MSHS in Clinical and Translational Research

[00:00:01.60] KELLY BYRNE: Good day, everyone. And thank you so much for joining us. Today we’re going to discuss the masters in science and health sciences in clinical and translational research from the George Washington University.

[00:00:15.23] My name is Kelly. I want to quickly cover with you, the agenda. And I will do a formal introduction of myself. Today we’re really excited to have this virtual event because this is going to give you the opportunity to learn more about the masters, the graduate certificate option, and clinical and translational research.

[00:00:30.92] Overall, the goal of this presentation is to provide you with a greater understanding of the program highlights, special projects, curriculum, program structure. We’re also going to cover faculty backgrounds, as well, too. We’ll talk about career as far as, like, where people would go and so forth with that. Also, we’re going to talk about start terms, requirements for admissions into the program, as well.

[00:00:54.62] As you can see in the bottom of every screen, you’re also going to have the contact information for the admissions office, as well. We will cover contact information as we progress through the program and go to the final screen, as well. So I’m going to go ahead and give you a more of a formal introduction of me.

[00:01:08.99] That is myself. My name is Kelly Byrne. I am executive program manager for the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. I have over 13 years of experience in online admissions. And I have helped prepare numerous students for success in starting and, of course, graduating school, in both traditional and online environments.

[00:01:26.36] My academic background is I do hold a bachelor’s degree in psychology. I hold a master’s degree in curriculum instruction. And I have a graduate certificate in industrial and organizational psychology.

[00:01:36.32] I do want to go ahead and turn this over to Dr. Nasser. She’s our director for the Clinical and Translational Research program here. Dr. Nasser, if you wanted to go ahead and get started with talking a little bit about yourself.

[00:01:47.04] SAMAR NASSER: Thank you. Thank you, again, Kelly. So just a little bit of background.

[00:01:51.62] I started off as a physician assistant. I am actually from the Detroit area– Detroit, Michigan. And when I started off as a PA, I didn’t feel very secure in my research background. So I was in an internal medicine practice and I was exposed to a lot of clinical research. And my supervisor was a chairman. So that was the first time I’ve ever really been exposed and this is once I graduated.

[00:02:15.17] So it was all new to me. And as I stood there watching all this clinical research happening, from pharmaceutical studies to interventional studies, I realized that I needed more of a solidified background in epidemiology, as well as biostats. So I decided to go for my master’s of public health. And this was at a time where there was no clinical and translational research masters or even a graduate certificate. This before the translational science field came out. I want to say about 15 years ago.

[00:02:47.13] So I took a MPH at University of Michigan and I specialized in epidemiology. So I was able to solidify my research background, apply everything I was doing in research because I worked part-time as a PA and part-time as a study investigator– a sub investigator and co-investigator. And then I started writing grants and working with NIH-funded grants and I realized to be more independent and an independent thinker and a principal investigator on my own, I would have to get a PhD at that point.

[00:03:19.89] So I decided to go for a PhD in a basic science field, which is, kind of, outside of the realm. And it, kind of, takes me back to the lab section because I just didn’t feel very secure in the translation from the lab to clinic. So I chose a field in physiology, which is the study of the human body. And I knew I could apply that on a daily basis to our patients in the clinical research trials, as well as a physician’s assistant– taking care of our patients. And that’s what I loved about it.

[00:03:49.26] So if you look at my background, it actually went backwards from bedside to benchside. So I actually took the continuum a bit backwards. So I actually went from the clinical, the bedside and went backwards towards the benchwork. And now, clinical translational science is trying to take the bench research, take it to the bedside to improve upon patient outcomes.

[00:04:14.39] So my background is a little bit more backwards. However, I was able to take all the critical components that are needed for a clinical translational research program and help develop this curriculum from the inception back in– I want to it was 2010 when this started.

[00:04:32.58] So I have a very wide multidisciplinary background. And I love public health. I love scientific research. I love applying it to the patient. And my ultimate goal is to improve on patient outcomes and improve their health.

[00:04:46.82] One very close near and dear issue to my heart is disparities– racial disparities. And because I was in clinical research and did work in a field where it’s an urban setting. In Detroit, Michigan. We worked a lot with the African-American community. And the disparities were very wide, very significant, very sad. And I’ve spent my career working on exposing some of these issues and working on ways to improve upon these issues.

[00:05:17.52] Next slide, please.

[00:05:19.82] So that’s a bit of my background that I talked about. You’ll see I actually started of as a PA. Then I became the recruitment director, the medical director, assistant medical director at a NIH grant. And I was sub-investigator and co-investigator on several trials.

[00:05:33.91] I developed this really strong passion for teaching when I was getting my PhD. During the time I was in clinic, I was also given the great responsibility of training residents and Fellows. Because my boss was the chairman and he was always gone from the clinic.

[00:05:51.76] So he’d leave the onus upon me because he’s trained me single-handedly for almost 10 years. So he was very secure in my skills so I was training all these other faculty, physicians, residents– all these trainees. And it was really fun, but I really felt I need that physiologic basis. So that’s when I went for that PhD.

[00:06:11.59] Next slide, please.

[00:06:15.07] So I want to talk a little bit about– so that’s a little bit about me. I want to touch on some of the aspects of our faculty. Now you’ll see Dr. Laura Sanapo. Interestingly, she was a student in our program and I recruited her. She is actually, an MD. She’s actually from Italy. And she was working in OB/GYN at Children’s National in DC.

[00:06:35.80] And she impressed me so much with her vast knowledge and how she easily took the translational continuant and applied it to patients in real-time. So she has that real-time exposure where she’s actually applying all these clinical reasoning skills that she developed in the program– translational research. She was just this exemplary model for our students. And so I recruited her to start teaching with me and co-teaching with us as an adjunct.

[00:07:05.29] And you’ll see, she was one of our most excellent students. I also requested her to be one of our– she received an award for one of the most exceptional students. So I recruited her. She works with us part-time as an adjunct.

[00:07:17.32] And then we have another faculty– next page, please– Dr. Ian Toma. Now Dr. Ian Toma is a lot of the basic scientific– the human genomics, the genetics, and how they apply to the different pathological conditions in the human health. He works a lot on basic science research. Trying to develop diagnostic studies. There’s biomarkers that he’s working on.

[00:07:43.09] He worked very closely with FDA reviews, getting approval for these different types of diagnostic markers. And he actually has a background in some of the diagnostic tests in the cardiac vessels.

[00:07:55.60] He is a full-time faculty at our university, but he works with us part-time with our program, as well. So I try to bring in the benchwork, as well as the bedside and mesh the two together.

[00:08:09.29] Next slide, please.

[00:08:12.11] KELLY BYRNE: Thank you so much for sharing all those details. That’s very helpful to get an idea of who our faculty are. Of course, what your background looks like, too. So thank you so much for sharing that. I did want to talk a little bit about why the George Washington University, a little bit about our background.

[00:08:27.32] So we were founded back in 1821, in Washington DC Which is really that center of health care policy, research, and business. Our faculty members here really do connect you to industry collaborators and other experts in the field. And, of course, as a school that’s been around for almost 200 years, we definitely have that strong national global alumni list, a lot of connections, networking, as well, too, for our students.

[00:08:54.14] Also, I wanted to go ahead and I wanted to talk to you a little bit about why choose this program. So I know for some of you, you may never have taken an online course before. Not to certain of what that would look like. But a little bit, first up, of why choose this program.

[00:09:08.69] This really does prepare you to understand practice or lead broad interdisciplinary research initiatives. The way that the format is that it’s asynchronous, which works out really nice for busy adults. It is 100% online. There isn’t a requirement that will take you to campus here and there a couple of times a year or anything.

[00:09:28.59] So a lot of individuals do like that flexibility with the program. In the sense that it does allow them a little bit more convenience in terms of their schedule. It gives them a little bit more of a healthy balance with work, family– if they have families– school, as well, too.

[00:09:42.47] The program is designed to be completed within 24 months, so two years. There are two electives, as well. And we will go into the curriculum a little bit more, too, in future slides. And, of course– like I mentioned, too– we do have those strong connections to alumni networks, as well, too.

[00:09:59.09] But, again, the program definitely– the courses, the practicum, the project, the mentored experiences– are collectively designed to develop basic, biomedical, clinical, community health services, and health policy research into an integrated manner of approaching human health research in the future. So, again, like I mentioned, we will go through and we’ll cover a little bit more detail in terms of the curriculum.

[00:10:22.70] But first off, I did want to talk to you about online a little bit more, too. I was an online student myself. When I did my masters, I was very new to it. Wasn’t sure what to expect.

[00:10:31.64] Absolutely loved it when I got into it. It was definitely more convenient for me, personally, at the time.

[00:10:37.71] But as far as online– so, again, like I mentioned, you can log on when it’s convenient for you. It is an asynchronous type of environment.

[00:10:45.77] It is mobile-friendly. So Blackboard is what we use to deliver our online courses. And there is actually, an app now that you can connect to your phone, too. So you really can take school anywhere that you want.

[00:10:56.99] It’s highly interactive, engaging. I know some concerns I hear from students is, well, am I going to feel like I’m alone? Or is there opportunity for me to connect? Definitely. It’s highly interactive.

[00:11:09.21] There’s lots of services, as well, that we offer to help support you as a student. We have career services. We use something called Handshake, which is GWs online career networking platform. We also use a writing center, as well, which would help you if you’re interested in utilizing that source to make sure that your writing skills up to par or grad level.

[00:11:28.85] We do have GW library resources, as well. The libraries are fantastic. There’s really, a vast amount of research articles and information in there that will help you in terms of your research and being more successful, as well.

[00:11:42.31] This is that faculty perspective, too. Like I said, it’s very interactive and engaging. So you will have that opportunity to interact with your faculty, too.

[00:11:52.74] So a couple of other things, too, that I did want to cover is as far as the key differentiators– well, actually, do you want to cover that?

[00:12:02.07] SAMAR NASSER: Sure.

[00:12:03.03] KELLY BYRNE: Do you want to talk a little bit more about the curriculum? Sure.

[00:12:05.79] SAMAR NASSER: So we are fully online, like Kelly mentioned. One thing about us that really stands out and makes us unique is since I took over the program, I’ve developed a workshop with a lot of top leaders at GW. Those who are in the field of bioinformatics, biostatistics. And I’ve gotten together with them, collaborated, and developed workshops that are in DC and they are live. They are not required through the program, but they’re just enhancements throughout the program.

[00:12:36.87] I try to do at least once a year. And it’s basically, on what a lot of my students have come back and said, oh, I would really like a hands on statistical analysis workshop. So I learned the biostats theory and what it’s doing and how to analyze this data. But how can I apply it for my own data? So we’ve developed, like, once a year like a one day workshop where it’s very intense, but we give the students something that they are looking for.

[00:13:03.60] And during these workshops, it’s interesting because a lot of our faculty register, as well. Because we have leaders from the university and from Children’s National. Experts in the community come in and they help the students. They teach them the theory behind it in the first half. And the second half, we actually analyze the data. So those are just enhancements to the program.

[00:13:24.18] Our curriculum is very tailored. We just went through health science curriculum committee and developed a capstone course. Which I thought was extremely important for our students who are at the end of the program where they have a mentor.

[00:13:38.01] Let’s say, I do have a student at UCLA and he’s doing clinical research with his mentor. So they would have a mentored research throughout the semester, where they would develop an actual journal article. Go through the motions of peer review with us– with the faculty– and their colleagues in the course, as well as their mentor. And by the end of the class, they will have a finalized manuscript developed on their area of interest to submit to an actual journal. So we’ll go through the process of that.

[00:14:08.70] The program does take the basic biomedical, the clinical sciences. We like to touch on the community health services and a little bit of the health policy research. And we have all these different expertise and all these different experiences come into the course. So when we say tailored curriculum, you might be in an online discussion board forum where you’re interacting with somebody who is from Texas, Anderson, or they’re doing work on cancer, but they’re explaining the research process from their standpoint.

[00:14:39.57] And you might be speaking somebody else who is a background in OB/GYN from Children’s National. And you’ll see the similarities and you’ll learn from others’ experiences in the team science course. And that’s the team-based collaborative science course that’s touched upon here, as well.

[00:14:53.71] So we have the state of the art– the distance education platform, but it is extremely interactive. It’s very engaging. And we are available all the time for students.

[00:15:04.17] Even more so, I’ve had students tell me than professors who are in a live university where they only have one office hour for students. So we’re basically open all the time. If you want to set up, like, virtual online discussions, communication via teleconference. We do that, as well. But we’re basically, we’re usually always on our emails. So thank you.

[00:15:29.33] In this slide, I wanted to give a couple of examples of some of the projects that have come through. And here, you see the aim one and aim two is one project where somebody was studying the fetal growth restriction– the effects of it in pregnant women, and they were also studying the longitudinal research changes in the fetal vascular response to maternal hypoxia. So they were studying these and they actually wrote, by the end of their grant writing course, they had a potential grant that was developed where they’re going to take it and submit it for actual grant funding.

[00:16:02.31] I’ve had students come through and do community engagement projects. One of them worked for care. There is a lot of different– it’s a very wide variety. So just to think of translational research as basic science, it is not. It is from basic science from the T-zero level to the T4 to the end of the continuum, where you’re applying it to the patients or to the community level.

[00:16:25.34] Next slide, please.

[00:16:28.91] Some of the testimonials, I actually put them– these are actually quoted directly from the student responses. As you’ll see, the first one, one of our students said, “my CTR coursework equipped me with the knowledge I needed to not only understand the clinical trials and studies that we are conducting, but to help our faculty write their own research proposals. It also helped me in my PhD coursework in the Translational Health Science program at GW.”

[00:16:52.34] So this is one student. And he is actually, a director at a neurology clinical research unit.

[00:16:57.98] Another student was a clinical research coordinator. And this was her quote. She said that the coursework helped her learn further in more detail about the research field. Particularly translational research and what it means and how it helps us address these gaps in knowledge and use that to advance research forward. She also said that this degree helped her gain employment in her current position. And helped her enter the field of, research where she actually always wanted to be.

[00:17:24.65] This student specifically did not have a very strong clinical research background. She was more the coordinator– the study coordinator, but was very interested in applying to the patients, the clinical translational research. So she came in with, kind of, the basic knowledge and she did very well.

[00:17:42.29] Next slide, please.

[00:17:45.22] Another testimonial. The facilitation– like I mentioned earlier about– the discussion boards. Some of them were very helpful. Especially the longer– we had some longer postings where we allowed the students to post one week and then gave them another week to reply to each other.

[00:18:00.51] They liked the pacing of the course, which I thought was really– I was really happy with that. Because I tried to pace it in a very conducive manner for our students. And the assignments were effectively introduced. And they are very useful to scientific writing and they integrated the important ethical concept.

[00:18:16.56] This is another quote. Like I said, Dr. Sanapo, I had caught up with her. And this is a feedback on one of our courses. And they said that we provided very helpful feedback and assignments and discussions. And promoted a positive learning environment. The examples provided for assignments were extremely helpful.

[00:18:32.61] That is actually– I just want to interject– very important because we try to mentor our students. So we lead by example. And the more examples we provide to students, the more we noticed that they’ve been very appreciative of them. And they’ve actually learned more from seeing and more exposure to research. The more you read, the more you’re going to learn. So it’s kind of like more exposure and you’ll be more comfortable with the skills.

[00:18:56.28] They mentioned that we’re always on alert to respond to questions asked. We’re very supportive. So it’s very nice to see that type of feedback.

[00:19:04.23] Not to say we don’t ever have constructive feedback, but we do. And that’s where we took in and actually said we need to do a capstone course. That’s that capstone I mentioned earlier where they work with a mentor to actually develop a manuscript by the end of the program. So that was, pretty much, it on this slide.

[00:19:23.44] KELLY BYRNE: Yeah. Thank you so much.

[00:19:24.76] So I guess, in your own words, what motivated you to become an instructor?

[00:19:29.55] SAMAR NASSER: So I think I touched a little bit upon that in the beginning. I really started to have a passion when I was training residents, training PAs, training Fellows. And I realized, you know what? I think I need to get into the field of teaching and to start develop programs that would build from this objective that I was thinking to teach them in the clinical arena and apply it.

[00:19:53.53] So my whole thing was, how can we apply these skills that you’re going to need to be a great clinical researcher or a clinical translational scientist, how can you take these objectives of what we’re trying to do and apply them to have these practical skills to really enhance your knowledge? So that’s when I really started being interested in developing the program.

[00:20:16.11] So I always was interested in teaching. But in development, it happened a couple of years ago where I really seen a lot of gaps in the research. And if you look at the data, we have about a 17 year gap in taking our research from the benchside to the bedside. So there’s a 17 year gap and we don’t need to have such a large gap.

[00:20:37.80] All these great innovative treatments that are in the bedside should be given to the patient much earlier. So what we’re trying to do here– our ultimate goal is to train more clinicians scientists, clinician trainees, research trainees to get that data from the bench, which is the lab, to the patient to improve their outcomes much quicker.

[00:21:02.62] KELLY BYRNE: Thank you so much. And then, as far as the program– and I know you did a great job explaining a little bit about the curriculum and so forth– but what else? What else do you feel makes this program unique?

[00:21:13.51] SAMAR NASSER: Yeah. Our program, what I really thought to do was take what’s in the literature and apply it. So not just thinking by my experience– of course, bringing in my experience– but also see what has worked before? Look at the evidence based guidelines in practice that’s actually help translational research develop from the benchside to the bedside. What information is out there that actually helped the student bridge that gap?

[00:21:41.03] So what did the top quality leaders do? Look at the evidence-based outcome. Look at the patients’ quality of care outcomes and measures that are most important. And how can these– not only inside the classroom, but outside the classroom– how can you apply these in a real world setting? Thank you.

[00:21:58.10] KELLY BYRNE: Thank you. And what practical application do you use in your instruction?

[00:22:02.98] SAMAR NASSER: So I use so many. So as a clinician, I use my clinical skills. As a researcher, my research skills. As a professor, my educational skills and then my public health expertise. So that’s where I really try and hit upon what’s happening out in the field with disparities.

[00:22:20.33] So I observe these gaps. And I’ve observed this in the clinical setting. With one day, I was just an early trainee as a PA. Probably in it like two years. And I worked downtown Detroit and I walked into a major hospital. It was right in the dialysis unit. And I couldn’t believe my eyes.

[00:22:41.06] I walked in and I see 40-year-old African-American patients on dialysis. And I’ve seen 70-year-old Caucasian on dialysis. And I thought, why do we have such a large disparity here? Why is there such a large gap in the age? You don’t expect to see a 40-year-old patient on dialysis.

[00:23:00.05] So what are these factors that are causing that? And that really set me up for research, for education. As a clinician that thought came into my mind in, how can I impact these from a public health impact?

[00:23:14.24] So that’s when I looked at the factors of racial disparities. And I was very interested in translating evidence-based methods to curb these effects. And I started looking and researching modifiable risk factors, from sodium intake to physiologic factors, your blood pressure. And then looping back to the evidence-based practices. And that’s translating the state of the art clinical research to the patient.

[00:23:36.31] So that was just, like, the larger look, but that was kind of what really pushed me. And for me to apply that in our curriculum, not only the ethical issues, but the modifiable issues. What we can do as not only providers, clinicians, but also as experts in the field of public health, nutrition background. Wherever it is on the continuum– benchwork, lab work– to help the patient population, that’s our ultimate goal. To improve upon our public health. Thank you.

[00:24:09.42] KELLY BYRNE: Thank you so much. So wanted to take a minute, too, and I wanted to talk a little bit about the admissions process in terms of documents, turnarounds, and things like that. But I definitely want to thank Dr. Nasser for doing a fantastic job explaining the program in full detail. Giving us more of an understanding of faculty backgrounds, as well, too.

[00:24:29.31] But yeah. As far as the admissions process goes, so typically what we do require is we do require an application. A current resume or CV. We do require two professional letters of recommendation or you can provide one academic and one professional.

[00:24:45.72] As far as official transcripts, we would require those, as well.

[00:24:49.13] One thing that we do offer right now is we actually will offer to request your official transcripts for you. So we try to make things a little bit easier, as well.

[00:24:57.96] Personal statement and personal statement– your admissions advisor will be more than happy to talk to you a little bit more about that in terms of what you would want to include. What you want to emit, in terms of word length and so forth– or length of personal statement, word count. And, of course, then application fee.

[00:25:14.65] But as far as questions that I get all the time in the admissions office is, what does my professional, what does my academic background need to look like? Typically, we do look for a 3.0 GPA. In terms of professional background, usually individuals would have a background in clinical research.

[00:25:34.00] But Dr. Nasser, would you like to add anything to that? In terms of, like, individuals that you would look for. Like the professional background, what their academic background may look like.

[00:25:45.30] SAMAR NASSER: So if somebody has a really strong background in clinical research or shows a very strong interest in translational research or clinical and translational research and wants to impact the outcomes for these patients, but doesn’t have a strong background in applying it. Like let’s say this is a bachelor’s of science– which I’ve had– coming in right from a biology degree. And they had some exposure volunteering in an academic arena where they were doing some translational research, but it piqued their interest. I’m open to that.

[00:26:20.15] We also have students who are on the extreme end of the continuum. Who are actually MDs working in the field and want to come back to school and learn how to impact clinical research and bring in clinical research into their practice. So that’s where we also add for a certificate. So it’s kind of depending on the background. And then to look at the graduate certificate that we offer versus the clinical translational research masters.

[00:26:46.67] We have the masters CTR. We have the graduate certificate in CTR. And then the one for some very busy providers, practitioners– if it’s a PA that just really wants to learn more about clinical research– they can do the one-year graduate certificate in clinical research practice and get exposure to it. So it kind of depends on your background. But we have a very wide-ranging background. And it’s whatever you’re interested in accomplishing.

[00:27:11.45] And there’s times somebody will apply for a field and then I’ll send them an email. And I’ll say, well, you know what? I think you would probably excel more so in this certificate versus this certificate. And so I’ll give my feedback, but if they come back and say, well, this is my real interest and this what I want to do, then I’ll work with them. And then I’ll work with them and see what’s the best area for them.

[00:27:35.28] So I believe it’s really personalized. That’s why we offer these three levels and these different certificates versus just the master CTR. Because we’ve seen the need. So I hope that answers the question.

[00:27:48.68] KELLY BYRNE: Yeah. No, that’s fantastic. I think that’s good. Especially for individuals who are interested in do I pursue a certificate? Do I pursue a degree? To kind of hear from you what a recommendation would be. But like you said, it’s very personalized.

[00:28:01.76] So you may find maybe the certificate here makes more sense for you based off of this. So I think that’s a huge benefit. And another reason why our program definitely stands out overall is the fact that you get that support from faculty up front.

[00:28:18.13] SAMAR NASSER: Very flexible. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just didn’t want to lose my thought. Because I’ve had a lot of students we’ve accepted to the graduate certificate and then they’ve emailed me and said, can I apply for the masters? Definitely. So we just have to go through the process.

[00:28:33.54] So I’ve seen that. Of course, it makes me feel better because I’m like, wow. They really want a masters because they like what they’re learning. And I see that more so than somebody dropping back into a grad certificate.

[00:28:44.36] But there’s always competing interests. Somebody might think, oh, I have the time. They get in and they realize they don’t have the full amount of time for MSHS and they go for the grad certificate. So there is flexibility so I don’t want anybody to feel like they’re pigeonholed.

[00:28:59.09] KELLY BYRNE: Definitely. Thank you so much for sharing that.

[00:29:02.58] And then, of course, next steps. Like I mentioned earlier on in the presentation, the phone number for the admissions office is at the bottom of all of the screens. The direct number, though, is 202-466-3791. Or you can also send us an m as well. The toll-free number is at the bottom. It’s the 844-386-7323.

[00:29:22.82] Hours of operation– usually we’re here Monday through Thursday from about 9:00 Eastern time. We are in DC. And then, of course, to, I would say, about 8 o’clock Eastern time. And then on Friday, we’re only here till about 5:00. But there’s always somebody here in the office till roughly, around 2:00 or even 3:00 on Saturdays, as well.

[00:29:40.59] So if you wanted to schedule an appointment, you can reach out. Give us a call. We can schedule an appointment with you. Or if you want to email us, as well, too, there’s the email address, as well.

[00:29:52.50] So, again, thanks, everyone, for attending today. I definitely hope this was beneficial. There’s a lot of great information in here, as well.

[00:30:00.52] Any closing thoughts at all, Dr. Nasser?

[00:30:03.32] SAMAR NASSER: No. I think you’ve hit on all the major points. You did a great job. Thank you.

[00:30:07.35] KELLY BYRNE: Great. All right. Wonderful. Well, take care. And we hope to hear from everybody. Thanks so much.

[00:30:12.45] SAMAR NASSER: Thank you.