Wake Forest Research Centers

CVSC Center Director:
Debra Diz, PhD
Professor, Surgery, Hypertension

David Herrington, MD, MHS
Professor, Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine

Center Purpose:

The mission and purpose of the CVS Center (CVSC) is to provide key coordination and support services for the broad array of WFSM investigators engaged in CVS research to foster innovation and new discovery. A special emphasis on cardiovascular disease prevention, including 1°/2° CVD prevention and prevention of heart failure, continues from the focus of the existing CVSC as this aligns with the Strategic Plan and Heart & Vascular Service Line priorities. The CVSC also strives to foster success of the next generation of investigators in CVS research and medicine and to strengthen the connection between outstanding research faculty and clinical care providers. Our commitment to multidisciplinary team research capitalizes on several existing programmatic efforts where prevention is a key concept and we will continue to foster integration of this theme into new initiatives.

Goals and Future Directions:

• Expanding external funding through Program Projects or other multidisciplinary grants.
• Facilitating multidisciplinary collaborations by hosting conferences and funding transdisciplinary pilot grants.
• Integrating the Center with personalized medicine initiatives.
• Developing key metrics that will track progress on the Center’s goals.

Center for Artificial Intelligence Center Director:
Metin Gurcan, PhD
Professor, Internal Medicine, General

Center Purpose:

Fostering collaboration among professionals from diverse backgrounds to drive innovation and further the application of AI in healthcare.

CDOM Center Director:
Donald McClain, MD, PhD
Professor, Internal Medicine, Endocrinology

Center Purpose:

The mission of the CDOM, established in 2016 and led by Dr. Don McClain, is to improve the health of individuals with, or at risk for, diabetes, obesity, and other metabolic disorders. To achieve this goal, we will generate new knowledge on the metabolic basis of diabetes, obesity, and the wide spectrum of diseases in which metabolism plays a role, using that knowledge to improve strategies for the prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of those conditions. The center is included as one of the six key strategic focus areas for research within the Academic Medical Center. During the center’s five-year tenure, we have supported several investigators through pilot funding, recruited new metabolism-focused investigators, established a robust seminar series and conducted focused symposia to bring together researchers in multi-disciplinary domains that directly impact or intersect with diabetes, obesity and metabolism. In 2020 we became one of only 9 NIH (P30) funded Diabetes Research Centers with our partners at Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, and NC A&T. The center is also closely aligned with the Centers on Precision Medicine and Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Prevention, as well as the newly established Department of Implementation Science.

Goals and Future Directions:

• Continuing to partner with Duke, UNC, and NC A&T to build interdisciplinary partnerships across our campuses.
• Support the full spectrum on translational research, from basic mechanistic science to cutting-edge clinical trials.
• Support investigators with resources such as the Rodent Metabolic Phenotyping Core.
• Continuing to expand our interactions with the Aging and Alzheimer’s programs to explore the connections between altered metabolism and cognitive decline.
• Conducting focused affinity group mini-symposia to continue to foster cross-collaboration and encourage new team formation.
• Partner with clinicians to develop personalized diabetes diagnosis and care programs, with the goal of not only managing but putting diabetes into remission in those patients.

Center for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism (CDOM) Poster | Center for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism (CDOM) Poster | Center for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism (CDOM) Poster PowerPoint

CHI Center Directors:
Jeff Williamson, MD, MHS
Professor, Internal Medicine and Epidemiology
Section Chief, Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine

Eric Kirkendall, MD, MBI, FAAP
Associate Professor, Pediatrics
Director, Digital Health Innovation

Center Purpose:

The mission of the Wake Forest Center for Healthcare Innovation (CHI) is to collaboratively leverage the unique talents and capabilities of our innovators, digital health tools, scientific discoveries and clinical care delivery system to improve population health, enhance patient experience, reduce costs and improve care provider work life.

The CHI is fulfilling its mission through partnerships with like-minded colleagues from the WFSOM and WFBHS to identify, develop and implement innovations.

Goals and Future Directions:

• Expand our efforts to “succeed/fail fast” in our projects. Graduate maturing projects to further health-system–wide scaling and set ambitious and achievable goals for new and existing projects.
• Progress in achieving financial sustainability through health system investment, federally funded grants, philanthropy, and industry partnerships.
• Develop the talent required to lead innovation at WFBH by facilitating professional training for existing members, and recruiting new members (faculty and non-faculty) to meet identified deficits.
• Further define brand and mission of the Center to internal and external audiences through social media and other marketing platforms.
• Scale maturing projects in collaboration with Atrium colleagues, and explore innovation synergies with Atrium thought leaders.

CIM Center Director:
Remy Coeytaux, MD, PhD
Chair of Integrative Medicine
Professor, Family and Community Medicine

Center Purpose:

The mission of the Center for Integrative Medicine is to promote health and integrative medical care through research, education, clinical services, and community outreach.

We aim to achieve our mission by:

• Conducting and supporting outstanding interdisciplinary research;
• Developing exemplary education and training programs;
• Informing and supporting innovative, sustainable, and compassionate clinical care;
• Engaging in far-reaching community outreach, leadership development, and individual empowerment.

It is at the core of our purpose to serve, empower, and partner with diverse communities to provide paths to wellness.

CIM activities are funded by two endowments.

Goals and Future Directions:

1. Develop and sponsor a continuing medical education series in collaboration with MAHEC entitled Psychological Interventions for Chronic Pain.
2. Provide support to maximize the opportunities for scholarly activities made possible by the existence of the Wake Forest Baptist Health Integrative Medicine Clinic.
3. Obtain external research grant funds to support collaborative research projects with the Salisbury VA Medical Center, with a focus on nonpharmacologic approaches to managing, treating, or preventing pain and treating symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
4. Continue to conduct randomized controlled trials of nonpharmacologic approaches including acupuncture, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and herbal therapies.

Center for Integrative Medicine (CIM) Poster | Center for Integrative Medicine (CIM) Poster PowerPoint

CPM Center Director:
Michael Olivier, PhD
Professor, Internal Medicine, Molecular Medicine

Laura Cox, PhD
Professor, Internal Medicine, Molecular Medicine

Center Purpose:

The mission of the Center for Precision Medicine (CPM) is to develop and support innovative, collaborative, multidisciplinary research programs to understand the transition of normal physiology to dysregulated disease processes at the molecular level. The detailed understanding of these changes will advance our ability to improve long-term health outcomes of our patients, to diagnose patients at risk effectively and accurately, and to develop novel innovative treatment and lifestyle modification strategies.

Goals and Future Directions:

Basic and Omics Research

• Recruitment of Faculty to fill gaps in our expertise that impede our clinical implementation of precision medicine.
• Research Fellows Program: Expand research opportunities for residents and fellows.
• Grant Writing Support to coordinate both administrative and scientific portions of larger (multi-investigator) applications.
• Explore Non-Human Primate and Human Clinical Research Alignment Opportunities.

Translation

• Establish Clinical Liaison Team to define the needs and concerns about precision medicine implementation in a clinical setting.
• Develop Sequence Data Reporting Pipeline for Epic/EHR.
• Explore pilot feasibility studies and Population Health Precision Medicine Initiatives.

Education

• Develop and expand our existing OMICS series to target specific groups of healthcare providers, researchers, and students.
• Expand our website and social media visibility to distribute educational information.

Develop NIH Training Grants to Support Research and Summer Internships.

Center for Precision Medicine (CPM) Poster | Center for Precision Medicine (CPM) Poster PowerPoint

CRBM Center Director:
Cristina M. Furdui, PhD
Professor, Internal Medicine, Molecular Medicine

Leslie B. Poole, PhD
Professor, Biochemistry – Structural Biology

Center Purpose:

The mission of the Center for Redox Biology and Medicine (CRBM) is to coordinate and facilitate inter-departmental and multidisciplinary basic, translational and clinical research that has the common goal of improving the knowledge and health of everyone, and particularly patients suffering from diseases with underlying oxidative mechanisms of damage including aging, cancer, obesity-associated diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. In conjunction with complementary efforts at Wake Forest University (WFU), this effort will facilitate the translation of fundamental knowledge of redox biology into molecular medicine and the discovery of new creative approaches for disease prevention, diagnosis, and therapy.

Goals and Future Directions:

• Grow CRBM membership regionally and engage actively with partnering institutions in North Carolina (NC A&T, UNC Chapel Hill, High Point University, and Duke) to support studies leading to multi-investigator grant applications relevant to the mission of CRBM.
• Organize regular seminars and workshops on specific subjects (e.g., Redox Innovation Workshop with Wake Forest Innovations to evaluate the CRBM intellectual property, and identify opportunities and paths for commercialization).
• Provide continued support for pilot studies to increase members’ success in obtaining extramural grant funding.
• Support the institution’s progress towards a learning health care system by catalyzing inter-programmatic activities and supporting career development of junior faculty.
• Ensure the success of the NIGMS T32 training grant in Redox Biology and Medicine by awarding fellowships to high-quality students, increasing efforts for recruitment of underrepresented minority students, providing high-quality teaching, promoting interactions, and evaluating progress of our trainees.

Center for Redox Biology and Medicine (CRBM) Poster | Center for Redox Biology and Medicine (CRBM) Poster PowerPoint

CFAR Center Director:
Michael Nader, PhD
Professor, Physiology and Pharmacology

Center Purpose:

The Center for Addiction Reearch is a translational research center established in July 2016 at Wake Forest School of Medicine. The Center was renewed in 2019 for 3 years. The goals of the Center are to promote state-of-the-art research, education and dissemination of evidence-based practices focusing on: (1) preclinical models that will support the development of personalized treatments for substance-related disorders; (2) population research involving epidemiology, community and policy interventions to promote population health; and (3) clinical-translational research that will generate new knowledge and contribute to our learning healthcare system.

Goals and Future Directions:

• Fund and implement the infrastructure for an institutional Center focused on translational basic, population and clinical research on substance abuse and addiction.
• Develop and fund a pilot program to catalyze multi-disciplinary and translational research focused on personalized substance abuse prevention and treatment.
• Build a Substance Abuse and Addiction Education Core that would permeate our Learning Health Care System.
• Grow an effective program to disseminate research findings and evidence-based practices on substance abuse.

Center for Addiction Research (CFAR) Poster | Center for Addiction Research (CFAR) Poster PowerPoint

CVEA Center Directors:
Martha Alexander-Miller, PhD
Professor, Microbiology and Immunology

Katherine Poehling, MD, MPH
Professor, Pediatrics

Center Purpose:

The mission of the Center for Vaccines at the Extremes of Aging is to improve the effectiveness, safety and uptake of vaccines designed to prevent disease in the very young and very old. The need for effective vaccines, especially for the elderly and newborns, has been made strikingly clear by the recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We aim to improve health and save lives in our most vulnerable populations through developing more efficacious vaccines and promoting their uptake through educational activities–a goal which is highly aligned with our learning health care culture. The center will use a combination of basic, translational, and clinical research as well as community education to achieve our goal. The goals of the center are of high benefit to the institution and to our community.

Goals and Future Directions:

• Host 1-2 external speakers to promote networking and seed new ideas/collaborations
• Provide a community education/engagement event related to vaccine safety/utility
• Establish a relevant and engaging website for the center
• Obtain/submit new extramural grants in vaccine related or newborn/aging immunology research
• Work with center and department leaders to co-recruit a clinician researcher who works in aging immunity/vaccines
• Support a pilot award (emphasis on new teams, COVID-19, BSL3 pathogens)

Center for Vaccines at the Extremes of Aging (CVEA) Poster | Center for Vaccines at the Extremes of Aging (CVEA) Poster PowerPoint

CCC Center Director:
A. William Blackstock Jr., MD
Professor, Cancer Biology and Radiation Oncology

Center Purpose:

The mission of the Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center (WFBCCC) is to improve the lives of cancer patients in the Piedmont and Western North Carolina, the Appalachian region, and beyond, by:

• Serving as the premier cancer hospital in our region, with innovative treatment programs and trials recognized at the national and international level
• Conducting cutting-edge basic, clinical and population research on the prevention, detection and treatment of cancer, and translating that knowledge into strategies to improve patient outcomes and reduce the incidence of disease
• Training leaders in cancer research and clinical care

Goals and Future Directions:

1. Prepare for the January 2021 Cancer Center Support Grant (NCI-designation) competing renewal submission and subsequent site visit in April-June 2021.
2. Continue to optimize the clinical trial approval process with the objective of increasing accruals, particularly for treatment trials, as well as rapidly securing the appropriate staffing levels.
3. Complete the establishment of the Phase I Unit, led by Drs. Caio Rocha-Lima and Lowell Hart.
4. Recruit additional scientists in areas identified as strategic priorities.
5. Continue to enhance multi-disciplinary interactions to facilitate translational science discoveries within the four Programs.
6. Further invest in tobacco/non-combustibles/smoking cessation research to address this key priority for the Center, including potential additional recruitment(s).
7. Promote the development of multi-PI, PPG and SPORE applications with targeted pilot funds.
8. Use marketing and social media tactics that will help bolster the Center’s local and national reputation in research and increase clinical trial accruals.
9. Strengthen cancer research career enhancement activities.
10. Explore opportunities to leverage the Atrium partnership as appropriate.

Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) Poster | Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) Poster PowerPoint

CIIRRC Center Director:
Chadwick Miller, MD
Professor, Emergency Medicine

James Holmes IV, MD
Professor, Surgery, Burns

D. Clark Files, MD
Associate Professor, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

Center Purpose:

The CIIRRC confronts the economic/healthcare challenge of high morbidity and mortality from critical illness and injury. To meet this challenge, CIIRRC integrates basic and clinical translational research across the continuum from pre-hospitalization (emergency medical services), emergency department care, acute critical care hospitalization, post-hospital care, and community re-entry. CIIRRC is building and implementing multi-departmental and transdisciplinary science teams within and beyond the WFBMC academic enterprise to: attract and train new basic and clinical investigators; engage local and national communities; implement discovery into best medical practices; and advance health policies with a strong emphasis on cutting-edge clinical trials, with a current focus on COVID-19.

Goals and Future Directions:

• Expand funded multidisciplinary projects, including network, investigator-initiated R01, foundation, DoD, and industry grants and contracts.
• Optimize information resources, linking electronic medical records with basic and clinical data, to fuel research and improve operational excellence (a learning health system for critically ill and injured patients).
• Educate, mentor, and train our transdisciplinary team members.

Critical Illness, Injury and Recovery Research Center (CIIRRC) Poster | Critical Illness, Injury and Recovery Research Center (CIIRRC) Poster PowerPoint

MACHE Center Director:
Goldie Byrd, PhD
Professor, Public Health Sciences, Social Science & Health Policy

MACHE Center Associate Director:
Allison Caban-Holt, PhD

Center Purpose:

The Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity supports the learning healthcare system of Wake Forest Baptist Health by advancing health equity and population health research. Its Key Drivers are translational research navigation, health and biomedical science pipeline programming and health equity workforce development, community outreach and engagement, advocacy and social justice.

Goals and Future Directions:

• Conduct quality health equity research
• Develop educational programs that contribute to the health equity workforce within WFBMC, in our partner academic institutions, and beyond
• Build a community center that nurtures relationships with critical audiences in underserved communities
• Facilitate the integration of special populations in research
• Create a Recruitment Center to educate and engage participants in research studies and clinical trials
• Seek funding to support the faith-based community in improving health outcomes
• Promote health equity advocacy and social justice policy change

Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity (MACHE) Poster | Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity (MACHE) Poster PowerPoint

NCTIC Center Directors:
Cheryl Bushnell, MD, MHS
Professor, Neurology

Carol Milligan, PhD
Professor, Neurobiology and Anatomy

Center Purpose:

The mission of the Neuroscience Clinical Trials and Innovation Center is to promote advancement of Neuroscience Research. Our purpose is to move innovative, early phase clinical trials to phase II and III trials aided, in part, by the infrastructure associated with our NINDS StrokeNet and NeuroNEXT clinical trial networks. The overarching goal of NCTIC is to serve as a clearinghouse to facilitate interactions between basic science, clinical and public health investigators to develop and expand new interdisciplinary and translational studies that will improve patient care and outcomes in the neurological disorders. Our Membership embodies our enthusiasm, excellence, and productivity that blurs departmental boundaries and expands our mission to advance neuroscience research and patient care.

Goals and Future Directions:

• To develop a platform for groundbreaking, translational neuroscience research and multicenter trials by building interdepartmental and inter-professional teams of basic scientists, clinicians, methodologists, and biomedical informaticists.
• To expand the current infrastructure to develop innovative approaches and tools for screening, recruitment, enrollment and retention in neuroscience clinical trials.
• To increase the enrollment of under-represented minorities in neurologic clinical trials through effective and enhanced community outreach.

In our first year of funding, we have achieved scientific synergy and developed cross-department collaborations, resulting in multi-investigator studies that will lead to competitive multi-investigator grants and program projects. Our current pilot projects are investigating new diagnostic and treatment approaches for treatment-resistant depression, epilepsy, headache, intracerebral hemorrhage, chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, and myotonic dystrophy. Three of our pilot awardees have obtained extramural funding to further develop their projects.

Neuroscience Clinical Trials and Innovation Center (NCTIC) Poster | Neuroscience Clinical Trials and Innovation Center (NCTIC) Poster PowerPoint

SCHAAP Center Directors:
Stephen Kritchevsky, PhD
Professor, Internal Medicine, Gerontology

Suzanne Craft, PhD
Professor, Internal Medicine, Gerontology

Center Purpose:

The mission of the Sticht Center for Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Prevention is to foster vitality, independence, and resilience throughout the lifespan by promoting optimal physical and brain health. We will discover and disseminate knowledge to achieve this mission through multidisciplinary collaboration in basic and clinical research, research training, professional education, community outreach. With clinical partners, we will develop and apply new approaches for the treatment and prevention of physical and cognitive disability. SCHAAP incorporates two Centers of Excellence funded by the National Institute on Aging: the Pepper Older Adult Independence Center, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. SCHAAP also oversees a robust clinical trials program supported by NIH, foundation and industry partners.

Goals for the next three years:

1. Extend clinical trial opportunities in aging and Alzheimer’s throughout the WFBMC network –building new recruitment pipelines and regional trial satellite locations.
2. Enhance capacity to develop personalized medicine approaches to body and brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease.
3. Build early phase translational research in brain and body aging and Alzheimer’s disease targeting aging biology and brain metabolism.
4. Continue to develop and evaluate interventions that seek to reduce the burden of age-related disease and functional decline through targeting the biology of aging.

Sticht Center for Healthy Aging and Alzheimers Prevention (SCHAAP) Poster | Sticht Center for Healthy Aging and Alzheimers Prevention (SCHAAP) Poster PowerPoint

CPSCHF Director:
Joseph Skelton, MD, MS
Professor, Pediatrics, Epidemiology and Prevention

CPSCHF Associate Director:
Mara Vitolins, PhD, RD
Professor, Epidemiology and Prevention

Center Purpose:

The mission of the Center for Prevention Science in Child and Family Health is to improve the health of children, adults, and families by addressing by incorporating the family unit into health research and clinical work. This Emerging Center was begun in 2021 as a partnership between Public Health Sciences and the Department of Pediatrics to build research infrastructure and expertise to deepen and expand research in children, parents, and families. The complexity of the family system has not been full incorporated into chronic disease prevention. Through interdisciplinary study of the family system in child and family health, there are several potential benefits over conventional approaches, including: identifying previously unknown influences on care and discovering new avenues to improve outcomes; improve cost effectiveness of care through lower-cost interventions and treatment of entire families; increasing treatment efficiency by numerous family members receiving joint care by a single intervention versus parallel adult- and child-focused treatment; and improving overall quality of life, with potential to strengthen the communities in which these families live. Through a matrix-approach across departments and centers, the CPSCHF will incorporate family theory and study methodology into prevention research as an innovative means to improve health.

The following areas independently and synergistically impact the development of chronic disease:

1. Lifestyle and Health Behaviors, with a focus on child and family obesity.
2. Adherence to treatment regimens, including parent and family variable previously understudied.
3. Social determinants of health, addressing the impact on child, family, and community health.

Goals and Future Directions:

1. Develop the Center for Prevention Science in Child and Family Health: establish a framework for productivity, with activities focused on establishing an emerging Center infrastructure, including:
1. Align with WFBH and Atrium research centers, through Center leadership participation.
2. Formalize and implement a sustainable research infrastructure to maximize research activities and productivity around family science.
3. Build academic resources within the Center to increase innovation, educational opportunities, and national recognition.
2. Develop a strategic plan to transition from an Emerging Center to an Established Center.
3. Build synergy and collaboration within 3 overlapping domains of research at WFSM: lifestyle behaviors, SDH, and adherence to treatment. This will be accomplished through team science training, boost and pilot awards, and external funding.

Center for Prevention Science in Child and Family Health (CPSCFH) Poster | Center for Prevention Science in Child and Family Health (CPSCFH) Poster PowerPoint