Meeting Schedule

NERIC 2023 Meeting Schedule (subject to change):

*If you have any questions please email us at neric2023@udel.edu*

Date/TimeSessionLocation
Wednesday August 16, 2023
1:00 – 3:00 pmPEARL Meeting
The Program Evaluation and Administration of Research Leaders (PEARL) meeting is open to those involved in program admin and/or evaluation within any IDeA program in the region. This informal meeting will focus on networking and open discussion of shared interests. Please RSVP to the PEARL meeting by emailing Laura Lessard (llessard@udel.edu) by August 14th. Details about meeting location will be shared with those who RSVP.
2:00pm Registration Opens ChaseCenter Lobby at Registration Desk
4:00 – 6:00 pmOpening Reception and Poster Session #1
Posters featuring: students and trainees, core facilities, pilot and target investigators

Remarks: Melinda Duncan, PhD, Associate Vice President for Research, Principal Investigator for Delaware INBRE, University of Delaware
Kelvin Lee, PhD, Interim Vice President for Research, Innovation & Scholarship, University of Delaware
Delaware Governor John Carney 
Riverfront Ballroom
6:30 – 8:30 pmDinner for IDeA program PIs and PCs (invitation only) Pusey & Jones Room
Thursday August 17, 2023
7:00 – 7:30 am(Optional) Walk/Run Along the Wilmington RiverfrontMeet in Westin Lobby
7:30 – 8:30 amBreakfast with Hosted Table Topic DiscussionsGovernors’ Hall 
8:30 – 10:00 am
Morning Plenary Session
Jon Lorsch, PhD, Director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health

Eddie Billingslea, PhD, Strategy Coordinator for SBIR/STTR programs, NIH/NIGMS

Jessica Molesworth, Executive Director, EPSCoR/IDeA Foundation

R. Scott Seville, PhD, President of the National Association of IDeA Principal Investigators (NAIPI) and Principal Investigator for Wyoming INBRE
Riverfront Ballroom
10:00-10:15 amCoffee Break Governors’ Hall 
Concurrent Session # 1 (Four Options):
10:15 – 11:15am
1.) COVID-19 – Virology to Sociology
W. Kelley Thomas, PhD (Chair) University of New Hampshire, “Correlation of Ct values and SAVS-CoV-2 strains, reinfection, and vaccine breakthrough in a tightly controlled testing system”

Michael Whitfield, PhD, Dartmouth, Geisel School of Medicine & Timothy Sullivan, PhD, Research Scientist, Center for Quantitative Biology, Dartmouth, “COVID-Seq: SARS-CoV-2 Surveillance Studies and Genome Sequencing in Rural New England”

Paul Cao, PhD, Genomics Data Scientist, Brown University, “SARS-CoV-2 genomic turnover in Rhode Island: a collaborative effort from IDeA programs and the RI Department of Health”


Tubman Room
2.) Post-award tips for Researchers and Administrators
Laura Bellavia (Chair), Rhode Island INBRE
Andrea Culhane, National Institutes of Health
Pusey & Jones Room
3.) Ethics in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
Thomas Powers, Director, Center for Science, Ethics & Public Policy, University of Delaware
Christina Ballroom
4.) Sell yourself: Effective NIH Biosketches
Melinda Duncan, University of Delaware
Riverfront Ballroom
Concurrent Session # 2 (Four Options):
11:30am-12:30pm1.) Disseminating Evidence-Based Interventions for Substance Use Disorders into Community Settings Panel
Stephen Higgins, PhD (Chair), Director, Vermont Center on Behavior and Health COBRE, Virginia H. Donaldson Chair in Translation Center, Departments of Psychiatry and Psychological Science, University of Vermont

Elias M. Klemperer, PhD. Assistant Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Psychological Science, University of Vermont. “Implementing medication for opioid use disorder and the impact of COVID-19 on treatment engagement and post-release overdose in a statewide correctional system”

Kelly R. Peck, PhD. Assistant Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Psychological Science, “Disseminating evidence-based interventions for treating opioid use disorder into rural communities”

Tyler G Erath, PhD. T32 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont. “The fourth wave of the U.S. overdose crisis: disseminating incentive-based interventions for psychomotor stimulant use disorder into community settings.”



Christina Ballroom
2.) Cloud Lab Data Science Panel and Discussion
Benjamin King, PhD,(Chair), Associate Professor of Bioinformatics at the University of Maine & Co-director of the Maine INBRE Bioinformatics Core, “Reusable Cloud-Based Computing Environments for Data Science Research Training”

Chris Hemme, PhD, Research Assistant Professor at the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island INBRE Director of Molecular Informatics Core (MIC), “A Cloud-Based Module for Biomarker Discovery”

Shannon Soucy, PhD, Co-director of the Center for Quantitative Biology COBRE Genomic Data Science Core at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, “A Composite Approach to Democratizing Genomic Data Analysis”
Riverfront Ballroom
3.) The Statistician is a Clinical Investigator’s Best Friend
Sharon Rounds, PhD (Chair), Associate Dean for Translational Science, Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Brown University 

Christopher Schmid, PhD, Professor of Biostatistics, Brown University School of Public Health
Pusey & Jones Room
4.) Apply to Graduate School
Yina Huang, Professor at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth & Director of DRPP, NH INBRE
Tubman Room
12:30 – 2:00 pmLunch with Keynote Speaker

Belinda Seto, PhD, Deputy Director for Office of Data Science Strategy 
Riverfront Ballroom
Skill Building Workshops (Four Session Options):
2:15 – 4:15 pm1.) Mentoring Skills Workshop led by faculty trained by the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER)
Lisa Jaremka, PhD (Chair), Associate Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware

Emil Hernandez-Pagan, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Delaware
Pusey & Jones Room
2.) Science Communication-Advancing your Academic Career While Informing the Public
Nathan Fried, PhD, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Biology, Rutgers University, Camden
Riverfront Ballroom
3.) How to Incorporate Data Science in Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs)
Shawn Polson, PhD (Chair), Director, Biomedical Data Science Core, University of Delaware

Julie Dragon, PhD, Director, Vermont Integrative Genomics Resource

Hacene Boukari, PhD, Professor & PI, Delaware State University 

John McDowell, PhD, Instructor, Delaware Technical Community College 

W. Kelley Thomas, PhD, University of New Hampshire Hubbard Center for Genome Studies
Tubman Room
4.) Writing Successful NIH R25 and NSF REU Research Education Grants
Melissa Harrington, PhD, Associate Vice President for Research, Delaware State University
Christina Ballroom
4:30 – 6:00 pm Poster Session & Reception #2
Posters featuring: Students and Trainees, Core Facilities, pilot and Target Investigators

Remarks and awards for best abstracts; awards sponsored by Piestar and the Delaware CTR ACCEL Program
Riverfront Ballroom
6:30p(Optional) Small group pay-as-you-go Dinners (Sign-up at Registration)
Friday August 18, 2023
7:00 – 7:30 am(Optional) Walk/Run Along the Wilmington riverfrontMeet in Westin Lobby
7:30 – 8:30 amBreakfast with Hosted Table Topic DiscussionsGovernors’ Hall 
8:30 – 10:00 amMorning Plenary Session
Gregory E. Hicks, PT, PhD, FAPTA, FGSA, Distinguished Professor of Health Sciences , Associate Vice President for Clinical & Translational Research, PI & Director | Delaware Clinical & Translational Research ACCEL Program, University of Delaware

Krishan Arora, PhD, Branch Chief, Networks and Development Programs Branch, NIH/NIGMS

Keynote Speaker
Ericka Boone, PhD, Director of the Division of Biomedical Research Workforce (DBRW) in the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER)
Riverfront Ballroom
Concurrent Session #3 (Four Options):
10:00-10:15 amCoffee Break Governors’ Hall 
10:15 – 11:15am 1.) Neurodegeneration, Cognitive Decline, Aging: From Cells to Society
Claudia Fallini (Co-Chair), Assistant Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Rhode Island, “Dissecting the LINC between stroke and Alzheimer’s Disease”

Victoria Heimer-McGinn (Co-Chair), Assistant Professor in Neuroscience at Roger Williams University, “Cognitive Deficits in a Mouse Model of Bipolar Disorder”

Ruth Fabian-Fine, Director of the Neuroscience Program and associate professor of Biology and Neuroscience at Saint Michael’s College, “Gliaptosis: A novel type of glia-mediated cell death leads to progressive neurodegeneration”
Riverfront Ballroom
2.) Overview of the programs and services available through the SuRE program
Paul Murphy, Co-director of theSuRE Resource Center at the University of Kentucky
Tubman Room
3.) Best Practices in Program Evaluation
Laura Lessard, PhD, MPH (Chair), Delaware INBRE
Sharon O’Connor, MS, Center for Program Design and Evaluation, Dartmouth

Chris Smith, Mt Desert Island Biological Laboratory, Maine INBRE

Sue Giancola, PhD Center for Research in Education & Social Policy, Delaware ACCEL/CTR
Christina Ballroom
4.) Career Panel: Student Focused
Mary Boggs, PhD, University of Delaware

Angela Maggio, M.S. Deloitte Consulting LLP

Karl E. Miletti-Gonzalez, PhD, Professor of Biological Sciences, Delaware State University
Pusey & Jones Room
Concurrent Session #4 (Four Options):
** Professional Headshots Available**
A photographer will be on site from 11:30-1:00pm to take professional headshots. This is open to anyone registered to attend NERIC and is free

**Photographer located in Governor’s Hall**
11:30am – 12:30pm 1.) Integrating Health Equity in Research
Doug Sawyer, MD, Chief Academic Officer, MaineHealth (Co-Chair)

Sandra L. Wong, MD MS, William N. and Bessie Allyn Professor of Surgery Chair, Department of Surgery Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth (Co-Chair)

Mary C. Ottolini MD, MPH, MEd, Professor of Pediatrics, Tufts University School of Medicine, The George W. Hallett MD Chair of Pediatrics, The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center Chief, Child Health Service Line, MaineHealth, “Innovative Strategies to Enhance the Capability of Rural Hospitals to Respond to Pediatric HALO Events“

Natalie Cartwright, PhD, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Norwich University “Use of Ambulatory Care EHR to Address Health Outcomes After Exposure to Gun Violence“

Yvonne Jonk, PhD, Deputy Director of the Maine Rural Health Research Center, Associate Research Professor, University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service. “Ambulance Deserts: Geographic Disparities in the Provision of Ambulance Services”
Pusey & Jones Rooms
2.) N3C (National COVID Cohort Collaborative) Data Enclave topics
Claudine Jurkovitz MD, MPH (Co-Chair), Director of Clinical Research in iREACH at ChristianaCare and the lead for the Biostatistics Epidemiology Research Design (BERD) Core with the Delaware ACCEL-CTR

Suzanne McCahan, PhD (Co-Chair), Assistant Research Scientist, Nemours Children’s Health & Research Assistant Professor at Thomas Jefferson Medical College

David Chen, MD, MPH, Hospitalist/Pediatric Hospitalist, Christiana Care Health System

Timothy Bunnell, PhD, Director of the Nemours Center for Pediatric Auditory and Speech Sciences (CPASS)
Tubman Room
3.) Engaging Students in Meaningful Research Experiences (for faculty)
Anjana Bhat (Chair), Professor in the Physical Therapy Department at the University of Delaware & Director of DE-INBRE DRPP, “Value of Clinical Research Experiences for Future Health Professionals”

Heather Driscoll, Research Associate Professor in Biology at Norwich University & Program Coordinator for the Vermont Biomedical Research Network (VT-INBRE)”Engaging undergraduates in scientific research through the Vermont Biomedical Research Network (VT-INBRE)”
Christina Ballroom
4.) Building your Presence: Resume/CV Building and LinkedIn Workshop
Bring your Resume, CV or LinkedIn page and reviewers will be available for one-on-one help with questions.  Please note that there will not be a presentation in this session, but there will be resources to review.  Professional headshots are available during this time as well. 



Governors’ Hall 
12:30pmMeeting Concludes & Takeaway Lunch AvailableChaseCenter Atrium