Meet the DCOC

Meet the ECHO ISPCTN Data Coordinating & Operations Center (DCOC) Team

The ECHO ISPCTN DCOC, housed at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, manages the following activities for the ECHO ISPCTN:

  • Data coordination
  • Technical instruction
  • Data standards
  • Quality control and assurance
  • Operational coordination for ECHO ISPCTN clinical trials

Principal Investigators

Jessica Snowden, MD, MS, MHPTT
Principal Investigator, DCOC
jsnowden@uams.edu

Dr. Snowden is the Vice Dean for Research at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine and the Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Snowden holds the Horace C. Cabe Distinguished Chair in Pediatric Infectious Disease and is the Associate Director for clinical and translational Research at Arkansas Children’s Research Institute (ACHRI). As Principal Investigator of the DCOC, Dr. Snowden directs clinical operations for trial implementation and professional development, as well as provides strategic DCOC leadership overseeing clinical trial activities for all ECHO ISPCTN trials to include clinical operations, IRB and regulatory issues, safety operations, budgetary oversight, and clinical trial training programs.

Dr. Jessica Snowden CV

 

Songthip Ounpraseuth, PhD
Principal Investigator, DCOC
STOunpraseuth@uams.edu

Dr. Ounpraseuth is a Professor in the Department of Biostatistics of the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).  He is a Principal Investigator of the DCOC overseeing the statistical design, sample size estimation, and analytic plans for all ECHO ISPCTN clinical trials.  He interfaces directly with the NIH ECHO Program Office, the Data Safety and Monitoring Board (DSMB), and the Protocol Review Committee (PRC).  Currently, Dr. Ounpraseuth serves as the primary statistician on multiple ECHO ISPCTN protocols and participates in various writing groups.  He provides statistical support to researchers within the Network and participates in the NIH/DCOC/DCRI leadership meetings.  In addition to the activities of the ISPCTN, Dr. Ounpraseuth serves on various scientific review panels including DoD, PCORI, and NIH.  He currently serves as the primary statistical reviewer for the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine and is an Associate Editor for BMC Health Services Research.

Dr. Song Ounpraseuth CV

 

Co-Investigator

Fred William Prior, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Biomedical Informatics
FWprior@uams.edu

Dr. Prior is Professor and Chair of the UAMS Department of Biomedical Informatics and serves in a leadership role within the DCOC directing the activities of the DCOC Informatics Team and as a member of the Quality Council to review and resolve issues that arise. Dr Prior drafts and approves SOPs related to informatics and evaluates EDC and CTMS software packages. Dr. Prior’s research interests include cancer informatics, radiomics, and neuroimaging informatics. He serves as principal investigator and director of the US National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Imaging Archive Project and is the lead principal investigator of an NCI ITCR team exploring the integration of radiomics and path omics. Dr. Prior directs informatics efforts for UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI) and Pediatric Clinical Trial Network (PTN). He is an associate editor of several leading information technology journals, and a reviewer for numerous other scientific and engineering journals and US and European funding agencies. He is the author of over 100 scientific publications and holds 7 US and international patents.

Dr. Fred W. Prior CV

 

Faculty

Paula K. Roberson, PhD
Professor and Chair, UAMS Department of Biostatistics
RobersonPaulaK@uams.edu

Dr. Roberson is Professor and Chair of the UAMS Biostatistics Department, home department for the DCOC. She is a member of the DCOC Senior Scientific Leadership and co-director of the Clinical Trials Skills Development Core. Dr. Roberson provides support to the DCOC by sharing advice and expertise regarding study design and data analysis, and by reviewing documents, manuscripts, and protocols. She partners with Dr. Jessica Snowden to develop Clinical Trials Skills Curriculum for physicians and students, and participates in various meetings involving DCOC leadership. In addition to her coordinating center leadership, Dr. Roberson has an extensive history in serving on multiple data safety and monitoring boards and NIH study sections including the NHLBI Clinical Trials Review Committee, which reviews proposals for large multi-center clinical trials.

Dr. Paula Roberson CV

 

Program Director

Amy Doville, MBA, CCRP
Program Director
ADoville@uams.edu

Amy serves as the Program Director for the DCOC directing staff who manage the operational aspects of ECHO ISPCTN clinical trials from start-up to final reporting. Amy works closely with the grant principal investigators, the NIH ECHO Program Office, and the DCOC Quality Management Team to ensure quality deliverables and adherence to protocol requirements, study operational plans, timelines, ICH GCP, and applicable SOPs.

Amy has over 30 years of research experience including drugs and devices, consumer testing, and basic science. She began her career in the labs at the University of  Tennessee Center for Health Sciences and then managed a consumer-products testing lab. After two years in the device industry,  Amy spent 17 years at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital where she served as Clinical Research Education Director, Administrative Director of Bone Marrow Transplantation, and for seven years in the role of Director of the Central Protocol and Data Monitoring Office, a Comprehensive Cancer Center Shared Resource.

 

Associate Directors

Kathy Edwards, BSN, RN, CCRP, CCRA
Associate Director/Project Lead
KDEdwards@uams.edu

Kathy serves as the project lead over the ACT NOW clinical trials, Eat Sleep Console (ESC) and the Weaning Study, working closely with the trial sponsors; Neonatal Research Network (NRN), Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), and RTI. She provides updates in local and global meetings for both ACT NOW trials providing coordination and leadership to the ESC and Weaning IRB/cIRB team meetings for the DCOC. Kathy serves as the project lead for the PhITT study. In addition to her role as project lead on ECHO ISPCTN studies, Kathy coordinates and leads the DCOC Associate Director’s monthly team meetings and serves on the ISPCTN Portal Team where she is responsible for uploading and maintaining all site-specific documents for assigned studies.

 

Matthew Henry, MSc, CCRP
Associate Director/Project Lead
MHenry3@uams.edu

Matthew serves as the Project Lead for the DCOC leading the VDORA1, INTACT and RAMP ISPCTN clinical trials. As an associate director, Matthew collaborates across DCOC teams to create and implement reports for overall project management to include the posting of reports to the Research Portal study dashboards. Matthew resolves problems associated with clinical trials and communicates effectively with the DCOC team and external stakeholders ensuring current and accurate trial-related information. He received his MSc in Oncology from the University of Liverpool, and his BS in Biology from Arkansas Tech University. Before joining the DCOC in January 2022, Matthew worked in oncology clinical research and general research.

 

DeAnn Hubberd, MA, CCRP
Associate Director/Project Lead
DEHubberd@uams.edu

DeAnn is a project lead for the DCOC leading the MoVeUP App Study, Talk With Me Baby (TWMB) and SAMBA clinical trials. As an associate director, DeAnn collaborates across DCOC teams to implement all aspects of assigned clinical trials including report development and presentation and posting of reports to the Research Portal study dashboards. DeAnn resolves problems associated with clinical trials and communicates effectively with the DCOC team and external stakeholders ensuring current and accurate trial-related information.

DeAnn has a strong background in strategic planning, program oversight, and project management. She has led initiatives from concept through implementation for clinical trials and multipart grant proposals. Before joining the DCOC, DeAnn managed a grant writing and editing office, where she led daily operations and managed budget and revenue streams, as well as all levels of human resource functions.

 

 

Carolyn McNutt, BBA
Clinical Research Finance Associate Director
cmcnutt@uams.edu

Carolyn has extensive experience in the financial management of federal funding both in research (NIH, CDC) and federally mandated programs such as Medicaid, USDA, and aging. Although this is not all-inclusive. She has managed the pre-award and post-award financial responsibilities as well as the fund management and financial reporting including SEFA. She has worked extensively with internal and external auditors.

 

Lora A. Lawrence, RN CCRP, CRS
Associate Director/Project Lead
LawrenceLoraA@uams.edu

Lora is a project lead for the DCOC leading the BREATHE Study. She is also the Safety Manager for the DCOC assisting and collaborating with ISPCTN clinical sites to assess, document, and follow up on clinical trial safety events. Lora provides after-hours safety support to clinical sites and hierarchy notification; facilitates safety committee meetings, provides study-specific safety training. She gives presentations, reports, and narratives by request of the DSMB and Safety Committees, assists with planning, oversight, and coordination of clinical trials to include assisting in the development of protocols, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and Manual of Procedures (MOPs).

Lora  facilitates and participates in network meetings; and collaborates with internal teams such as Quality Assurance, IRB, Site Management, and Data Managers. Lora is a Licensed Registered Nurse and a Certified Clinical Research Professional with prior experience in gynecology, pediatric, and NICU units.

 

 

Sherry L. Lloyd, BA
Associate Director of Communications

sllloyd@uams.edu

Sherry oversees the day-to-day internal and external communications of the ISPCTN directing communication traffic and providing weekly troubleshooting support to the Network and other components of the NIH ECHO Program. She serves as the communication liaison between the DCOC and the NIH ECHO Program Office, including collaboration with the ECHO Coordinating Center. Sherry develops and executes communication plans as well as recruitment and retention materials for ECHO ISPCTN clinical trials. In addition, Sherry serves as a project manager by developing and executing standard operating procedures that create streamlined communication to benefit the internal operations of the DCOC.

Additional duties include organizing and planning face-to-face ECHO ISPCTN Steering Committee and Leadership Committee meetings and leading the ISPCTN Research Portal Team. Sherry has over 30 years of experience in healthcare marketing and community outreach specializing in women’s and children’s health research to include contracts and grants focused on health disparities in rural and diverse communities. She graduated from the University of Arkansas with a BA in Journalism and a minor in Marketing.

 

Quality Assurance

Dylan Drum, MA, CRQM, CRS
Associate Director of Quality/Project Lead
ddrum@uams.edu

Dylan serves as the Associate Director of Quality for the DCOC. His responsibilities include organizing and overseeing the development and implementation of the DCOC Quality Management System (QMS), including the standardization and oversight of clinical operations, informatics, and biostatistics processes. Dylan manages the day-to-day operations of all aspects of the QMS. He also supervises and facilitates risk management activities and serves as a quality expert for the ISPCTN and the DCOC. Among other duties, he is tasked to promote continuous improvement initiatives that align with the ISPCTN and the DCOC’s objectives.

Dylan holds a BS in Psychology and Accounting from Lyon College and a MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. He worked as an Organizational Development Consultant in Chicago specializing in quality process improvement. He returned to Arkansas as CEO of NEA Stealth Outdoors where he developed their QMS which is still used to date. Since leaving that role he has worked in various positions within the clinical research field at UAMS, before joining the DCOC in 2021.

 

Clinical Site Managers

Irene Mangan Chedjieu, BDS, MPH, CRS
Clinical Site Manager
IPManganmbondi@uams.edu

Irene is a certified Research Specialist and serves as Clinical Site Manager for the DCOC. She coordinates and oversees all clinical site management activities including management of protocol conduct, data collection and review, and coordination of all study related communication. Irene contributes to ongoing Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) development and review and refers to SOPS for guidance on study tasks. She ensures site management activities comply with study timelines, ICH GCP guidelines, internal SOPs, and meet all regulatory requirements. Irene assists with the overall successful conduct of assigned ECHO ISPCTN clinical trials including preparation of study material sections and training. Irene’s experience includes Clinical Research Assistant at Tulane University Hospital; Social Sciences Research Associate and Clinical Instructor at the University of Texas Health Science Center; and Research Associate, Project Supervisor, Program Specialist, and Clinical Site Manager at UAMS.

 

Kripa Patel, BDS, MPH, CRS
Clinical Site Manager
KPatel@uams.edu

Kripa is a Clinical Site Manager at the DCOC. She coordinates and oversees all clinical site management activities to include management of protocol conduct, data collection and review, and coordination of all study related communication. Kripa assists with the overall successful conduct of assigned clinical trials, including preparation of study material section and training. She also takes a lead on study start-up activities to include clinical site activation. As part of clinical site management, Kripa provides expertise in developing study Manual of Procedures,  building relationships with sites, and resolving site issues and queries. Kripa’s prior roles include practicing Dentistry at Bapuju Dental Hospital in India; serving in several Program Manager roles and being a published author.

 

Bianca Johnson, MPH
Clinical Site Manager

Bjohnson4@uams.edu

As a Clinical Site Manager for DCOC, Bianca is responsible for the management of clinical trial activities. She consults and provides instruction to members of the research community and stakeholders, and oversees clinical site management activities including data collection and review. Bianca received her BA in Biology from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and her MPH at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She has nearly 10 years of research experience and has worked in various areas of research including epidemiological research, pediatric research, and oncology clinical trials.

 

Finance

Velia Patterson, BSE
Clinical Research Finance Administrator
PattersonVeliaV@uams.edu

Velia is responsible for grant management tracking and reporting including forecasting budgets and making appropriate adjustments through the grant period. Velia provides resourceful financial data to ECHO ISPCTN Principal Investigators to allocate appropriate funds and personnel effort for ISPCTN clinical trials. She assists with grant submissions budget components as required by the funder, as well as close-out and other post-award procedures. Velia acts as a liaison for DCOC and sites contacting departments to coordinate and to audit documents collected for the ORSP agreement process with prospect and participating sites; and she troubleshoots as needed because of changes in documentation, requirements, and procedures. Velia ensures compliance with established state and federal guidelines with procurement of goods and services; and she runs internal audits and troubleshoots procurement purchases, services, bids, travel, treasury issues, and accounts payable and receivable.

 

Lonnely Jamison, MBA
Clinical Research Finance Coordinator
jamisonlonnely@uams.edu

Lonnely is currently working in finance as a Clinical Research Finance Coordinator and is responsible for grant management tracking and reporting including forecasting budgets and making appropriate adjustments through the grant period. Velia ensures compliance with established state and federal guidelines with procurement of goods and services; and she runs internal audits and troubleshoots procurement purchases, services, bids, travel, treasury issues, and accounts payable and receivable. Lonnely has over 15 years of accounting experience. Most recently, she was employed as an Assistant Controller at the Arkansas Division of Human Services, and her educational background includes AA, ABA, BBA, and MBA.

 

Project Specialists

Phillip “Freddy” Haralson, BA
Project Specialist
PHaralson@uams.edu

As Project Specialist, Freddy supports multiple components of the DCOC. He provides logistical support for ECHO ISPCTN meetings and event such as the ISPCTN Steering Committee meetings via teleconference and in-person. Freddy prepares and submits minutes for ISPCTN meetings and scheduling and meeting logistical support for ECHO ISPCTN committee and working group meetings. Freddy also maintains documents, contact lists, and various reports for various ISPCTN projects. He has a strong background and experience in marketing and communications, sales, project management including finance and budgets, and management as well as human resources experience in medical staffing.

 

Tyce Michelle Scroggins, BS, CRS
Project Specialist
TScroggins@uams.edu

As a Project Specialist, Tyce creates meetings through the Zoom Meeting platform and sends meeting calendar invitations to attendees.  She uses the Doodle Poll platform as needed to poll attendee availability to participate in meetings and launches and records assigned meetings.  Tyce aids Project Leads with coordinating meetings through agenda and other pertinent document development including drafting meeting minutes.  Tyce supplies logistical support to chairs of Working Groups and Expanded Concept Proposals and documents key decisions. Tyce has worked as a Project Specialist with the DCOC for 2 ½ years. She has been employed at UAMS for 16 years, with her role with the DCOC being her first in pediatrics and a Research setting.

 

 

Patrina Robinson, BA
Project Specialist
PMRobinson@uams.edu

Patrina serves as a Project Specialist within the DCOC. As part of this team, she manages the Clinical Site Storefront for ISPCTN clinical trials processing the site’s request for recruitment and retention materials. Acting as the liaison between the DCOC and the printer, Patrina tracks clinical trial materials from the onset of  order placement to delivery. Other responsibilities include providing logistical support for internal and external meetings. Patrina comes to the DCOC from the Medical Humanities and Bioethics Department at UAMS and has extensive experience in community outreach and engagement and federal task force investigative work for the state of Arkansas.

 

Instructional Development Specialist

Catrice Banks-Johnson
Instructional Development Specialist
CRBanksjohnson@uams.edu

Catrice coordinates the ECHO ISPCTN Continuing Education (CE) activities including assisting with the development and implementation of clinical trials curriculum. Catrice assists with facilitating educational webinars, designing and developing research education courses, editing videos, and posting for ISPCTN Research Portal users. She analyzes and compiles course and learner data to make recommendations as needed and reports evaluation metrics of professional development results. Catrice troubleshoots issues with the Professional Development side of the ISPCTN Research Portal to include editing all DCOC training, educational, and profile videos.

 

Research Writers

Phyllis Nader, BSE
Manager, Technical and Scientific Writing
PNader@uams.edu

Phyllis is a Research Writer for the DCOC and tracks the progress of manuscripts, presentations, and posters pertaining to ECHO ISPCTN. She maintains contact with writing group leaders and schedules and hosts writing group meetings. As part of the ECHO ISPCTN Publications and Presentation team, Phyllis not only responds to related questions, but she also archives all PPC-related documents and drafts and updates PPC-related policies, forms, and appendices. Phyllis studies PPC-related topics including author contributions and lay summaries. She edits study-related documents as needed and attends training on ISPCTN-related topics and professional development in writing and editing. Other important duties for the DCOC are serving on the task force to plan network events.

 

Steve Adkison, PhD
Research Writer, Technical and Scientific Writing
SAdkison@uams.edu

Steve is a Research Writer for the DCOC and is responsible and is responsible for providing expertise as a technical writer for the ISPCTN. He assists Network members in researching, drafting, editing, and formatting written and electronic reports for federal partners and contracts with sub-awardees, as well as SOPs, protocols, policies, and other documents as needed. He also assists with monitoring and managing adherence to NIH policies and guidelines. Current on academic and research publication topics and standards, Steve works to maintain continuity of writing style among different writers and across the range of written materials for the ISPCTN.

 

Communications

Melissa Griffith, RHIT
Communications Coordinator
MGriffith@uams.edu

Melissa serves on the DCOC Communications Team and works collaboratively with the Associate Director of Communications to effectively communicate externally with ECHO ISPCTN members and internally within the DCOC. She leads and coordinates the onboarding process for all new ISPCTN members and new DCOC staff.  Melissa offers support to current studies by assisting with meeting logistics, minute taking, and distribution of training materials to sites. Melissa assists with ordering and fulfilling study-specific materials and generating network newsletters. She is a member of the Research Portal Team and handles document maintenance, general updates to the portal as well as maintaining the Portal Meeting Center.

Melissa has over 20 years of experience in marketing and public relations focusing on leasing and sponsorship revenue events and supervisory experience working for state Labor and Tax divisions. Melissa is a Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) through the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). She is a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS), the National Technical Honor Society (NTHS), and the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SOCRA).

 

IRB Administrators

Giuseppina Dusio, PhD, CCRP
IRB Administrator
GFDusio@uams.edu

As IRB Administrator, Giuseppina assists with processing and ensuring individual sites’ IRB processes are in alignment with the UAMS cIRB and compliance with all federal, state, and regulatory agency requirements. She works with site investigators to develop the local context needed for cIRB review and approval; provides guidance to research investigators regarding applicable FDA/OHRP requirements/regulations, IRB submission requirements, and ICH E6 (R2) guidelines. Giuseppina attends internal IRB-related meetings and collects regulatory documents from project personnel and participating sites ensuring personnel (project staff and sites) retain current human subjects’ protection and Good Clinical Practice training during a study. She works independently to prioritize, coordinate, and complete multiple projects within deadlines while maintaining a high level of attention to detail.

 

Kay Shuttleworth, PhD
IRB Administrator
KLShuttleworth@uams.edu

As IRB Administrator, Kay assists with processing and ensuring individual sites’ IRB processes align with the UAMS IRB as the cIRB.  In addition, Kay ensures compliance with all federal, state, and regulatory agency requirements and helps site investigators fulfill those requirements.

As IRB Administrator, Kay works with site investigators, study coordinators, and local regulatory personnel on local context and provides guidance to research investigators regarding applicable FDA/OHRP requirements/regulations, IRB submission requirements, and ICH E6(R2) guidelines. She provides consultation and instruction to members of the DCOC community and reads, reviews, and coordinates all protocol submissions related to the DCOC to ensure the individual sites’ IRB processes feed into the UAMS Central IRB.

 

Andrea Moerman-Herzog, PhD
IRB Administrator
MoermanAndreaM@uams.edu

Andrea is an IRB Administrator for the DCOC.  She joined UAMS in 1997 as a postdoctoral fellow, has been involved in translational human research since 2014, and joined the DCOC in 2022. In her role as an IRB Administrator, she will manage administrative activities for multi-site clinical studies and serve as a liaison between the central Institutional Review Board at UAMS and study sites. This will include drafting study-related documents, creating CLARA submissions, and collecting regulatory documents from project personnel and participating sites.

 

Informatics

Jaime Baldner, B.S. CCDM
Research Informatics Director
JBaldner@uams.edu

Jaime’s clinical data management experience includes individual contributor roles with Abbot Laboratories (now AbbVie) (1998-2007) and Takeda (2007-2009) as well as both individual contributor and managerial roles with Roche-Genentech (2009-2018). She holds a Certificate in Technical Writing and Presentation from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in General Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Jaime is a Certified Clinical Data Manager (CCDM) (2010-Present) through the Society for Clinical Data Management (SCDM). Her professional accomplishments include SCDM Board of Trustees (2013-2018) and Session Chair and Speaker at leading industry events (2009- 2013). Jaime represents the DCOC Informatics Team on study calls with protocol chairs and site personnel. She facilitates informatics-led meetings with DCOC staff and oversees development and maintenance of DCOC systems for ISPCTN members.

Jaime distributes participant enrollment, randomization, retention, and other relevant information to project leaders, and she develops data collection strategies for clinical and operational data. She oversees the development and maintenance of EDC solutions and contributes to the continuous improvement of the Quality Management System through controlled document review and process improvements. Data review strategies to improve data quality are developed by Jaime, and she also plans and tracks Informatics Team deliverables.

 

Melody L Greer, PhD
Senior Informaticist
mlgreer@uams.edu

Melody has a great deal of experience in data quality and integration from areas outside of healthcare. Following years of work within government and business, both independently and directing teams in the collection, maintenance, and integration of data, she decided to pursue my Ph.D. to develop a theoretical understanding of the underlying processes at work which culminate in well-integrated and high-quality data. Towards that effort, Melody is currently engaged in improving healthcare data quality through layers of data integration.

 

Jeff Tobler
Sr. UI/UX Programmer Developer
jtobler@uams.edu

Jeff is the Sr. UI/UX Programmer Developer for UAMS | DBMI and the ISPCTN Research Portal. His primary role is to develop, maintain, and expand features and access to the portal and all trial landing pages and data. He manages both the front and back end of the portal, as well as security and core maintenance. Jeff’s professional experience ranges from developing clinical trial portals to native iOS mobile apps. He has extensive experience in the development of complex websites, utility apps, consumer video games, 3-D animations, detailed 3-D models, and full-featured cinematic video productions. A large part of his oversight is keeping portals and other web apps safe from cyber-attacks and/or unauthorized user access. One of his specialties is UI/UX design and implementation. From the front-end look and feel to the back-end mechanics, he enjoys developing and programming both visually appealing and practically useful interfaces for users to interact with.

 

Gonghe Dai, MD
System Analyst/Programmer
DaiGonghe@uams.edu

Gonghe is a Microsoft Certified Professional as a Database Administrator and Systems Engineer + Internet and is certified in A+, Network+, MCDBA, MCSE+I, MCSD, and Oracle 9iDBA. He holds a Master of Science in Biochemistry and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Norman Bethune of Medical Sciences in PR China. Gonghe has been with the University of Arkansas of Medical Sciences for over 25 years. Gonghe handles uploading, processing, and analyzing clinical and research data as well as updating, uploading, and building SAS reports. Data search requests are completed by him, and he handles managing the ISPCTN Research Portal user access and dealing with any user login issues.

 

Robert N. Brown, III, BCompSc
Sr. Business Analyst Bioinformatics
RNBrown@uams.edu

Robert has a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He has over three decades of experience in IT including computer operations, programming, system administration (Windows & Linux), and database administration (Oracle, MySQL, MSSQL, Postgres). Robert is skilled in C, C++, Java, Python, Linux & Windows scripting. Robert maintains DCOC databases and web servers (production and test) and supports and checks DCOC database and web server backups. He creates and installs new OpenClinica instances when needed and troubleshoots software issues. Robert also installs OS components and upgrades as needed.

 

Ye “Wilson” Luo
Research System Analyst Intermediate
luoye@uams.edu

Wilson is a Research System Analyst Intermediate from UAMS IT Research Systems. He helps set up and support federated authentication systems for the DCOC project. He has experience in many SSO authentication and authorization protocols, e.g., Central Authentication Service, Cookie-Based SSO and Kerberos-based SSO.

 

Julie Frund, BS Computer Science
Application Systems Analyst/Programmer-Senior
JFrund@uams.edu

Julie has over a decade of experience in programming applications and reports to support the needs of health care research, and skills in SQL and NOSQL databases including MS SQL, PostgreSQL, Neo4j, and ArangoDB. She has experience in UI software development using HTML, CSS, & JavaScript as well as backend and scripting languages including C#, VB, and Python. She is a champion of Agile software development methods and process improvements. Julie offers technical support to the DCOC in many ways by creating study reports using SAS and Python, and queries OpenClinica’s Postgres Database. She builds applications to support the DCOC with Electron and JavaScript. Julie uses Redcap’s API for data extracts, document software, and requirements, and administrates JIRA.

 

Sunitha Kenchey, MS
Research Informatics Analyst II
SKenchey@uams.edu

As Research Informatics Analyst, Sunitha aids in the creation and maintenance of research study forms and keeps study form instructions. She creates basic logical data models and workflow diagrams; and she supports functional specifications of data systems, performs functional usability testing, and runs and distributes pre-built reports. Sunitha checks data and workflow processes to mitigate project risks, communicates issues to management, and represents the data management team in project-related meetings. She tracks production and communicates problems and backlogs to the project team and management. Sunitha attends regular data management and informatics team meetings communicating project information and project status to study and department leadership. She represents data management and informatics in project-related cross-functional meetings; and she creates and keeps medical record abstraction guidelines, and data processing operations used by peers and other team members.

 

Emel Seker, MS
Research Informatics Analyst II
ESeker@uams.edu

As Research Informatics Analyst, Emel designs and keeps study specific forms such as medical record abstraction guidelines and form completion instructions; and he creates logical data models based on study protocols, data dictionaries, forms, and expert knowledge. He also creates data and workflow diagrams using written procedures, study protocols, interviews, observations, and expert knowledge. Emel designs and manages data processing operations including data entry, importing external data files, deterministic and probabilistic record linkage, reconciliation of integrated data, identification and resolution of data discrepancies, coding data with standard terminologies, data transformation and data profiling. He develops data screens, error checks and workflows in vended and open-source systems such as Redcap and OpenClinica and manages functional user acceptance testing and usability testing for information systems and system interfaces. Emel also drafts specifications for and oversees development, testing, production, and distribution of study reports. He prepares and makes presentations to UAMS and external faculty and staff, and he monitors data for quality and completeness.

 

Biostatistics

Zhuopei Hu, MS
Biostatistician
ZHu@uams.edu

Zhuopei assists with study design including sample size calculation, writing statistical analysis plans, data collection quality checks, running statistical analyses, and preparing statistical analysis sections of reports for NIH and DSMC. He has assisted on the projects of ACT NOW CE, VDORA 1 part 1 and part 2, and ACT NOW (ESC). After data is collected, Zhuopei helps prepare tables, figures, and analyses for the statistical section on manuscripts. He helps Principal Investigators with their research interest from the statistical point of view, and he communicates with DBMI for data quality checks.

 

Di Chang, MPH
Biostatistician
DCHANG@uams.edu

Di has been involved in numerous conferences by presentation or poster and has co-authored published journal articles. Di provides statistical support to the clinical trials and studies conducted by the AMC and the DCOC. Di works with the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) Report including providing statistical analysis plans, data analysis, statistical programming using software such as SAS, and manuscript preparation. Di assists projects in meeting the professional development goals of the Network and writes statistical method and results sections for scientific publications.

 

Kristen Gaffney, MPH
Biostatistician
kkgaffney@uams.edu

Kristin is interested in helping improve the health of rural and underserved populations through the careful analysis and interpretation of data. She is married to Dan, with 6 young adult children, and lives in a small community in central Arkansas. After 25 years with a faith-based non-profit serving families, she returned to academia and looks forward to her new role with UAMS.

 

 

Jing Jin, PhD, MPH
Biostatistician
jjin@uams.edu

Dr. Jin is an instructor in the Department of Biostatistics in the College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She assists with statistical analysis and report and manuscript preparation.

 

 

Milan Bimali, PhD
Assistant Professor
mbimali@uams.edu

Milan has over four years of experience working as a collaborative PhD biostatistician primarily in academic health centers. He provides support in study design, developing statistical analysis plans, data analysis and report preparation, dissemination of study findings, and grant application. In addition to his work as a DCOC statistician, he collaborates with investigators from colleges of medicine and public health at UAMS and at Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center.

 

Executive Assistants

Debbie Black
DCOC Executive Assistant
DLBlack@uams.edu

Debbie has worked for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences UAMS) for 14 years and in the medical field for over 35 years. She joined the DCOC in January 2023. Debbie works to help schedule and manage the day-to-day activities and operations of the DCOC.