EQuaTR Conference Illuminates Complexities of Research Environments
The recipe for putting 10 pounds of flour into a five-pound sack depends on the chef, says Anju Peters, MD, director of the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute’s Center for Clinical Research (CCR).
“The biggest thing in dealing with a busy principal investigator is to know their communications preference,” said Peters, at the annual Enhancing Quality in the Translational Research Workforce (EQuaTR) Conference. For Peters — who wears many coats including as a physician, investigator, and director of the Northwestern Medicine Clinical Research Unit — the way to cut through the clutter can be with a simple text message. “The two groups of people that I make every effort to respond immediately to are my children and my research coordinators.”
With nearly 200 professionals in clinical and translational research in attendance, this year’s annual EQuaTR Conference created space to discuss the often-complex environments where research takes place. Plenary talks by Samuel Volchenboum, MD, PhD, associate director at the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM), and Karriem Watson, DHSc, MS, MPH, president and chief executive officer at UI Health Mile Square Health Center, explored “Artificial Intelligence and Improving Human Health” and “Developing a Community Responsive Research Agenda: Partnering with FQHCs for Research,” respectively.
- EQuaTR 2025 opened with a plenary talk by Samuel Volchenboum, MD, PhD, associate director at the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM), who discussed “Artificial Intelligence and Improving Human Health."
- The conference is a longstanding collaboration between NUCATS, ITM, and the Center for Clinical and Translational Science.
The conference is a longstanding collaboration between NUCATS, ITM, and the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, and is led by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine’s Sharon Rosenberg, MD. Rosenberg works alongside an advisory board tasked with developing an annual conference agenda that aims to engage the larger medical community while simultaneously providing breakout sessions to connect in smaller settings.
“Unique challenges and a changing landscape created a more intense focus on building and maintaining our research community this year,” says Rosenberg. “The EQuaTR Conference thrives because it appeals to the robust Chicagoland community with targeted goals to enhance knowledge, network, and foster discussion among research professionals.”
Breakout sessions were led by Denise Snyder, MS, RD, associate dean for clinical research at Duke University School of Medicine, and Kevin Hellman, PhD, codirector Gynecology Research Lab at the University of Chicago. Peters was joined as an EQuaTR panelist by Loyola University’s Emily Anderson, PhD, MPH, Northwestern’s David VanderWeele, MD, PhD, and Ravi Kalhan, MD, MS, and research coordinators James Benning, CCRP, Jenny Hixon, BS, CCRC, and Yasmeen Ali, MD, MSL.
Moderated by Les Cooke, ITM’s clinical research regulation and training lead, a patient, research participant, and research advocate panel featured robust discussions of lived experiences.
The EQuaTR Conference is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through Grant Numbers UM1TR005121, UL1TR002389, and UL1TR002003. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Written by Roger Anderson
