics
In tandem with the Office of Participant and Clinical Interaction Resource, MeTRC makes available to researchers the expertise of CITI-trained clinical research staff, and investigators at Meharry, both newcomers and seasoned professionals, will find time- and labor-saving guidance in the creation of their clinical trials. Contact the PCIR at 615.327.5725 for assistance.

Project Evaluation
As medicine has evolved from stethoscopes to PET scans, laboratory research has evolved from test tubes to fluorescent microsopy. The sophistication of today's research environment is therefore narrowly competitive. MeTRC research projects are therefore narrowly examined for competitive advantage. Using rigorous study design and a refined logic model that incorporates multiple data collection points, MeTRC assesses projects' indicators, milestones, tools and study design, key function reports, and more. Successful grants beget yet more grants; MeTRC's evaluation function crosses the T's and dots the I's so that researchers are knowledgeable, projects are effective, and research translates to cures.