1

Newsletter

V O L . 2 W I N T E R E D I T I O N

!Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Page 2 Message from the

Directors

Page 3 Research Units

Page 4 Pre Award &

Human Resources

Page 5 Post Award &

Investigator

Highlights

In this issue:

2

V O L . 1 W I N T E R E D I T I O N

Message from the Scientific Director

By Marcia Cruz-Correa, MD, PhD This has been a very busy year for our Center for Research Compliance and Development (CRECED). We have synergized our efforts by pulling resources, reorganization of existing infrastructure, evaluation of processes and recruiting key personnel across our units. This second CRECED News Letter summarizes several of the

important initiatives started or advanced during 2016. In this second issue you will receive updates on the Law

101 Committee (lead by Dr. Kraiselburd), the transition of the SCORE program (lead by Dr. Silva) to CRECED as a research unit, and a profile of one of our investigators from the School of Public Health at the Medical Sciences Campus, Dr. Carlos Rodríguez-Díaz. As anticipated, our team submitted to the Academic Senate the proposal for the creation of the Deanship for Research at our Campus. The proposal for the Deanship was submitted on October 2015 and was revised by the ad hoc committee (including public forums across the MSC). Recommendations from the Ad Hoc Committee

were available in June 2016 and in response to the recommendations a revised proposal was submitted in

October 2016. At the publication of this Newsletter the revised proposal for the Deanship for Research is under evaluation. We hope that the deanship for research will be a reality for us all at the UPR medical sciences Campus and will provide representation for all investigators across all Institutional Bodies.

2017 provides another year of continued growth and we have several important projects planned including:

launching of a new platform for proposal/grants administration (kuali-coeus), development of an agile unit

within the IRB for expedited review of Industry Sponsored Studies (Vanessa Sepulveda), revitalization of the

website, launching of the Research Academy, and Integration of Clinical Trials to the PR Consortia for Clinical

Investigations (PRCCI), among other initiatives. We will also receive a very important visit from the National

Science Foundation in March 2017. This visit is the first to our Campus, but follows previous visits to the

UPR System. We are working with the UPR Vice-presidency for Research to continue to promote a research

enterprise that complies with all federal and state regulatory and financial requirements.

By Mrs. Lysette Barreras, MMS

On August 2016 the UPR implemented a new system of payment for the areas of Human Resources and Payroll under the ORACLE program called HRMS. This system overrides that of FRS/HRS, which began in the UPR

in the 1992 and in the Medical Sciences Campus in 1994. This new programming not only helps our institution in the uniform of policies and processes, but it also helps us face and prepare for current and future federal and state agencies rules, regulations and requirements. We want to congratulate the excellent employees of the MSC campus, especially those from our sections of

human resources and financial administration at CRECED, for their active participation in this implementation

process. They served as collaborators and leaders in the overall process, within the groups assigned by the UPR

Central Administration Office, distinguishing themselves for their contributions and knowledge. We must

thank José L. Cortes, Ricardo Vargas, Ileana Pino, Francisco Arce, Edneris López and Ariana Vázquez for all

their hard work, for making this possible. Once again we demonstrated that with team work everything is

possible!

Message from the Administrative Director

3

V O L . 2 W I N T E R E D I T I O N

Research Units at CRECED:

NIH-NIGMS MBRS SCORE join CRECED

By Walter Silva, PhD

The NIH-NIGMS MBRS SCORE Program at the Medical Sciences Campus (MSC) of the University of Puerto Rico is a cornerstone of extramural research funding that has

made a tremendous impact on the research environment at our campus for the past 32

years. Since 1985 the Program has been essential in both the development of faculty research and the training of underrepresented minority students in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. The UPR-MSC’s Support for Competitive Research Enhancement

(SCORE) Program created under the new NIH-NIGMS-MBRS S06 mechanism has been a key catalyst for the

establishment of a campus-wide competitive research culture. In the Summer of 2016, the SCORE Program has been integrated as a formal Research Unit under the organizational structure of CRECED to continue its historical mission to increase the research competitiveness of investigators at the UPR-MSC in biomedical and behavioral research, and enhance the institutional research capabilities; whilst, focusing its resources on the portfolio of active and competing SCORE SC awards at the MSC. Under the direction of Dr. Walter I. Silva Ortiz, the current portfolio of SCORE SC awards at the MSC ranks number one amongst all SCORE award holding institutions (a total of forty-eight

(48)) in terms of total

funds ($3.575 Million for 2016), number of SC

awards (14) and SC1

awards (9) (Table 1). This achievement is made thanks to the high quality cadre of MSC investigators

from four (4) of our six (6) schools and 2 institutes associated to the Deanship of Academic Affairs (Table

2). The SCORE Program offers separate funding opportunities for individual i n v e s t i g a t o r - i n i t i a t e d research awards. The mechanisms used for these funding opportunities are

the SC1 (PAR-14-019),

SC2 (PAR-14-017) and

SC3 (PAR-14-018) awards. A recent call for the internal

competition process has been issued to select the next round of MSC SC applicants for 2017.

4

V O L . 2 W I N T E R E D I T I O N

Pre - Award Updates!!!

By Ms. Gloria Cruz, MBA

Started 2016 fiscal year strong to finish stronger

that’s why we ended with 111 awarded projects

from 228 submitted proposals. And 2017 fiscal

year won’t be an exception we had submitted 73

proposals and 44 have been awarded. Due to investigators and administrators request we worked an updated Internal Transmittal Form version with new sections that make it easier to complete. Our Assistant Director, Ms. Gloria Cruz, has been designated as the new Clinical Trial Administrator for the UPR System (clinicaltrials.gov platform). We have continued to work in the redesign of the webpage (still under construction creced.rcm.upr.edu) to enhance the resources for our investigators and administrators. Our website will have information and documents needed for investigators including internal documents for Pre-Post-Award, Human Resources, and Compliance. Remember

you can contact us at 787-758-2525 Ext. 7042.

Human Resources - Committee of Law 101 By Edmundo Kraiselburd, PhD

Law 101, known as the Contributing Incentive Law for Scientific Researchers, was approved in 2008, with the purpose of retaining and attracting researchers to Puerto Rico, to increase the scientific platform of our country. In accordance with this law, the Chancellor of the MSC appointed a Committee to evaluate the scientific projects of our Campus according to the regulations of the Campus and the criteria established by the Science and Technology Trust (FCT). This Committee (which has been working

since 2009) is renewed annually and is composed of active researchers, who have developed competitive projects at National and State level. The Committee works in

close collaboration with CRECED, the chancellors office and the FTC. During the month of January each year,

the Committee members review and evaluate about 30-50 institutional projects that are competitive at the national level and raise their recommendations to the MSC Chancellors office. Projects endorsed by the Committee and the Steering Committee of the SPC are then sent to the FCT for evaluation and eventual recommendation to the Finance Department of ELA, with the objective of enforcing the tax incentive law. This

process must be completed before the date of April 15 of each fiscal year. This year, the Committee is composed of the following researchers: Dr. Edmundo Kraiselburd – President / Dr. Glorisa Canino / Dr. Carmen Cadilla / Dr. Carmen Zorrilla Dr. Loyda Meléndez / Dr. Augusto Elias / Dr. Yamil Gerena / Dr. Carlos Rodríguez Soon, CRECED will circulate the forms that investigators must complete, to submit their respective requests to the Committee.

5

V O L . 2 W I N T E R E D I T I O N

dedicated to the discovery and development of new and

innovative research strategies to reduce the acquisition and

transmission of HIV. Overall support for the HPTN is

provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious

Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The HPTN Scholars Program seeks to provide scholar recipi-

ents with the knowledge, skills and connections to further their

careers as independent investigators in the HIV prevention

research field.

The proposal presented by Dr. Rodriguez-Diaz to the HPTN

Scholars Program is aimed to assess the impact of psychosocial

syndemics on sexual and medical health behaviors in HIV-

positive patients in care in Zambia, Thailand, and Brazil. He

will be mentored by Dr. Steven A. Safren, Professor at the

University of Miami.

For more information: https://www.hptn.org/research/

scholars/scholars

Investigator Highlights! Dr. Carlos Rodríguez

UPR-SPH Faculty Selected as Scholar of

the HIV Prevention Trial Network

Dr. Carlos E. Rodríguez-Díaz, an assistant

professor in the Department of Social

Sciences at the Graduate School of Public

Health of the University of Puerto Rico-

Medical Sciences Campus was selected as

a Scholar for the HIV Prevention Trial

Network (HPTN). The HPTN is

“Hi, my name is José M. Cruz Piña a.k.a. Joe”. I was recruited as a Procurement Agent

deployed in CRECED . That initiative responds to the need to speed up and have a more

efficient experience for the federal or investigation funded purchases. Investigators have

brought to my attention that the Purchasing Process is a long and tedious one. It is a reality

that, before creating this position, the Purchasing Process in general was slower due to the fact

that the Purchasing Office was under-staffed. CRECED’s goal for converting approved

requisitions in purchase orders is three (3) working days. Actually, the conversion average since

my recruitment is one day or less. To ensure the accomplishment of CRECED’s goal, I am

very committed to keep that one day or less average for the benefit of all investigators. You

may contact me at jose.cruz73@upr.edu or Ext. 1394.

Post - Award Updates!!!

New Procurement Agent