The University of Wisconsin Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) recently announced the recipients of the 2020 Pilot Grant Awards. The following Department of Medicine faculty and staff members received funding.

Translational Basic & Clinical Pilot Awards (up to $50,000 for 12 months of direct support)

• Jianhua Zhang, PhD, senior scientist, Cardiovascular Medicine (not pictured), and Di Lang, PhD, assistant scientist, Cardiovascular Medicine (pictured below). Novel Precision Therapeutic Strategies for Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia (CPVT) Using Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. The goal of this proposal is to advance in vitro modeling of the monogenic cardiac disease catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) using CRISPR/Cas9 gene-edited and patient-derived human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). The team plans to utilize the proposed models to gain new insights into disease pathogenesis and to develop novel anti-arrhythmic therapeutic strategies designed specifically for individual patient.

UW Marshfield Pilot Grant Awards (up to $75,000 for 12 months of direct support)

• Sara McCoy, MD, associate professor, Rheumatology, and Jeffrey VanWormer, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute (pictured below left). Defining Novel Sex Hormone Risk Factors for Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome. This research seeks to understand how female sex hormones influence primary Sjögren’s syndrome risk. Collaborators: Christie Bartels, MD, MS, associate professor, Rheumatology (pictured below right), and Scott Hetzel, MD, internal medicine resident (not pictured).

Clinical & Community Outcomes Research Pilot Awards (up to $75,000 for 12 months of direct support)

• Carey Gleason, PhD, associate professor, Geriatrics and Gerontology (pictured below left). Assessing the Impact of Trust on an Individual’s Willingness to Participate in ADRD Research. This pilot focuses on the willingness of African Americans to participate in research related to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) with a long-term goal to improve minority health and reduce health disparities in ADRD research. Collaborator: Shenikqua Bouges, MD, fellow, Geriatrics and Gerontology (pictured below right).

Dissemination & Implementation Research Pilot Awards (up to $150,000 for 18 months of direct support)

• Christie Bartels, MD, MS, associate professor, Rheumatology (pictured below). Extending BP Connect: Implementing in Diverse Specialty Clinics and for Out-of-Network Follow-up. This project’s objective is to compare individual vs group audit and feedback to scale blood pressure (BP) Connect implementation across diverse clinics. BP Connect is a protocol which doubled timely primary care follow-up and halved visits with high BP across 28,000 rheumatology visits, and reduced race disparities by 70 percent across diverse clinics.

Stakeholder & Patient Engaged Research Pilot Awards (up to $100,000 for 12 months of direct support)

• Shivani Garg, MD, MS, associate professor, Rheumatology (pictured below left). Engaging Stakeholders in Integration of Assessing Medication Adherence & Tailoring Intervention in Clinic (A-MATIC in SLE Visits). To address HCQ nonadherence in lupus patients during clinic visits, this research adapts a seven-item Assessing Medication Adherence & Tailoring Intervention in Clinic (A-MATIC) to bring diverse patient and healthcare stakeholders’ voices to adherence intervention redesign, eliciting input to optimize A-MATIC to assure widespread usability in diverse clinics. Collaborator: Christie Bartels, MD, MS, associate professor, Rheumatology (pictured below right).

• Ryan Westergaard, MD, PhD, MPH, associate professor, Infectious Disease (pictured below). Nothing About Us Without Us: Engaging Drug User Networks in Community-Based Hepatitis C Micro-Elimination Strategies. This pilot will support a series of focus groups and interviews with key stakeholders to synthesize concerns and issues that underlie appropriate use of molecular surveillance data for public health impact with a long-term goal of designing a community-based intervention where people who inject drugs can receive treatment for hepatitis C outside the mainstream health system using technology that can identify people most likely to spread the disease. Collaborator: Wajiha Akhtar, MPH, PhD, assistant scientist, Infectious Disease (not pictured).

Banner: file photo. Credit: Clint Thayer/Department of Medicine.