At ACTRI, we are a diverse group of individuals, each with unique qualities and strengths that come together to form a dynamic team united in our mission to advance research and improve healthcare outcomes for society.

Individuals

	Carlos Rojas Operations and Research Services Director
	Eugene Sato, PhD Project and Operations Manager
	CaJuana Capps Senior Project Manager
	Kevin Muschter Senior Program Manager, Research Transformation
	Michelle Madey Clinical Research Business Intelligence Analyst
	Maryam Gholami, PhD Evaluation and Program Manager
	Rebekah Yohe-Lawrence Quality Assurance/Quality Control Project Manager
	Kathy Kennedy Pilot Grants Coordinator
	Victoria Chavez Communications Specialist
	Eva Kintzer Program Manager, Research Education & Training
	Merdardo Gaytan Assistant Project Manager
	Kera Swanson Implementation Specialist & Project Manager
	Amy Westermann Projects and Grants Manager
	Jagriti Goswami Informations Systems Developer and Application Analyst
	Vaijayanti Deotale Business Process Lead, Research Transformation
	Martin (Marty) Spang, PhD Grant Writer
	Parag Patwardhan Grant Writer
	Diego Huerta Project Support Analyst

Services Offered

• Human Resources 

  • The ORS Human Resources team provides support throughout the hiring process (e.g., job description writing, coordinating interview panelists, supporting additional recruitment efforts, general support throughout entire hiring process, and access to a hiring board and supervisor library to support the supervisor through the hiring process) and provides onboarding and offboarding support. 

• Facilities Management

  • The ORS Facilities Management team assists ACTRI staff activating their Health Sciences ID badges so they can enter the ACTRI building and ACTRI Administrative Suite outside normal working days/hours. Along with facility access the ORS team can also help with facilitating key and document management, Office workspace management, and surplus requests.

• CTSA Grant Administration

  • The ORS Grant Management unit supports ACTRI in administering and overseeing grants from federal agencies, foundations, or other entities. We provide support with proposal development, reporting, compliance, evaluation, tracking, and strategic planning.

• Communications

  • Our ORS Communications team plays a pivotal role in bridging the gap between our cutting-edge research and the wider community. The Communications Specialist uses marketing concepts and multiple applications and platforms to perform responsibilities such as planning, developing and implementing basic marketing plans, drafting promotional or marketing materials, working on in-person or online events, conducting basic market research, including but not limited to executing social media strategies and posts, preparation and creation of digital media, website content, as well as content creation for blogs, newsletters, email blasts and press releases, solicitation of advertising, graphic design support, etc.
    
    

Research Transformation: Optimizing research processes, including service portfolio management and process improvement.

Services Offered

Process Management

• Documentation and optimization of administrative research processes

• Application/development of industry best practices and benchmarks

• Gathering and analysis of business requirements

• Change management and training

Workflow Management

• Design and implementation of automated workflow solutions

• Clinical Research service tracking and billing

• Data Science service tracking and billing

Business System Management

• Cloud-based, collaborative business tools and workflow systems (eg, Monday.com, Harvest App, Jotform, Zapier)

• User management and training

• Master data and transactional data management

Performance Analytics & Reporting

• Definition and systematic tracking of business performance metrics/KPI

• Development of management dashboards (eg, Tableau, Monday.com)

• Provision of leadership decision support and ad-hoc reporting

Services Offered

• Support of data integration across ACTRI units

• Dashboard creation and management

• Business Intelligence Strategy

What is ORS Business Intelligence Strategy?

ORS Business Intelligence (BI) provides data-driven decision support to solve complex business problems. 

ORS BI plays a leading role in identifying and prioritizing key initiatives and continuous improvement efforts to advance clinical research at UCSD and partner institutions.  Click the button below to request BI services.

  Some ORS BI Services Include:

• Data integration, automation, and optimization

• Report development and access

• Dashboard creation and management

• Data analytics

At ACTRI, project managers play a crucial role in overseeing and supporting various ACTRI research projects and services.

Clinical trial project managers provide leadership to clinical research coordinators, regulatory staff, and other coordinators, ensuring the smooth operation of specific research studies. They also review research protocols and manage all stages of clinical trials. These managers find solutions to complex issues and oversee clinical research activities at various UCSD locations.

Clinical Trial Support Services Information

Non-clinical project managers within ACTRI contribute to key projects led by the Operations and Research Services unit. They may lead other project managers and are responsible for providing essential business and process analyses, including timelines, financial resources, and process maps. Effective communication with service directors and stakeholders, along with regular reporting on project status, is part of their role. These project managers actively identify opportunities for improving customer service and enhancing ACTRI's overall impact.

Unit program managers are in charge of managing specific units within the ACTRI. The unit program managers are co-led by the Operations and Research Services and the unit faculty leaders. Unit program managers are responsible for overseeing multiple projects that occur within their designated unit. They manage the main unit program, giving detailed attention to program strategy, project delegation, and program implementation. Additionally, they provide oversight to project managers who are working on various projects within a unit.

ORS manages a suite of cloud-based collaboration and productivity applications to support clinical research operations and streamline administrative workflows. These state-of-the-art applications offer intuitive and responsive user interfaces, advanced collaboration and reporting capabilities, as well as seamless, API-enabled application integrations & data connections.