Nexus Leader Retires

The SCTR team would like to acknowledge all Karen Packard has contributed in her role as the Administrator and Nurse Manager for SCTR’s Nexus Research Center for the past 11 years and congratulate her on her upcoming retirement. Karen’s last day will be November 29, 2023.

Karen’s career includes 38 years in nursing, the first twelve of which were spent in Oncology Nursing before transitioning to Research in 2000 as a nurse first and then as a manager. Before coming to Charleston, Karen managed an NCI Community Clinical Oncology Program grant for nine years at Saint Joseph’s Hospital. 

Karen joined the staff of the Nexus in 2012 as the Nurse manager, and in 2014, transitioned to the Nurse manager III/Administrator. 

In her 11 years with the Research Nexus, Karen is proudest of the new services developed. She oversaw the development of the clinic’s Mobile nursing, which meant they were able to take nursing care to the patient (on campus), as well as the support the Nexus group offered clinical staff through the pandemic, including the conduct of three large vaccine trials and numerous other COVID related trials. “The staff rose to the challenge and worked closely even in the face of doubling the size of our group in a short amount of time.” During Karen’s tenure, the clinic transitioned to EPIC and switched to using SPARC Fulfillment for billing. “We have created an atmosphere of doing our best to support research.”

The Research Nexus previously operated as a General Clinical Research Center before becoming part of SCTR’s CTSA Grant. Following SCTR’s initial funding in 2009, the Center was rebranded as the Clinical Translational Research Center and transitioned to providing ambulatory care. In 2013, marketing began for the cohesive group of programs providing services for a fee, thus a final rebranding to the SCTR Research Nexus, offering clinic and lab services, as well as Research Coordination and Management. 

“How can I thank Karen for what she has done in our transformation of the Nexus? She has been a calm and steady force navigating some difficult challenges, like cost recovery, offering standard-of-care services, COVID vaccine trials, and the list goes on. We needed someone who understands the clinical unit, the needs for research, as well as someone who can manage investigators, research teams, and SCTR leadership, and she fit the bill. She helped us change the culture of the Nexus and all have benefited. Thank you, Karen!” -- Dr. Patrick A. Flume, SCTR Co-Principal Investigator

 

“Over the past 10 years, Karen provided outstanding leadership as first the SCTR Research Nexus (Nexus) Nurse Manager and then as the Nexus Administrator/Nurse Manager. She is an innovator and a collaborator who is highly respected and valued by her colleagues and the research community. Karen successfully navigated the Nexus through many challenges including the development and maturation of a new service model, pulmonary function testing core, provider-based clinic, and COVID research unit. She developed and mentored an outstanding team who are ready to continue to provide the excellent service the MUSC research community has come to expect from the Nexus. We will miss Karen, but we are grateful for the time she shared with us. We wish Karen much happiness in her retirement.” -- Royce Sampson, SCTR Primary Administrator, Chief Operations Officer & Finance Director

The current physical location for the clinic and lab has changed over the years in response to the services identified as in need by the investigators at the time. The Nexus clinic offers clinic space, a negative pressure patient room, skilled nursing care, and pulmonary function testing and nutrition services.

 

Research By the Numbers

 

 

What’s next for the Nexus

On August 28, Lesley Platt joined the staff of the Research Nexus as a nurse manager II.  Lesley brings a wealth of nursing experience (18 years) to the Nexus which includes Neonatal Nursing, labor and delivery, and most recently School nursing. Lesley was attracted to the position because it created a new challenge and an opportunity for professional growth.

Lesley has hit the ground running and is already appreciative of the culture she has joined within the Nexus, stating “the work environment here is very positive and everyone is kind and respectful and always willing to help.”

We thank Karen for the wonderful legacy she leaves behind and look forward to all that is to come during the Center’s next chapter.