Administration

The program director is R. Ariel Gomez, MD, Director, CHRC, previous Chief of the Division of Pediatric Nephrology, and former Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies at UVA. The program director will report to the Chair of the Department of Pediatrics (James Nataro, MD, Ph.D., MBA) and the Vice President and Dean of the School of Medicine, Melina Kibbe, MD, for administrative matters related to the Center. Dr. Gomez is responsible for the scientific coordination, the direction of research emphasis, and the overall administration of the Center. He will be assisted in scientific and administrative matters by Patricio Ray, MD, and  Maria Luisa Sequeira-Lopez, MD. Drs. Ray and Sequeira-Lopez will act as co-directors of the Center. They will establish and maintain communication and cooperation with the Administrative Cores of the other PCENs to coordinate the planning of the yearly scientific meeting and the national P&F program (Figure 1).  In fiscal and managerial matters, Dr. Gomez will be assisted by Jennifer Aminuddin who will coordinate and keep a record of all Center activities. Dr. Gomez will have the responsibility for ensuring that the Chair of Pediatrics and the Dean of the School of Medicine are informed of all important developments and activities of the Center, particularly as these relate to the time commitments of the various faculty members.

The administrator will work closely with the staff of the Business Office of the University of Virginia Center for the Health Sciences and implement all administrative decisions and fiscal matters as directed by Dr. Gomez. The Administrator will be supported by funds form the Child Health Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, UVA.

The committee consists of Drs. Gomez (Chair), Ray, Sequeira-Lopez, Swiatecka-Urban, and Charlton. The committee is responsible for advising the Director concerning the research emphasis, the termination of non-productive areas of research or completed projects, and for decisions as to the disbursement of funds. The committee also examines the scientific merit of proposed new research endeavors, including P&F Projects, and functions as a scientific and technical review body in conjunction with the internal and external advisory committee members. The members of the Executive Committee are highly qualified to carry out primary reviews, serving or having served on NIH, AHA, or VA study sections and advisory and research committees. They also act as advisors to guarantee a successful and vibrant Enrichment Program.

The internal advisory committee will oversee local activities and facilitate communication within UVA and externally. This committee is responsible for advising the Director and Co-Directors about the research emphasis, the quality of the research being pursued, and the proposed new research endeavors. The internal advisory committee will be made up of the Center Director, the Co-directors, and non-Center UVA faculty. The selection of Center internal advisors is based on: their expertise in fields related to the projects of the Center investigators, their record of NIH funding, and their commitment to research development and education. As the research projects at the institution evolve the composition of the committee may be changed to include members with additional appropriate expertise. The internal advisory committee is composed of Mark D. Okusa, MD (Director of T32 and U2C/TL1 training programs in Adult and Pediatric Nephrology), Victoria Norwood, MD (former Division Head, Pediatric Nephrology), Karen Johnston (iTHRIV/CTSA PI), Douglas DeSimone (Chair, Cell Biology), Shayn Peirce-Cottler (Biomedical Engineering) Bob Chevalier (Emeritus Professor of Pediatric Nephrology and former Chair of Pediatrics) and Gary Owens (Cardiovascular Research Center). These scientists have well-established national and international reputations in kidney and vascular research. Dr. Kibbe Dean of the School of Medicine will be a member of this committee.

External advisors are scientists with well-established research programs in areas related to the work of the Center. The external advisory committee is composed of Gabriel Navar, Ph.D. (Chair of Physiology, Tulane University), Marva Moxey-Mims (Division Head Pediatric Nephrology, Children’s National), John Mullins Ph.D. (former Director, BHF Center for Cardiovascular Sciences, Edinburgh Medical School) and Linda Mullins, PhD (BHF Center for Cardiovascular Sciences, Edinburgh Medical School). They will perform a site visit yearly. During their visit, the external consultants will review individual projects in their sphere of expertise, offer suggestions to project investigators, evaluate the integration of the Enrichment Program with other components of the Center, provide the PCEN Director with a formal written evaluation of all components of the Center including its administrative core. The advice of these external consultants is an important source of critical input that is invaluable to the Director and the project investigators. The external consultants will also make recommendations regarding the suitability and continuation of P&F projects.

In keeping with the educational mission of the Center, consultants will be invited to give a seminar in their respective research areas and interact with pediatric residents and fellows, and researchers in the institution. The consultants will be asked to submit a written report evaluating the Center’s performance. These evaluations will be part of our annual progress report submitted to NIH.

The members of the External and Internal Advisory Committee and the Executive Committee serve as the Pilot and Feasibility Program Oversight Committee. Applications for P&F projects will be solicited as described in the Pilot and feasibility Program section. The External and Internal Advisory Committee and the Executive Committee will review, evaluate and approve the P&F project applications.

Details about the progress/publications under the aegis of the P&F program can be found in our website: Here and in the respective section of this application.

The Enrichment program committee is composed of the Executive Committee with the Program Director as Chair. The committee will select recipients of summer research and meeting travel support, select topics and speakers for the various programs and organize local symposia and the annual review meeting. The committee will meet three times a year to ensure oversight of the proposed program and future programs. The enrichment program is described in a separate section of this proposal.