SCTR's CTTP Program welcomes its 2024-2025 awardees

SCTR Communications
June 18, 2024
A physician holding a clinical trials text book by Theo_Theron from Getty Images. Source: Canva Pro

Beginning July 1, 2024, SCTR welcomes the fourth cohort of Clinical Trialist Training Program awardees, which includes Sonal Bhatia, MBBS, Anca Dumitriu, M.D., Carmine Suppa, D.O., and Maggie Westfal, M.D., MPH. The CTTP program is led by Program Director, Andrew Goodwin, M.D., MSCR, and Program Administrator, Diana Lee-Chavarria. The goal of the CTTP is to increase the number and variety of impactful clinical trials at MUSC. CTTP trainees can expect a year-long intensive training and mentorship program that focuses on the selection, start-up, and implementation of at least one clinical trial protocol, but will receive guidance from program leadership and support from SCTR staff and the Office of Clinical Research’s Research Opportunities & Collaborations (ROC) team, in completing the study activities.

2024-2025 Awardees

College of Medicine

 Sonal Bhatia, MBBS, Department of Pediatrics Specialty: Child Neurology, Epilepsy           Carmine Suppa, DO, Department of Pediatrics Specialty: Pediatric Gastroenterology – Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Hollings Cancer Center

  Anca Dumitriu, MD, Department of Pediatrics Specialty: Pediatric Hematology/Oncology              Maggie Westfal, MD, MPH, Department of Surgery Specialty: Colorectal Surgery

The CTTP Program, a joint initiative between SCTR, the MUSC College of Medicine, and the Hollings Cancer Center, works to expand the pool of clinicians trained to conduct clinical trials as site PIs to increase the breadth and depth of clinical trials at MUSC. The target candidates for program training are clinicians who have no or very limited research effort and would benefit from protected time and dedicated education and resources to develop a clinical trials portfolio.

A strong clinical trials portfolio creates greater access for patient participation in trials, develops PI leadership skills, and increases the scope of MUSC’s clinical trial offerings. CTTP graduates can use their experiences and skills gained in the program to make informed decisions about the trials they accept as PIs for sustained salary support after the end of the program.

Congratulations

We congratulate Mariam Alexander, M.D., Ph.D., Alexander Coltoff, M.D., Parneet Grewal, MBBS, and Lindsey Jennings, M.D. on their completion of the program. As CTTP awardees, they received one year of 10% protected time, didactic training, professional guidance, and mentorship, from July 2023 through June 2024, to become new site investigators for industry-sponsored, Trial Innovation Network (TIN), and Cooperative Group multicenter trials.

2023-2024 Awardees

College of Medicine

  Parneet Grewal, MBBS, Assistant Professor of Neurology, MUSC              Lindsey Jennings, MD, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine

Hollings Cancer Center

 Mariam Alexander, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, MUSC            Alexander Coltoff, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, MUSC     

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