Research Insight December 2020

Tracey E. Barnett
Barnett, T. E., Lu, Y., Gehr, A. W., Ghabach, B., & Ojha, R. P. (2020). Smoking cessation and survival among people diagnosed with non-metastatic cancer. BMC Cancer, 20(1), 726. doi:10.1186/s12885-020-07213-5

Rossheim, M. E., Livingston, M. D., Krall, J. R., Barnett, T. E., Thombs, D. L., McDonald, K. K., & Gimm, G. W. (2020). Cigarette Use Before and After the 2009 Flavored Cigarette Ban. The Journal of Adolescent Health, 67(3), 432-437. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.06.022

Rossheim, M. E., McDonald, K. K., Soule, E. K., Gimm, G. W., Livingston, M. D., Barnett, T. E., . . . Thombs, D. L. (2020). Electronic cigarette explosion/burn and poisoning related emergency department visits, 2018-2019. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 38(12), 2637-2640. doi:10.1016/j.ajem.2020.08.017

Rossheim, M. E., Zhao, X., Soule, E. K., Thombs, D. L., Suzuki, S., Ahmad, A., & Barnett, T. E. (2020). Aerosol, vapor, or chemicals? College student perceptions of harm from electronic cigarettes and support for a tobacco-free campus policy. Journal of American College Health, 1-7. doi:10.1080/07448481.2020.1819293

Barnett, T. E., Lu, Y., Gehr, A. W., Ghabach, B., & Ojha, R. P. (2020). Smoking cessation and survival among people diagnosed with non-metastatic cancer. BMC Cancer, 20(1). doi:10.1186/s12885-020-07213-5

Thompson, E.L., Barnett, T.E., Litt, D., Spears, E.C., Lewis, M. A. (in press). Perinatal Alcohol use:  An assessment of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System.  Public Health Reports.

Stacey Griner
Griner, S. B., Vamos, C. A., Puccio, J. A., Perrin, K. M., Beckstead, J. W., & Daley, E. M. (2019). “I’ll Just Pick It Up…”: Women’s Acceptability of Self-Sampling Methods for Sexually Transmitted Infection Screening. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 46(12), 762-767. doi:10.1097/olq.0000000000001077

Maness, S. B., Merrell, L., Thompson, E. L., Griner, S. B., Kline, N., & Wheldon, C. (2021). Social Determinants of Health and Health Disparities: COVID-19 Exposures and Mortality Among African American People in the United States. Public Health Reports, 136(1), 18-22. doi:10.1177/0033354920969169

Stockbridge, E. L., Dhakal, E., Griner, S. B., Loethen, A. D., West, J. F., Vera, J. W., & Nandy, K. (2020). Dental visits in Medicaid-enrolled youth with mental illness: an analysis of administrative claims data. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1), 1138. doi:10.1186/s12913-020-05973-1

Thompson, E. L., Griner, S. B., Galvin, A. M., Lowery, A. D., & Lewis, M. A. (2020). Correlates of STI Testing Among US Young Adults: Opportunities for Prevention. Prevention Science. doi:10.1007/s11121-020-01179-3

Thompson, E. L., Litt, D. M., Griner, S. B., & Lewis, M. A. (2020). Cognitions and behaviors related to risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancies among young adult women. Journal of Behavioral Medicine. doi:10.1007/s10865-020-00183-w

Griner, S. B., Vamos, C. A., Thompson, E. L., Logan, R., Vázquez-Otero, C., & Daley, E. M. (2020). The Intersection of Gender Identity and Violence: Victimization Experienced by Transgender College Students. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(23-24), 5704-5725. doi:10.1177/0886260517723743

Ubydul Haque
Ananth, S., Shrestha, N., Treviño, C. J., Nguyen, U. S., Haque, U., Angulo-Molina, A., Lopez-Lemus, U. A., Lubinda, J., Sharif, R. M., Zaki, R.A., Sánchez Casas, R.M., Cervantes, D., Nandy, R. (2020). Clinical Symptoms of Arboviruses in Mexico. Pathogens, 9(11). doi:10.3390/pathogens9110964

Doum, D., Overgaard, H. J., Mayxay, M., Suttiprapa, S., Saichua, P., Ekalaksananan, T., Tongchair, P., Rahman, M. S., Haque, U., Phommachanh, S., Pongvongsa, T., Rocklöv J., Paul, R., Pientong, C. (2020). Dengue Seroprevalence and Seroconversion in Urban and Rural Populations in Northeastern Thailand and Southern Laos. International Journal Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(23). doi:10.3390/ijerph17239134

Khan, I. M., Haque, U., Kaisar, S., & Rahman, M. S. (2020). A Computational Modeling Study of COVID-19 in Bangladesh. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.20-0757

Khan, I. M., Haque, U., Zhang, W., Zafar, S., Wang, Y., He, J., Sun, H., Lubinda, J., Rahman, M. S. (2021). COVID-19 in China: Risk Factors and R(0) Revisited. Acta Tropical, 213, 105731. doi:10.1016/j.actatropica.2020.105731

Rahman, M. S., Karamehic-Muratovic, A., Baghbanzadeh, M., Amrin, M., Zafar, S., Rahman, N. N., Shririna, S. U., Haque, U. (2020). Climate change and dengue fever knowledge, attitudes and practices in Bangladesh: a social media-based cross-sectional survey. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. doi:10.1093/trstmh/traa093

Rahman, M. S., Overgaard, H. J., Pientong, C., Mayxay, M., Ekalaksananan, T., Aromseree, S., Phanthanawiboon, S., Zafar, S., Shipin, O., Paul, R. E., Phommachanh, S., Pongvongsa, T., Vannavong, N., Haque, U. (2020). Knowledge, attitudes, and practices on climate change and dengue in Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Thailand. Environmental Research, 110509. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2020.110509

Shrestha, N., Shad, M. Y., Ulvi, O., Khan, M. H., Karamehic-Muratovic, A., Nguyen, U. D. T., Baghbanzadeh, M., Wardrup, R., Aghamohammadi, N., Cervantes, D., Nahiduzzaman, K. M., Zaki, R. A., Haque, U. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on globalization. One Health, 100180. doi:10.1016/j.onehlt.2020.H100180

Ramírez-Navarro, R., Polesnak, P., Reyes-Leyva, J., Haque, U., Vazquez-Chagoyán, J. C., Pedroza-Montero, M. R., Mendez-Rojas, M.A., Angulo-Molina, A. (2020). A magnetic immunoconjugate nanoplatform for easy colorimetric detection of the NS1 protein of dengue virus in infected serum. Nanoscale Advances, 2(7), 3017-3026. doi:10.1039/d0na00251h

Salim, N.A.M., Wah, Y.B., Reeves, C., Smith, M., Yaacob, W.F.W., Mudin, R.N., Dapari, R., Sapri, N. N., Haque, U. (2020). Prediction of dengue outbreak in Selangor Malaysia using machine learning techniques. Scientific Reports, 79193. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-79193-2

Melissa Lewis
Fairlie, A. M., Lewis, M. A., Waldron, K. A., Wallace, E. C., & Lee, C. M. (2021). Understanding perceived usefulness and actual use of protective behavioral strategies: The role of perceived norms for the reasons that young adult drinkers use protective behavioral strategies. Addictive Behaviors, 112, 106585. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106585

Grazioli, V. S., Studer, J., Larimer, M. E., Lewis, M. A., Bertholet, N., Marmet, S., Daeppen, J. B., Gmel, G. (2021). Protective behavioral strategies and alcohol outcomes: Impact of mood and personality disorders. Addictive Behaviors, 112, 106615. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106615

Thompson, E. L., Griner, S. B., Galvin, A. M., Lowery, A. D., & Lewis, M. A. (2020). Correlates of STI Testing Among US Young Adults: Opportunities for Prevention. Prevention Science. doi:10.1007/s11121-020-01179-3

Thompson, E. L., Litt, D. M., Griner, S. B., & Lewis, M. A. (2020). Cognitions and behaviors related to risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancies among young adult women. Journal of Behavioral Medicine. doi:10.1007/s10865-020-00183-w

Jaffe, A. E., Blayney, J. A., Lewis, M. A., & Kaysen, D. (2020). Prospective Risk for Incapacitated Rape Among Sexual Minority Women: Hookups and Drinking. J Sex Res, 57(7), 922-932. doi:10.1080/00224499.2019.1661949

Litt, D. M., Astorga, A., Tate, K., Thompson, E. L., & Lewis, M. A. (in press).  Disentangling associations between Frequency of specific social networking site platform use, normative discrepancies, and alcohol use among adolescents and underage young adults.  Health Behavior Research.

Thompson, E.L., Barnett, T.E., Litt, D., Spears, E.C., Lewis, M. A. (in press). Perinatal alcohol use:  An assessment of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Public Health Reports.

Dana Litt
Dumas, T. M., Ellis, W., & Litt, D. M. (2020). What Does Adolescent Substance Use Look Like During the COVID-19 Pandemic? Examining Changes in Frequency, Social Contexts, and Pandemic-Related Predictors. The Journal of Adolescent Health, 67(3), 354-361. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.06.018

Rodriguez, L. M., Litt, D. M., & Stewart, S. H. (2020). Drinking to cope with the pandemic: The unique associations of COVID-19-related perceived threat and psychological distress to drinking behaviors in American men and women. Addictive Behaviors, 110, 106532. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106532

Thompson, E. L., Litt, D. M., Griner, S. B., & Lewis, M. A. (2020). Cognitions and behaviors related to risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancies among young adult women. Journal Behavioral Medicine. doi:10.1007/s10865-020-00183-w

Dumas, T. M., Maxwell-Smith, M. A., Tremblay, P. F., Litt, D. M., & Ellis, W. (2020). Gaining likes, but at what cost? Longitudinal relations between young adults’ deceptive like-seeking on instagram, peer belonging and self-esteem. Computers in Human Behavior, 112. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106467

Litt, D. M., Lewis, M. A., Fairlie, A. M., & Head-Corliss, M. K. (2020). An Examination of the Relative Associations of Prototype Favorability, Similarity, and Their Interaction With Alcohol and Alcohol-Related Risky Sexual Cognitions and Behavior. Emerging Adulthood, 8(2), 168-174. doi:10.1177/2167696818790827

Thompson, E.L., Barnett, T.E., Litt, D., Spears, E.C., Lewis, M. A. (in press). Perinatal alcohol use: An assessment of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System.  Public Health Reports.

Litt, D. M., Astorga, A., Tate, K., Thompson, E. L., & Lewis, M. A. (in press).  Disentangling associations between frequency of specific social networking site platform use, normative discrepancies, and Alcohol use among adolescents and underage young adults.  Health Behavior Research

Thaddeus Miller
Park, S. H., Stockbridge, E. L., Miller, T. L., & O’Neill, L. (2020). Private patient rooms and hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: A hospital-level analysis of administrative data from the United States. PLoS One, 15(7), e0235754. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0235754

Stockbridge, E. L., Kabani, F. A., Gallups, J. S., & Miller, T. L. (2020). Ramadan and Culturally Competent Care: Strengthening Tuberculosis Protections for Recently Resettled Muslim Refugees. J Public Health Manag Pract, 26(5), E13-e16. doi:10.1097/phh.0000000000000893

Stockbridge, E. L., Loethen, A. D., Annan, E., & Miller, T. L. (2020). Interferon gamma release assay tests are associated with persistence and completion of latent tuberculosis infection treatment in the United States: Evidence from commercial insurance data. PLoS One, 15(12), e0243102. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0243102

Wilson, F. A., Miller, T. L., & Stimpson, J. P. (2020). COVID-19 and TB control in immigrant communities. The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 24(9), 975-977. doi:10.5588/ijtld.20.0456

Eun-Young Mun
Jiao, Y., Mun, E. Y., Trikalinos, T. A., & Xie, M. (2020). A CD-based mapping method for combining multiple related parameters from heterogeneous intervention trials. Statistics and its Interface, 13(4), 533-549. doi:10.4310/sii.2020.v13.n4.a10

Li, X., Clarke, N., Kim, S. Y., Ray, A. E., Walters, S. T., & Mun, E. Y. (2020). Protective behavioral strategies are more helpful for avoiding alcohol-related problems for college drinkers who drink less. Journal of American College Health, 1-7. doi:10.1080/07448481.2020.1807555

Kim, S. Y., Huh, D., Zhou, Z., & Mun, E. Y. (2020). A comparison of Bayesian to maximum likelihood estimation for latent growth models in the presence of a binary outcome. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 44(5), 447-457. doi:10.1177/0165025419894730

Rajesh Nandy
Ananth, S., Shrestha, N., Treviño, C. J., Nguyen, U. S., Haque, U., Angulo-Molina, A., Lopez-Lemus, U. A., Lubinda, J. Sharif, R.M. Zaki, R.A., Sánchez Casas, R.M., Cervantes, D., Nandy, R. (2020). Clinical Symptoms of Arboviruses in Mexico. Pathogens, 9(11). doi:10.3390/pathogens9110964

Uyen-sa Nguyen
Shrestha, N., Shad, M. Y., Ulvi, O., Khan, M. H., Karamehic-Muratovic, A., Nguyen, U. D. T., Baghbanzadeh, M., Wardrup, R., Aghamohammadi, N., Cervantes, D., Nahiduzzaman, K. M., Zaki, R. A., Haque, U. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on globalization. One Health, 100180. doi:10.1016/j.onehlt.2020.100180

Swart, E., Lasceski, C., Latario, L., Jo, J., & Nguyen, U. D. T. (2020). Modern treatment of tibial shaft fractures: Is there a role today for closed treatment? Injury. doi:10.1016/j.injury.2020.10.018

Zeng, C., Bennell, K., Yang, Z., Nguyen, U. D. T., Lu, N., Wei, J., Lei, G., Zhang, Y. (2020). Risk of venous thromboembolism in knee, hip and hand osteoarthritis: a general population-based cohort study. Ann Rheum Dis, 79(12), 1616-1624. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-217782

Ananth S, Shrestha N, Treviño CJA, Nguyen US, Haque U, Angulo-Molina A, Lemus A, Lubinda J, Sharif RM, Zaki RA, Casas RMS, Nandy R. Clinical symptoms of arboviruses in Mexico. Pathogens 2020, 9(11), 964; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9110964.

Erica Spears
Hunter, E. A., Spears, E. C., Martz, C. D., Chung, K., Fuller-Rowell, T. E., Lim, S. S., Drenkard, C., Chae, D. H. (2020). Racism-related stress and psychological distress: Black Women’s Experiences Living with Lupus study. Journal of Health Psychology, 1359105320913085. doi:10.1177/1359105320913085

Saint-Eloi Cadely, H., Finnegan, V., Spears, E. C., & Kerpelman, J. L. (2020). Adolescents and sexual risk-taking: The interplay of constraining relationship beliefs, healthy sex attitudes, and romantic attachment insecurity. Journal of Adolescence, 84, 136-148. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.08.010

Thompson, E.L., Barnett, T.E., Litt, D., Spears, E.C., Lewis, M. A. (in press). Perinatal Alcohol use:  An assessment of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System. Public Health Reports

Dennis Thombs
Rossheim, M. E., McDonald, K. K., Soule, E. K., Gimm, G. W., Livingston, M. D., Barnett, T. E., Jernigan, D. H., Thombs, D. L. (2020). Electronic cigarette explosion/burn and poisoning related emergency department visits, 2018-2019. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 38(12), 2637-2640. doi:10.1016/j.ajem.2020.08.017

Rossheim, M. E., Zhao, X., Soule, E. K., Thombs, D. L., Suzuki, S., Ahmad, A., & Barnett, T. E. (2020). Aerosol, vapor, or chemicals? College student perceptions of harm from electronic cigarettes and support for a tobacco-free campus policy. J Am Coll Health, 1-7. doi:10.1080/07448481.2020.1819293

Rossheim, M. E., Greene, K. M., Yurasek, A. M., Barry, A. E., Gonzalez-Pons, K. M., Trangenstein, P. J., Cavazos, T., Nelson, C., Treffers, R. D., Thombs, D. L.,   Jernigan, D. H. (2020). Underage drinkers’ first experience consuming a popular brand of supersized alcopop. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 46(4), 421-429. doi:10.1080/00952990.2019.1653316

Rossheim, M. E., Yurasek, A. M., Greene, K. M., Gonzalez-Pons, K. M., Barry, A. E., Thombs, D. L., Trangenstein, P. J., Nelson, C., Cavazos, T., Treffers, R. D.,  Jernigan, D. H. (2020). The Federal Trade Commission’s mandated Four Loko labeling fails to facilitate accurate estimation of alcohol content by college students. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 46(4), 430-437. doi:10.1080/00952990.2019.1671438

Erika Thompson
Grace, J., Walters, S. T., Gallegos, I., Thompson, E. L., & Spence, E. E. (2020). Use of a Health Advocacy Model for Survivors of Interpersonal Violence. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(23). doi:10.3390/ijerph17238966

Hoff, B. M., Livingston, M. D., 3rd, & Thompson, E. L. (2020). The association between state Medicaid expansion and human papillomavirus vaccination. Vaccine, 38(38), 5963-5965. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.07.024

Kasting, M. L., Giuliano, A. R., Christy, S. M., Rouse, C. E., Robertson, S. E., & Thompson, E. L. (2020). Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Prevalence Among Adults Aged 19-45 Years: An Analysis of the 2017 National Health Interview Survey. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 59(6), 837-849. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2020.05.031

Maness, S. B., Merrell, L., Thompson, E. L., Griner, S. B., Kline, N., & Wheldon, C. (2021). Social Determinants of Health and Health Disparities: COVID-19 Exposures and Mortality Among African American People in the United States. Public Health Reports, 136(1), 18-22. doi:10.1177/0033354920969169

Rosen, B. L., Wheldon, C., Thompson, E. L., Maness, S., & Massey, P. M. (2020). Social media engagement association with human papillomavirus and vaccine awareness and perceptions: Results from the 2017 US Health Information National Trends Survey. Preventive Medicine, 138, 106151. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106151

Thompson, E. L., Griner, S. B., Galvin, A. M., Lowery, A. D., & Lewis, M. A. (2020). Correlates of STI Testing Among US Young Adults: Opportunities for Prevention. Prevention Science. doi:10.1007/s11121-020-01179-3

Thompson, E. L., Litt, D. M., Griner, S. B., & Lewis, M. A. (2020). Cognitions and behaviors related to risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancies among young adult women. Journal Behavioral Medicine. doi:10.1007/s10865-020-00183-w

Griner, S. B., Vamos, C. A., Thompson, E. L., Logan, R., Vázquez-Otero, C., & Daley, E. M. (2020). The Intersection of Gender Identity and Violence: Victimization Experienced by Transgender College Students. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(23-24), 5704-5725. doi:10.1177/0886260517723743

Thompson, E.L., Barnett, T.E., Litt, D., Spears, E.C., Lewis, M. A. (in press). Perinatal alcohol use:  An assessment of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Public Health Reports.

Litt, D. M., Astorga, A., Tate, K., Thompson, E. L., & Lewis, M. A. (in press).  Disentangling associations between Frequency of specific social networking site platform use, normative discrepancies, and alcohol use among adolescents and underage young adults.  Health Behavior Research.

Scott Walters
Li, X., Clarke, N., Kim, S. Y., Ray, A. E., Walters, S. T., & Mun, E. Y. (2020). Protective behavioral strategies are more helpful for avoiding alcohol-related problems for college drinkers who drink less. Journal of American College Health. doi:10.1080/07448481.2020.1807555

Rossheim, M. E., Lerch, J. A., Walters, S. T., Livingston, M. D., & Taxman, F. S. (2020). Supersized Alcopop Consumption Associated With Homelessness and Gang Membership. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 44(11), 2373-2378. doi:10.1111/acer.14469

Sloas, L., Lerch, J., Walters, S.T., & Taxman, F. S. (2020). Individual-Level Predictors of the Working Relationship between Probation Officers and Probationers. Prison Journal, 100(6), 709-725. doi:10.1177/0032885520968242

Grace, J., Walters, S. T., Gallegos, I., Thompson, E. L., & Spence, E. E. (2020). Use of a Health Advocacy Model for Survivors of Interpersonal Violence. International Journal of Environ Research and Public Health, 17(23). doi:10.3390/ijerph17238966  

The HEALing Communities Study Consortium. (2020). The HEALing (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Communities Study:  protocol for a cluster randomized trial at the community level to reduce opioid overdose deaths through implementation of an integrated set of evidence-based practices.  Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 217, 108335.

Chandler, R. K., Clarke, T., & Walters, S. T. (Eds.). (2020). The HEALing Communities Study: An integrated Approach to addressing opiod use [Special issue]. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 217.

Zhengyang Zhou
Garg, A., El-Shanti, H., Xing, C., Zhou, Z., Abujbara, M., Al-Rashed, K., . . . Agarwal, A. K. (2020). A Novel Syndrome With Short Stature, Mandibular Hypoplasia, and Osteoporosis May Be Associated With a PRRT3 Variant. Journal of Endocrine Society, 4(8), bvaa088. doi:10.1210/jendso/bvaa088

Kim, S. Y., Huh, D., Zhou, Z., & Mun, E. Y. (2020). A comparison of Bayesian to maximum likelihood estimation for latent growth models in the presence of a binary outcome. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 44(5), 447-457. doi:10.1177/0165025419894730

Uche, U. I., Suzuki, S., Fulda, K. G., & Zhou, Z. (2020). Environment-wide association study on childhood obesity in the U.S. Environmental Research, 191, 110109. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2020.110109

Wu, G., Liu, L., Zhou, Z., Liu, J., Wang, B., Ruan, J., Yang, Q., Kanchwala, M., Dai, P., Zhang, C., Wang, D., Kang, L., Wang, S., Hui, R., Zou,Y., Xing, C., Song, L., Wang, J. (2020). East Asian-Specific Common Variant in TNNI3 Predisposes to Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. Circulation, 142(21), 2086-2089. doi:10.1161/circulationaha.120.050384

Scott Walters, PhD
Regents Professor
Department of Health Behavior and Health Systems, HSC School of Public Health

What’s your approach to Research?
“When I was a kid, if we had a leaky faucet, we would call my grandfather, a plumber. He would pull everything apart, choose a few favored tools and fix the problem. It felt like magic; every problem had a solution. Fast forward 40 years, and my approach to intervention research follows his approach to plumbing.

First, make sure you have the right tools in your toolbox. It’s okay to use some of them a lot if they have good application for your work. Some of my grandfather’s tools were very worn, and he seemed to have no interest in replacing them. I saw him use the same set of locking plyers to hold some things tight and pry other things loose. I’ve likewise used some intervention approaches repeatedly to develop solutions for wildly different outcomes and settings.

Second, approach the problem as if the solution already exists and it’s your job to find it. Maybe the solution needs to be shorter, more visual or delivered remotely, compared to what’s already been done, but it’s probably not impossible. In fact, parts of the problem have likely been solved elsewhere, so the more you know about the research in your area, the quicker the solution will appear. If you understand how a functioning sink works, that can help you fix a broken one. Furthermore, your solution to one problem may have application for your next problem. Believe it or not, a sink and a toilet have many of the same features. The intervention we designed to increase rates of colon cancer screening used similar strategies as our intervention to help drug users get into treatment. It turns out that fear of getting cancer has some overlap with fear of losing a job or failing probation. Motivational interviewing, social cognitive theory and the extended parallel process model were great tools for both problems. We even used similar visuals for these projects, which were reminiscent of work we did years ago with heavy drinking college students.

And finally, pick research that matters to you. Why spend time writing a manual on fixing a kitchen sink, when you can actually fix a kitchen sink? Focusing on esoteric questions can lead to a successful academic career, but I think you might regret it later. As I’ve moved into the messier “pipes-under-the-house” work of implementation science, I’ve discovered that playing even a bit part in community-engaged research can be very rewarding. In the HEALing Communities Study, for instance, it gives me great pleasure to hear stories of lives saved because of our efforts. Actual lives. While it’s true that research funding and peer reviewed publications are necessary to establish yourself as a serious researcher (and I would never gotten a role in this study without them), it’s also important to know at the end of the day (or end of your career) that you did something you enjoyed and something that mattered. So that’s my hope – to leave the world with less drips and fewer flushes than when I arrived.”

To learn more about Dr. Scott Walters’ work at the Health Science Center click here.

New fringe rates are in effect for faculty and staff for pre and post award budgets.  Faculty fringe rate is now 23% and staff fringe rate is now 33%.  Student fringe rate remains the same at 8.65%.

UNTHSC Facilities and Administrative cost rate increases to 48% effective 9/1/2021 for organized research.

Click link for update UNTHSC FACT SHEET FOR OFFICE OF SPONSORED PROGRAMS

Proposal Timeline Update:
With an increased uptick in submissions this calendar year, ORS is modifying the proposal timeline to add in an additional week to receive subaward packages.  This extra week will allow ORS more time to review, request edits if needed, and finalize the overall budget for proposals.

For proposals with subawards, subaward packages will now be due to ORS 3 weeks prior to the sponsor due date.  Previously, this was 2 weeks prior to the sponsor due date (1 week ahead of the Office of Sponsor Programs mandatory deadline for preaward items.)

Recent submissions shown that if items and the budget from the subaward needed edits, it was increasingly difficulty to get these edits back in time from the subaward in order to finalize the proposal package and meet the internal 5 business day deadline for OSP.  The added extra week should make the process smoother.

Please note, if you have domestic subs, it is highly recommended that you now notify ORS 6 weeks out from the sponsor due date to incorporate this change.  This will provide ORS time to contact the subaward institution and give them ample time to prepare their proposal.  Remember, subawards have to work with their own sponsored programs and deadlines too in order to provide us their subaward package.  If you have international subawards, we now recommend notifying us 8-10 weeks ahead of the sponsor due date for the same reason.

FY 2021 Effort Reporting Schedule

Unused Gift Cards
When wrapping up your spending in the last few months of your research project, if you have unused gift cards, please let ORS know. These will either need to be purchased by your Discretionary account or another active research project. Please keep in mind, in order to have them purchased by another project, this transaction must take place no later than 60 days before the project end date. Also, once these are moved onto your Discretionary account, they cannot be purchased by another project, this can only be done when both projects are active.

Monthly Salary Worksheets and ePAR Allocations
Electronic Payroll Action Requests (ePARs) are submitted at the first of each month. These actions are how we report your time and what is later certified in the effort reporting cycle. If you have expected changes in your efforts such as an increase, decrease, or the addition or removal of a project, keep ORS updated early and often. Your salary worksheets are always available upon request and it is important to also be tracking your staff and student payments along with your BMMRs.  

Click here for NIH Standard due dates

What Every Early Career Researcher Should Know: Top 3 Tips for Getting Published “Let’s face it. Being an early career researcher is tough. From the hypothesis forming stage to getting your research published – everything always seems to be shrouded in uncertainty and roadblocks.”

20 Tips for the Three(!) Careers of the Early Career Researcher “It’s not easy being an early career researcher! Establishing your professional identity, developing your independence as a researcher, teaching, competing for grants…”

Application Advice for Research Career Development (K) Awards “The research career development award category is broad and special rules may apply for your award. Before jumping in to write your application, be sure to do the following…”

Early Career Reviewer (ECR) Program “The program aims to help early career scientists become more competitive as grant applicants through first-hand experience with peer review and to enrich and diversify CSR’s pool of trained reviewers.”

Advice for Junior Faculty Regarding Academic Promotion: What Not to Worry About, and What to Worry About “…The process may often be stressful for some junior faculty, mostly due to some uncertainty about how to optimize their chances of successful promotion. In this paper, we summarize some strategies that would enhance their chances of a smooth promotion based on experiences from junior faculty and senior faculty who have served on tenure and promotion committees…”

• In October, Robyn was an invited guest speaker at Johns Hopkins University Research Administrator Day. Her professional credential as Certified Research Administrator has also been renewed for another five years.

• Katie is a participant in the Mustang Mentoring Program with NCURA Region 5 which is for early career research administrators. She presented at the November mentoring meeting, and is currently working on her Capstone Project.

• In August, Keith became Co-Chair of the Publication and Communication Committee for NCURA Region V. He and members of the committee will continue to facilitate communication and dissemination of information among Region V members via the NCURA Region V website and other applicable outlets.

• Combined the ORS team completed 128 hours of continuing education during the 2020 calendar year.