Engine of Innovation (Think Tank)
Director: David D. McPherson, MD
Co-Director: Robert C. Bast, Jr, MD
Contact person: Maureen Goode, PhD, ELS Maureen.Goode@uth.tmc.edu 713-500-7924
The CCTS Think Tank is a group of creative and productive local clinical, basic, and translational investigators. They provide guidance for CCTS investigators and for the CCTS in general through the following programs:
- Hypothesis-generating conferences. Hypothesis-generating conferences are brain-storming meetings for new investigators. In each meeting, members of the Think Tank, CCTS component staff, and other experienced advisors meet with a new investigator and his or her mentors to discuss the investigator’s research and career-development plans. The goal is to assure that the new investigator hones his or her research ideas into a workable hypothesis and plan for efficiently and rapidly generating useful translational or clinical findings. The advice offered can include ways to refocus a too-broad research plan, ideas about finding external funding, suggestions on local and national collaborators and identifying subjects for studies, and information on the investigator’s specific field of research. The team always encourages maximal use of CCTS resources.
- Biannual Think Tank meetings. The entire Think Tank meets twice a year with CCTS investigators (such as the CCTS TL1 trainees, KL2 scholars, and other CCTS trainees) to share information and establish new collaborations.
- “De-siloization” focus groups. At the first Think Tank meeting, the group established focus groups to address important biological and medical issues that cross the boundaries of specific diseases and specific institutions or schools in the CCTS. The groups are:
o Inflammation
o Musculoskeletal diseases
o Stem-cell research
o Epidemiology and public health
o Metabolic diseases
o Neuroscience
o Vascular issues
Each group includes researchers from the CCTS’s three component institutions who specialize in different but related research areas or diseases. The participants’ combined efforts will synergize research in these areas by addressing the biology and mechanisms that underlie broad pathological processes rather than specific disease states. Each focus group will identify cross-cutting issues their groups need to address and determine how the CCTS can facilitate research on those topics.
For more information on the Think Tank or to schedule a hypothesis-generating conference, please contact Maureen Goode, PhD, ELS Maureen.Goode@uth.tmc.edu 713-500-7924
Name | Title | Department/Institution |
---|---|---|
Robert C. Bast, Jr., MD | Vice President, Translational Research | UT MD Anderson |
Michael Blackburn, PhD | Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences | UTHealth Medical School |
Sean Blackwell, MD | Professor & Chair, OB/GYN | UTHealth Medical School |
Eric Boerwinkle, PhD | Professor & Director, Division of Epidemiology | UTHealth School of Public Health |
L. Maximillian Buja, MD | Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine | UTHealth Medical School |
John H. Byrne, PhD | Professor & Chair, Neurobiology & Anatomy | UTHealth Medical School |
Cheryl M. Chanaud, PhD | Executive Director, Clinical Innovation and Research | Memorial Hermann Hospital System |
Cynthia Chappell, PhD | Professor, Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences | UTHealth School of Public Health |
Stephen Daiger, PhD | Professor, Environmental & Genetic Sciences | UTHealth School of Public Health |
Benoit de Crombrugghe, MD | Professor, Molecular Genetics | UT MD Anderson |
Herbert L. Dupont, MD | Professor of Infectious Diseases and Director, Center for Infectious Diseases | UTHealth School of Public Health |
Carmel Dyer, MD | Professor, Internal Medicine, Geriatrics | UTHealth Medical School |
Lex Frieden, MA, LLD | Professor of Health Informatics | UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics |
Sandra K. Hanneman, PhD, RN, FAAN | Professor & Associate Dean for Research | UTHealth School of Nursing |
Waun Ki Hong, MD | Professor, Thoracic/Head & Neck Medical Oncology | UT MD Anderson |
Samuel Kaplan, PhD | Professor & Chair, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics | UTHealth Medical School |
Daniel Karp, MD | CCTS Multiple PI, Professor, Thoracic/Head & Neck Medical Oncology | UT MD Anderson |
Rodney Kellems, PhD | Professor & Chair, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | UTHealth Medical School |
Dong Kim, MD | Professor & Chair, Neurosurgery | UTHealth Medical School |
Richard Kulmacz, PhD | Professor, Internal Medicine, Hematology | UTHealth Medical School |
Kevin Lally, MD | Professor & Chair, Pediatric Surgery | UTHealth Medical School |
Cheng Chi Lee, PhD | Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | UTHealth Medical School |
David Loose, PhD | Associate Professor and Director, Integrative Biology & Pharmacology | UTHealth Medical School |
Yahuan Lou, PhD | Professor, Diagnostic Sciences | UTHealth School of Dentistry |
Joseph B. McCormick, MD | Professor & Regional Dean | UTHealth School of Public Health Brownsville Regional Campus |
David McPherson, MD | CCTS Executive Director, Professor and Chair, Internal Medicine | UTHealth Medical School |
Dianna M. Milewicz, MD, PhD | Professor & Director, Division of Medical Genetics | UTHealth Medical School |
Isaac D. Montoya, PhD | Clinical Professor, College of Pharmacy | University of Houston |
Kevin Morano, PhD | Professor, Microbiology & Molecular Genetics | UTHealth Medical School |
Barbara Murray, MD | Professor & Director, Infectious Diseases | UTHealth Medical School |
Ponnada Narayana, PhD | Professor & Director, Radiology | UTHealth Medical School |
Raphael E. Pollock, MD, PhD | Professor Emeritus, Surgical Oncology | UT MD Anderson |
John Reveille, MD | Professor, Internal Medicine, Rheumatology | UTHealth Medical School |
Mark Sherer, PhD, ABPP-Cn | Clinical Professor, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation | Baylor College of Medicine |
Filemon Tan, MD, PhD | Professor & Chair, Rheumatology | UTHealth Medical School |
Sally Vernon, PhD | Blair Justice, PhD, Professorship in Mind-Body Medicine and Public Health, and Director, Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences | UTHealth School of Public Health |
Rick Wetsel, PhD | Professor & Chair, Immunology | UTHealth Institute of Molecular Medicine |
Edward T. H. Yeh, MD | Professor & Chair, Cardiology | UT MD Anderson |