Stories with Impact

Last fiscal year, the Northwestern Medicine Clinical Research Unit received more than 2,500 visits across approximately 250 studies within eight service lines. Gaining a comprehensive understanding of workflows required careful planning and collaboration to enact changes without disrupting services. 

Enterprise Data Warehouse Analyst Diogo Costa conducted a data management project to improve: standardization by implementing uniform data collection for all eight service lines; automation by reducing manual labor with data extraction from EPIC into key reports; and accessibility by creating live visual dashboards available at all times for key data metrics.

“Streamlining data management minimizes manual labor and ensures timely reporting,” says Costa. “These enhancements enable better analysis of data and trends, leading to informed decision-making and optimized resource allocation.”

NITRO Office hours Launched to Support academic innovators

The NUCATS Institute and Innovation and New Ventures Office (INVO) launched NUCATS & INVO Translational Research Office Hour (NITRO) Talks to support academic innovators across the Northwestern ecosystem. Held in a hybrid format, eight monthly sessions were held in 2025.

“We've been pleasantly surprised that the NITRO hours have attracted scientists from numerous departments, across all levels (faculty, staff, trainees) at the University,” says INVO Director Lisa Dhar. “The sessions provide an open forum for anyone to bring their questions and learn about topics related to entrepreneurship in an informal setting. We've been able to increase awareness, interact with new researchers thinking about commercializing their science, and provide additional resources and support to those who ask.”

Recruitment, Retention, Ethics Consults Launch

The Institute launched new programs to increase the capacity of investigators and study teams to conduct and communicate clinical and translational science that is ethical, generalizable, innovative, and rigorous through expert consultation and trainings. A Recruitment and Retention consultation service co-led by Kathryn Macapagal, PhD, and Andrés Alvarado Avila, launched in June, and conducted nearly five consultations per month.

Recognizing the importance of the ethical conduct of research, and the centrality of the principle of justice in research ethics, NUCATS enhanced its dedicated Clinical Research Ethics Consultation service co-directed by Seema Shah, JD, and Irene Blanco, MD.