Office of Research Grants Research Service Awards

CINCINNATI—To recognize service to the College of Medicine’s research mission, the college’s Office of Research has created the Faculty Research Awards. The award was established in 2016 to support faculty who serve the mission by volunteering for internal review panels, data and safety monitoring boards, the Institutional Review Board, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and biosafety and radiation safety committees.

The 2016 awardees are Susan Waltz, PhD, professor in the Department of Cancer Biology; Daniel Woo, MD, professor in the Department of Neurology; and Changchun Xie, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health.

The recipients below will be celebrated at the Research Recognition Awards Program being held at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, in the CARE/Crawley Atrium.

Susan E. Waltz, PhD
Nominator: Jun-Lin Guan, PhD
 
Waltz, a member of both the Cincinnati Cancer Center and the UC Cancer Institute, has long served as a leader and member of a number of highly impactful research service positions and committees during her time at UC. At the departmental level, she was elected by her faculty peers to serve as the chair of the Department of Cancer Biology ARPT Committee. Waltz served as the chair of the Department of Cancer Biology Faculty and Staff Campaign and set the foundation for departmental success which has seen contributions rise from around 20 percent to 100 percent participation in three years. Waltz is a strong advocate for the graduate program in the Department of Cancer Biology. She served as the director of this program for 4 years and was pivotal in generating partnerships with cancer center programs at UC and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to help secure funding for enhanced student recruitment activates, increased student slots and for program coordinator support. Waltz is currently a member of the graduate program committee that helps oversee program directives. She is also on many student thesis committees. In the training arena, Waltz serves as the principal investigator on the National Cancer Institute-funded Training Program in Cancer Therapeutics. She is co-organizer of departmental and joint retreats which have highlighted research contributions of faculty and staff with attendance by about 100 individuals throughout the research community.
 
On the college level, she provides oversight for the Grant Pre-Review Program with the goal of helping make grants from UC faculty more competitive. She helped redesign and streamline the program based on the needs expressed by our faculty. She provides important reviewer expertise for our internal grant programs and has served on a number of key committees that have been instrumental in faculty recruitment. Waltz has served as the interim director of the Cincinnati Cancer Center and chaired many of the pilot programs during her tenure.
 
Daniel Woo, MD
Nominator: Brett Kissela, MD
 
Woo is vice-chair of clinical research and associate director of clinical neuroscience research for the UC Neuroscience Institute. He is the local principal investigator of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)--funded Neuro-NEXT network grant of Phase II studies. Woo has been evaluating and assessing barriers and opportunities for clinical and basic science research throughout the Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation, creating a research coordination and recruitment system for the multiple sclerosis and movement disorders divisions, managing coordinator effort developing EPIC electronic medical records screening tools for potential study patients and organizing basic science brainstorming sessions.

Woo represents the UC College of Medicine as an international leader in the area of the genetics of hemorrhagic stroke. He has received six National Institutes of Health R-01/U-01’s in the last 8 years. He brings international recognition to the College of Medicine through his work as a founding member and chair of the International Stroke Genetics Consortium, ad hoc reviewer for NINDS NAME Study Section, ad hoc monograph reviewer for the University Health System Consortiums Novation, ad hoc grant reviewer for the American Heart Association, active reviewer on numerous journals, editorial board member of Stroke, section editor of Genetics, extensive list of publications in top medical journals and frequent lecturer at Grand Rounds, symposia and other events throughout the world.
 
Woo has made tremendous contributions to the college and the university as a whole in the research arena. From 2001-2010, he served as director of the Cerebrovascular Ultrasound Laboratory at UC Medical Center and played a major role as medical director of Human Subjects Research Post-Approval Monitoring Program from 2004-2010. His efforts expanded the program to include additional monitoring and student aid. He has worked closely with the Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training (CCTST)  in developing a redcap registry from the electronic medical records and understanding how to best utilize EPIC for research across the medical center. Other service has included associate director and career development core co-director for the Center for Environmental Genetics, IRB member and Faculty Forum Executive Committee member.
 
Changchun Xie, PhD
Nominator: Shuk-mei Ho, PhD
 
Since Xie joined UC from McMaster University in 2012, he has provided statistical support for faculties within and outside Department of Environmental Health. He has provided high quality biostatistical services across the University of Cincinnati, primarily through the Center of Biostatistical Services (CBS) and through the CCTST.
 
Xie’s expertise in biostatistics has been internationally recognized. He is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, and has reviewed 23 statistical, medical and genetics journals. He was invited by the United Kingdom Medical Research Council to review statistical methodology research grant and invited six times by Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Rehabilitation Research and Development service to review rehabilitation research scientific proposals. He was also invited by Cambridge University Press to review a biostatistical book proposal written by Steve Selvin (University of California-Berkeley). Xie was invited to organize an invited session, "Innovative Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials,” for the International Chinese Statistical Association-Canada Chapter Symposium in Calgary, Canada, in August 2015, and presented
"Multiple Testing for Correlated Multiple Endpoints in Clinical Trials” at the 71st Annual Deming Conference on Applied Statistics in Atlantic City  in December 2015.
 
Xie sits on the Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee for the Cincinnati Cancer Center, the UC Cancer Institute and UC Health. He also sits on the UC IRB committee and multiple data and safety monitoring boards.
 
Xie has developed three core courses including "Introduction to Multiple Testing Adjustment,” "Experimental Design,” and "Applied Survival Analysis.”