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Operations and Research Services

 

About Us

Focusing on operational excellence at its core, ORS offers a wide range of consultative services, project management expertise, and business system support to all ACTRI centers, units, and partner institutions. This includes process improvement & workflow automation, data analytics & leadership reporting, as well as CTSA grant management & progress tracking. 

 

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Services We Offer

Focusing on operational excellence at its core, ORS offers a wide range of consultative services, project management expertise, and business system support to all ACTRI centers, units, and partner institutions. This includes process improvement and workflow automation, data analytics & leadership reporting, as well as CTSA grant management and progress tracking.

Operations & Research Services (ORS) serves as the administrative home for a variety of programmatic functions.

Administrative Operations: Human resources, facilities management, CTSA grant administration, and communications.

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

Data/Analytics: Data integration across ACTRI units, dashboard creation and management, and business intelligence strategy.

Project Management: Embeds Project Managers/analysts within ACTRI units, delivers programmatic support and cross-functional communication while providing administrative support from the ORS team.

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By integrating these critical administrative positions, ACTRI reduces silos of staff supporting individual programs and gives dedicated staff supervision to team members. It allows cross-training and team-oriented approaches to address ACTRI-wide needs.

Meet the Team

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

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Carlos Rojas

Operations and Research Services Director

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Eugene Sato, PhD

Project and Operations Manager

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CaJuana Capps

Manager, CTSA Program

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Kevin Muschter

Senior Program Manager, Research Transformation

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Michelle Madey

Manager, Business Intelligence

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Maryam Gholami, PhD

Evaluation and Program Manager

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Rebekah Yohe-Lawrence

Quality Assurance/Quality Control Project Manager

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Kathy Kennedy

Pilot Grants Coordinator

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Victoria Chavez

Communications Specialist

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Eva Kintzer

Program Manager, Research Education & Training

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Merdardo Gaytan

Assistant Project Manager

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Kera Swanson

Implementation Specialist & Project Manager

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Amy Westermann

Projects and Grants Manager

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Jagriti Goswami

Informations Systems Developer and Application Analyst

 

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Vaijayanti Deotale

Business Process Lead, Research Transformation

 

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Martin (Marty) Spang, PhD

Grant Writer 

 

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Parag Patwardhan

Grant Writer

 

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 Diego Huerta

Project Support Analyst

 

Administrative Operations

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

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

Data/Analytics

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

Project Management

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.

Tools and Systems

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.

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Interested in any of the ORS services?

Submit an ORS Service Request today!

 SUBMIT ORS REQUEST