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Winter 2024 Virtual Mini-Conference for Research Coordinators

Managing Expectations, Time, and Boundaries with Communication Tools

Winter 2024 Virtual Mini-Conference for Research Coordinators

Join ITHS and your research coordinator peers for a half-day virtual conference on Tuesday, February 6th! The keynote and breakout sessions will focus on the theme of  Managing Expectations, Time, and Boundaries with Communication Tools. Register now to join us via Zoom and take advantage of this fantastic career development event!

Event Details

DATE: Tuesday, February 6, 2024
TIME: 12:00pm–4:00pm Pacific
LOCATION: Online Zoom event (register to receive link)

Event Video

Watch the opening and keynote sessions of the mini-conference.

Event Materials

Event Agenda

75 KBDownloadable Mini-Conference 2024 Agenda

All times Pacific Standard Time

12:00–12:10Welcome/OverviewRussell Lackey & Aric Lane, ITHS Education Team
12:10–1:10Keynote: Manage Expectations, Own Your Boundaries, Protect Your ScopeKara Cooper, Training Manager, Research Integration, Seattle Children's
1:10–1:20Break (10 minutes)
1:20–2:20Breakouts Round One
Topic A: Have a KNACK for Managing Up? David Staley, MA
Topic B: Pre-Screener 101Aly Edmonson, MFA
Lindsie Boerger
Courtney Howell
Topic C: What Really Matters for You and for UsEvangeline Chang
2:20–2:30Break (10 minutes)
2:30–3:30Breakouts Round Two
Topic A: Time ManagementJennifer Sprecher
Topic B: REDCap in the WWAMI RegionCourtney Howell
Gretchen Kuhn
Topic C: What Really Matters for You and for UsEvangeline Chang
3:30–3:55Featured Resources
3:55–4:00ClosingRussell Lackey & Aric Lane, ITHS Education Team

Keynote Speech

Manage Expectations, Own Your Boundaries, Protect Your Scope: How to anticipate times when your boundaries may be challenged, and plan your communication for successful outcomes

Navigating the world of clinical research can be challenging with different, and sometimes, competing expectations coming from participants, investigators, study monitors and others. Understanding and meeting expectations within professionally defined boundaries is crucial to sustain success in all careers, especially clinical research.  Come for the real talk about situations research professionals face daily.  Stay for the solutions you can use in your everyday communication to create shared understanding of expectations, boundaries and scope of responsibility. 

Keynote Learning Objectives
At the end of the session, attendees will be able to:

      • Identify characteristics of realistic boundaries
      • Explain approaches for navigating difficult situations
      • List ways to create a communication plan before an interaction that will lead to productive outcomes

Keynote Speaker
Kara Cooper
Training Manager, Research Integration, Seattle Children’s

Breakout Sessions

Round One
Topic 1A: Have a KNACK for Managing Up? Five Behaviors for Actively Making Professional Relationships Engaging and Productive

Description
What can, and should, we be doing to shape relationships with research leaders, team members, and investigators? How can we increase the value and chances of engagement and productive outcomes? It starts with having a knack for communicating expectations while understanding and respecting roles and responsibilities.

Learning Objective
Examine five behavior-focused approaches for cultivating productive relationships and meeting work demands.

Facilitator
David Staley, MA, is the Director of Clinical Research Quality Assurance and Regulatory Support at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. He is an accomplished leader, writer, and public speaker with over twenty years of experience working in human research protection programs, research compliance, and regulatory affairs. In both realms of research compliance and regulatory affairs, he has led and overseen system-wide programs in dynamic research enterprises, while advising and educating on complex ethical and compliance issues. He has authored and spoken about a variety of topics from strategies to identify research compliance blind spots to principles for decision-making and practice in quality assurance and risk preparedness. David has earned both a Master’s degree in Spanish Literature and a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish Translation.

Topic 1B: Pre-Screener 101

Description
In this workshop, participants will learn what pre-screening is and how using a pre-screening survey for research recruitment can save time and reach more participants. We will share best practices and tips for designing a strong pre-screening survey using REDCap and share the Pre-Screening 101 training link.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand the benefits of using a pre-screening survey via REDCap.
  • Learn best practices for designing a pre-screening survey.
  • Design their own Pre-Screening survey by utilizing the ITHS Pre-Screening template available on REDCap.

 

Facilitators
Aly Edmondson, MFA, is the Instructional Designer for the Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) since August of 2022. Aly is a member of the Training and Workforce Development core team within ITHS. She is a new member of the ITHS Anti-Racism Committee (ARC), which seeks to reduce systemic inequities and foster equity, diversity, and inclusion across ITHS. Aly has been an instructional designer within higher education for over 8 years and has been adjunct faculty at the University of Washington.

Lindsie Boerger serves as a Project Manager within the Pilots program, Hub Liaisons Team, and Anti-Racism Committee at the Institution of Translational Health Sciences. Her current role focuses on overseeing the complete life cycle of pilot research grants, from the application process to project completion and working on projects related to Recruitment and Retention, with a strong emphasis on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. With a diverse background, Lindsie has accumulated five years of experience in various aspects of research coordination. Her experience encompasses a broad spectrum of disease areas, and she has applied her skills across various roles, including patient-facing, regulatory, project management, and quality assurance, within these diverse medical fields.

Courtney Howell, Manager, REDCap Application, UW School of Medicine – Research IT. Courtney Howell is originally from Anchorage, Alaska and ventured to the lower 48 to attend Seattle University and received their BS in Psychology. They previously worked as a housing case manager, research coordinator, and are currently the REDCap manager for the University of Washington.

Topic 1C: What Really Matters for You and for Us

Description
This breakout session focuses on a discussion amongst research coordinators and encouraging one another’s voices regarding their experiences and perspectives for all subjects related. Anonymity is preserved during this unifying experience. Come join us for a positive experience in getting to know one another as research coordinators and as people!

Learning Objective
Participants will be able to engage with fellow research coordinators to provide support and networking ideas and opportunities

Facilitator
Evangeline Chang is a research coordinator at the University of Washington Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, coordinating the Biogen ENVISION trial. She previously worked with oncology patients and coordinated clinical trials at the UW Cancer Vaccine Institute as a clinical research coordinator. Outside of work, Evangeline enjoys bullet journaling, cooking and trying new recipes, and spending time with family and her three cats. She is also interested in studying linguistics and stoicism.

Round Two
Topic 2A: Time Management

Description
Ever find yourself wondering where the day went? Wishing there was more time in the day? Feeling that your life is out of balance?
Learn how to address key challenges of Prioritizing, Procrastination, Scheduling, Managing interruptions, and dealing with distractions through the application of key time management strategies.

Learning Objectives

  • Identify your greatest challenge and do at least 1 thing to address the challenge
  • Apply at least 3 time management strategies

 

Facilitator
Jennifer SprecherJennifer Sprecher is the Director of Strategy Development and Deployment with the School of Nursing. Ms. Sprecher works with organizations to achieve excellence through Strategy development, Lean Project Management, balanced scorecards, change management, benchmarking, team problem solving, team and leadership coaching.

Ms. Sprecher is a strong team facilitator, called upon to facilitate high-level teams where interaction and reaching objectives are critical. Sample facilitations include strategic planning, building collaborations, designing and developing new services, products and processes, implementing process improvements, implementing research studies and creating new research centers. She has worked extensively in the past few years within the arena of team science and applying team concepts to innovative development and research teams.

Before the UW School of Nursing, Ms. Sprecher focused exclusively on health research in the Institute of Translational Health Sciences, also within the University of WA. Prior to the UW, she spent 7 years as Executive Director of the Washington State Quality Award (WSQA), a Baldrige-based non-profit organization. With a background in Industrial Engineering, Ms. Sprecher has been working with process improvement for over 25 years using continuous process improvement methods including Lean, Lean-Sigma, Plan Do Check Act and 6S (5S workplace organization combined with Safety) and Total Quality Management.

Ms. Sprecher has a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, a Master’s of Science in Management Systems, is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and an International Coaching Federation ACC certified Leadership Coach.

Topic 2B: REDCap in the WWAMI Region

Description
 If you are interested in learning how REDCap can be used for cross-institutional collaboration within the WWAMI region, join us for this breakout session led by REDCap experts.

Learning Objective
Attendees will learn best practices for project creation and management in REDCap including: user rights management, data access groups, REDCap mobile app, custom reports and dashboards, and identifying and preventing bots.

Facilitators
Courtney Howell, Manager, REDCap Application, UW School of Medicine – Research IT. Courtney Howell is originally from Anchorage, Alaska and ventured to the lower 48 to attend Seattle University and received their BS in Psychology. They previously worked as a housing case manager, research coordinator, and are currently the REDCap manager for the University of Washington.

Gretchen Kuhn, REDCap administrator with the University of Washington. Prior to moving into REDCap, they worked as a research coordinator for two years with Washington State University. Gretchen is from Virginia so they don’t understand the UW/WSU rivalry but would love to hear your opinions.

Topic 2C: What Really Matters for You and for Us

Description
This breakout session focuses on a discussion amongst research coordinators and encouraging one another’s voices regarding their experiences and perspectives for all subjects related. Anonymity is preserved during this unifying experience. Come join us for a positive experience in getting to know one another as research coordinators and as people!

Learning Objective
Participants will be able to engage with fellow research coordinators to provide support and networking ideas and opportunities

Facilitator
Evangeline Chang is a research coordinator at the University of Washington Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, coordinating the Biogen ENVISION trial. She previously worked with oncology patients and coordinated clinical trials at the UW Cancer Vaccine Institute as a clinical research coordinator. Outside of work, Evangeline enjoys bullet journaling, cooking and trying new recipes, and spending time with family and her three cats. She is also interested in studying linguistics and stoicism.

Registration

Registration will be open through Monday, February 5th!

If you have any questions about the mini-conference, please contact the ITHS Education Team (ithsedu@uw.edu).