Clinical & Community Resource Core

The Clinical and Community Resource Core (CCR Core) builds on the success of the currently funded Core Center for Clinical Research (CCCR) in the Division of Rheumatology and Immunology at MUSC. Since 2012, the CCCR Patient Resource Core has served the needs of its projects as well as a local, national and international base by maintenance of well-characterized/phenotyped longitudinal cohorts of lupus and scleroderma patients and controls.

A formal survey of the research base revealed a strong, ongoing demand for existing services. The survey also identified additional needs that go beyond the current offerings:

1. Expanded Specimen Collection: There will be an increased focus on collecting chronologic specimens over multiple years, particularly from patients with specific phenotypes, such as scleroderma interstitial lung disease and lupus nephritis, as well as those with specific genotypes.
2. Coordinator Support: Additional coordinator support will be provided to facilitate the collection of fresh specimens and assist with regulatory processes.
3. Consultation for Translational Scientists: The core will offer consultations for translational scientists, focusing on community engagement, study design, and feasibility.

Clinical and Community Resource Core Leadership and Staff

Director:

Jim Oates, M.D., 
Professor and Division Director, Division Rheumatology and Immunology
Vice Chair for Research, Department of Medicine

As Director of the Clinical and Community Resource Core (CCR Core), Dr. Oates supervises all aspects of the CCR Core and serves as a consultant on Aim 4. His oversight includes request fulfillment, informatics build (with Dr. Obeid), health record phenotype process implementation with clinicians, coordination of team activities, and oversight of administrative issues, data entry, and quality control (with the Methodologic Core).

Associate Director:

Diane Kamen, M.D.
Professor, Division of Rheumatology and Immunology
Lead Investigator of MUSC Lupus Erythematosus (MUSCLE) translational research group

Dr. Kamen is an expert in validated measures of SLE activity, outcome and quality of life. She is a member of the Lupus Foundation of America Medical-Scientific Advisory Council, Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC), Lupus Clinical Trials Consortium (LCTC) and Lupus Clinical Investigator Network (LuCIN). Her research focuses on environmental and genetic causes of health disparities among patients with SLE. Importantly for this project, she has been a member of the Sea Islands Citizen Advisory Committee. She serves as leader of the Community Engagement service in Aim 3 and a consultant on Aim 4.

Jihad Obeid, M.D.
Professor for Biomedical Informatics
Departments of Public Health Sciences and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Associate Director of the Biomedical Informatics Center (BMIC) in the South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research Institute (SCTR)

Dr. Obeid collaborates extensively with Dr. Oates to develop the informatics support for the current CCCR. Dr. Obeid is formally trained in Medical Informatics at the Division of Health Sciences and Technology, a joint Harvard-MIT fellowship program funded by the National Library of Medicine. He is involved in multiple major Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Informatics initiatives such as, the Clinical Data Warehouse (CDW), i2b2, REDCap, Profiles, Doxy.me tele-consent and many others. For this project, he collaborates with Dr. Oates as the BMIC lead to complete the informatics requirements of this project. 

Jonathan Flume, Lead Study Coordinator

Mr. Flume ensures that the CCR Core operates according to timelines specified within the grant application and by CCCR Biorepository Requests. He oversees all IRB submissions and compliance issues, assists in recruiting and consenting subjects by attending rheumatology clinics where patients with SLE and SSc are seen, manages questionnaires and clinical collection forms in EPIC EMR and quality control in REDCap, schedules subject testing as needed, and interface with the biorepository for sample collection needs. He also manages the work fulfillment and feasibility of requested services from other investigators (recruitment assistance, specimen/clinical data requisition, protocol development, etc.) and reports to Dr. Oates on progress. He works with the Methodologic Core and the Informatics staff to ensure that all clinical data collected are accurately recorded and filed securely. He adjudicates data from the Data Transfer System into REDCap. He also creates feasibility reports for investigators.

Jacqueline Lipscomb, Sample Technician

Ms. Lipscomb has previously worked in the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and is currently the CCCR sample technician. She maintains the existing and incoming inventory of samples for the CCR Core biorepository, updates sample locations in TissueMetrix, ensures that freezers have preventive maintenance and adequate CO2 backup and functioning alarms, and pulls banked specimens to fulfill requests from the research base.

Lori Ann Ueberroth, Clinical Trials Program Manager

Lori Ann ensures that the CCR Core operates according to timelines specified in this application and by service requests. She oversee IRB submissions and compliance issues. She manages the work fulfillment of the Core for investigators, and manages the remaining coordinators on the Core.