The Clinical Research Scholar Program supports early-career clinical researchers in becoming independent investigators by providing salary support for protected time to conduct scholarly activities and assistance in developing a mentoring team. Eligible candidates are NNE-CTR members who are junior faculty (assistant professor or equivalent) with clinically relevant degrees (e.g., MD, DO, PhD, PharmD, ScD, PsyD, NP, RN). For the call for letters of intent and instructions for the 2025-2026 MaineHealth scholar, click here.
The Clinical Research ECHO is a knowledge-sharing forum via monthly Zoom sessions. This is a great networking opportunity that features didactic and case presentations by colleagues sharing their research and engaging in lively problem-solving discussions. See past presentations here. To register for future sessions, click here.
The Research Professionals Network brings together clinical research coordinators and other research professionals from the University of Vermont and MaineHealth, Boston University and Boston Medical College, University of Florida, and Medical University of South Carolina in monthly interactive workshops about clinical research. Learn more here.
Our Research Navigation Services provide investigators with scientific partners to assist them at any phase of a research project from conceptualization and study design, funding procurement, project conduct, data analysis, and publication of research results. Navigators can be found at each of the NNE-CTR cores.
To request Navigation support at UVM, click here. To request Navigation support at MaineHealth, click here.
Principal Investigator Training is a live in-person training workshop modeled after Tufts’ popular Blue Star Investigator Certificate Program, in a two-day condensed format. It was piloted April 2024, with plans to offer it every spring and the goal of preparing researchers to take on the role of principal investigators. The workshop includes interactive discussions about PI responsibilities, protocol evaluation and implementation, budgets and negotiation, recruitment and retention, adverse event reporting and audit readiness, and leading study teams. The pre-work for this live training includes six web-based modules in the Tufts iLEARN library, which can be viewed at anytime. Click here to view Investigator Training Modules.
For the call for nominations for the MaineHealth 2025 session, click here.
To view the curriculum, click here.
For a web-based short PI training course for MaineHealth investigators housed in the Tufts iLEARN library, go to: https://ilearn.tuftsctsi.org/product?catalog=CRN2022_01_Online
Mentor trainings are offered on demand at the request of department leads to groups of approximately 12 mentors. Dr. Charlie Irvin, an experienced mentor and facilitator trained at CIMER (Center for Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research) leads these workshops. Trainings are usually two half-days and include topics such as effective communication, aligning expectations, and conflict resolution. To schedule a mentor training, email Dr. Charlie Irvin at charles.irvin@med.uvm.edu.
Other Resources: See Tips for Writing an NNE-CTR Grant Proposal and the checklist for becoming an NNE-CTR investigator at MaineHealth.