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November 7, 2019

Inaugural Tri-State Nursing Translational Research Consortium Meeting Held at Rockefeller University
By Bernandette (Candy) Capili PhD, NP-C

On September 17, 2019, Bernandette (Candy) Capili PhD, NP-C hosted the inaugural Tri-State Nursing Translational Research Consortium Group at Rockefeller University. The Consortium is composed of nurse leaders from the Tri-State CTSAs. The members include Dr. Christine Kovner, New York University, Dr. Elizabeth Cohn, Hunter College, Dr. Margaret Barton-Burke,  Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Elizabeth Walker, Albert Einstein, Dr. Elizabeth Corwin, Columbia University, Dr. Olga Jarrin Montaner, Rutgers University, Dr. David Vlahov, Yale University, and Dr. Marilyn Hammer, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute-Harvard University. Members attend meetings at Rockefeller University or take part via conference call. Dr. Barry Coller, Physician-in-Chief, joined the meeting to discuss the Consortium’s goals and the important role of clinical research nursing in translational research.
 
The Consortium’s goals are to foster collaborations, and communication, and to discuss opportunities and needs that nurses involved with CTSAs can address. Methods to reduce silos among disciplines is another goal the group hopes to undertake by having each Consortium member invite a colleague from another discipline from their respective institution to future meetings. The term “colleague themed topic” was coined to identify which scientific team member is invited to a meeting. Thus, future meeting will focus on clinical research coordinators, physician-scientists, post-doctoral fellows, biostatisticians, or clinical research nurses (CRN). The goal is to listen and to learn from each guest and to generate understanding.
 
Other highlights from the meeting included discussions of the need to introduce clinical research nursing to local nursing schools because it was clear from the meeting that some of the Consortium members did not know about the specialty of clinical research nursing and how vital the clinical research nurse role is to clinical research. The Consortium also discussed how best to help each other, and it was agreed that sharing success stories of initiatives that worked will be a good place to start. The concept behind using success stories is to understand the conditions and the measures that allowed the achievement of a positive outcome as a way of helping others replicate the success. The process and procedures to carry out these plans are on the agenda for the next meeting in December.