Research Affinity Groups
What Are Research Affinity Groups (RAGs)?
Research Affinity Groups (RAGs) are collaborative communities of researchers with shared research interests, who come together to share knowledge, ideas, and resources. These RAGs facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration and advance research specific areas, often focused on a particular disease or scientific topic. RAGs combine the scientific expertise of scientists who actively work together to tackle complex research questions.
RAGs consist of members who:
- Have shared authorship on published manuscripts
- Have shared funding
- Bring complimentary expertise
- Come from across divisions, departments
- Are creative, collaborative, and innovative
- Meet at intervals based on demand
- Recruit and welcome new RAG members to join
How can Pediatrics Researchers engage with RAGs at UVA?
Below is a list of RAGs with a strong tie to the Department of Pediatrics, based on the topic area of interest and/or the core team leading the RAG. A short description of the RAGs and their meeting time/location is provided. If you have any questions, each RAG has a contact person listed who would be happy to formally bring you into their group.
If you are part of a RAG that’s not listed here and you’d like to add it, reach out to Casandra Robinson (CLH4HE@uvahealth.org).
Research Affinity Groups:
The Center for Advanced Medical Analytics is a research engine for University of Virginia Health System investigators using Big Data to improve clinical outcomes. We are a multi-disciplinary group , allowing UVa and its clinicians and quantitative scientists to make efficient use of Big Data to solve emerging complex health system medical engineering problems.
Contact:
- Brynne Sullivan (Director), BSA4M@uvahealth.org
- Katy Krahn (Program Manager), KBN6N@uvahealth.org
Learn More: https://med.virginia.edu/advanced-medical-analytics/
Meeting time and Location:
You are invited to join, in-person or by Zoom, the UVA Center for Advanced Medical Analytics Hybrid Lunch and Learn, every Wednesday from 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm in the Peds Conference Room, Old Med School 3906.
Directions: As you enter the Old Med School from the large, pillared steps facing the Corner, you enter a stone-floored, round vestibule. Go through the wooden door on your left to a hallway. The Peds Conference Room, #3906, will be the first door on your right.
Join Zoom Meeting: https://virginia.zoom.us/j/368289962
Phone: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 368 289 962
More information coming soon!
Contact:
Meeting time and Location:
The Global Health RAG brings together basic scientists and clinicians across Pediatrics who are focused on understanding and treating childhood undernutrition and infectious disease. Major areas of research interest include small intestine function and physiology, the gut microbiome and small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), nutrition, intestinal immunity, GI pathogens and oral vaccines. Investigators in the Global Health RAG bring expertise in translational animal models of undernutrition, bacterial pathogenesis and organoid models, design, implementation and analysis of global clinical cohorts, endoscopic/ultrasound-guided investigation of gastrointestinal function, and next generation sequencing approaches to interrogate microbiome composition and function. These complementary skill sets enable innovative and collaborative projects addressing challenges facing children around the world.
Contact:
- Carrie Cowardin, CAC4AN@virginia.edu
Meeting time and Location:
The Global Health RAG hosts an informal monthly meeting for junior faculty to discuss areas of collaboration, identify grant opportunities and provide feedback on proposals. The Global Health RAG meets prior to Pediatrics monthly faculty meeting (10:30 am) at Higher Grounds by the main hospital.
More information coming soon!
Contact:
Meeting time and Location:
The mucosal immunology research affinity group is a trans-university consortium of basic scientists, clinician-investigators, post-doctoral investigators, and clinicans with a dedicated interest in the pathobiology of mucosal immune regulation and its interaction with specific pathogens. Ongoing investigations span immune dysregulation in pediatric asthma, IgA responses to SARS-CoV-2 mutant strains, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, COPD, and cystic fibrosis. Human research, synthetic matrix, and murine studies are dedicated to innate interferon pathway responses, T cell landscapes, macrophage sub-populations, and expression of specific genes regulating tissue fibrosis and T cell- B cell interactions. Various themes include the fundamental importance of aging from early life to senescence, systems biology, anti-viral immunity, mucosal vaccine development, and the effects of early life rhinovirus infection on the inception of asthma. Mining of public atlas gene expression data is a particular strength of the group so as to identify non-human reads which correspond to specific viral infections as they relate to the diagnosis of asthma.
Contact:
- W. Gerald Teague (rhinovirus and asthma), WGT2P@uvahealth.org
- Tania Velez (lung immunology), PWD8YS@uvahealth.org
- In Su Cheon (lung immunology), auq2aj@virginia.edu
Meeting time and Location:
Investigators dedicated to human rhinovirus infection and asthma meet weekly in MR4 on Thursdays to discuss human subjects studies. Please contact W. Gerald Teague if you would like to attend a meeting for interest.
There is a weekly lung immunology conference (Zoom option available) organized by the Sperling and Sun laboratories, for the presentation schedule please contact Tania Velez or In Su Cheon.
The Neurodevelopment Team Science Group seeks to establish and strengthen neurodevelopment collaborations across basic, translational, clinical, and population research and overall enhance the neurodevelopment research community at UVA. The group meets monthly, typically on the fourth Monday afternoon, and meetings rotate between research speed dating, grant mock reviews, grant brewing/brainstorming, and wild card offerings, e.g., external speaker presentation, funding opportunities, etc. For more information and to join the mailing list, please reach out to Katie Pelland, Senior Research Program Officer at the UVA Brain Institute, at cmp5cg@uvahealth.org.
Contact:
- Katie Pelland, Senior Research Program Officer at the UVA Brain Institute (cmp5cg@uvahealth.org)
Meeting time and Location:
The group meets monthly, typically on the fourth Monday afternoon each month at Fontaine, Building 560, Room 2210.
The below RAGs are not directly affiliated with Pediatrics, but can be a great resources for investigators in the Department.
Cardiology/Imaging
Interest Group: CVIC (Cardiovascular Imaging Center)
Focus: imaging and cardiovascular disease, translational studies with imaging focus
Meetings: monthly, Thursdays 8:15-9:15 AM
Location: MR5 Room 1041 (or via Webex)
Contact: Jonathan Lindner (jrl5y@uvahealth.org)
Administrative Contact: Jenene Reaves (jwr7b@uvahealth.org)
Cardiovascular Research Center
Interest Group: Endothelial Interest Group
Focus: endothelial function
Meetings: First Monday of the month at 4:00 PM
Location: MR6 room 3501
Contact: Brant Isakson (bei6n@virginia.edu)
Center for Immunology Research
Interest Group: CIC Café (faculty-only group)
Focus: invite people to brainstorm around a topic grant application feedback
Meetings: twice a month, first and third Tuesday (except special meetings), 3:00 – 4:00 PM
Location: MR6 Room 3526
Contact: Jie Sun (js6re@virginia.edu)
Infectious Diseases
Interest Group: HIV and related syndemics
Focus: HIV, access to care and medications, health policy, social determinants of health; interested in expanding into HIV and (1) cardiovascular disease, (2) metabolic syndrome, and (3) aging
Meetings: ad hoc
Location: Zoom
Contact: Kate McManus (km8jr@uvahealth.org)
Nephrology
Interest Group: Extracellular Vesicles
Focus: multidisciplinary group interested in extracellular vesicles’ roles, inviting international speakers.
Meetings: Twice a month, Thursdays at 11:00 AM
Format/Location: in person or virtual
Contact: Uta Erdbruegger (ue2u@uvahealth.org)
Pharmacology
Interest Group: Metabolism Interest Group (MIG)
Meetings: monthly, every second Wednesday of the month, 4:00-5:00 PM
Location: Pharmacology Conference Room in Pinn Hall, 5th floor, room 5023
Contact: Thurl Harris (teh3c@virginia.edu)
Pulmonology
Interest Group: Lung Immunology Interest Group
Focus: lung immunology, general lung biology, and related topics
Meetings: twice a month on 1st and 3rd Thursday at 9:00 AM
Location: MR6 3501
Contact: Anne Sperling (emh5pg@uvahealth.org)