OCTRI People and Programs
Executive leadership

David H. Ellison, MD, FASN, FAHA
Director & PI

Cynthia Morris, PhD, MPH, FAHA
Senior Associate Director & co-PI

Chris Larsen, MS
Associate Director

Jackie Shannon, PhD, MPH
Associate Director

Adrienne Zell, PhD
Assistant Director
OCTRI programs and services
OCTRI is comprised of more than 10 teams that provide a wide variety of programs and services designed to support and advance clinical and translational research. Review a diagram of OCTRI programs here.
The BERD team provides biostatistics support to basic, clinical and population science investigators with the goal of improving scientific quality and rigor of translational research.

Jodi Lapidus, PhD
Director, OCTRI BERD
Director, OHSU Biostatistics & Design Program
lapidusj@ohsu.edu
503-494-2551
For more information, visit the BERD program web page or email: bdp@ohsu.edu
The CTRC is OCTRI’s laboratory for human research and provides participant-based services for investigators, including nursing, bionutrition, study coordination and inpatient and outpatient facilities.

Mary Samuels, MD
Director, Clinical and Translational Research Center
samuelsm@ohsu.edu
503-504-4027

Sue Downs, RN, MSN, MBA
Nursing Services Manager
downss@ohsu.edu
503-494-6227

Amber Gordon, MHA, MLS (ASCP) CM, CCRP
Study Coordinator Unit Manager
gordoamb@oshu.edu
503-494-4233

Julia Jordan, MS, RD, LD
Bionutrition Unit Manager
jordanju@ohsu.edu

Clive Woffendin, PhD
CTRC Lab Manager
woffendi@ohsu.edu
503-494-7148
For more information on services and contact personnel, visit the CTRC web page.
The OCTRI Community Research Hub is a centralized office, located in Bend Oregon, through which researchers, community members and organizations can be connected and supported in order to facilitate, grow and strengthen community-engaged research.

Jackie Shannon, PhD, MPH
Director, OCTRI Community Research Hub
shannoja@ohsu.edu
503-494-4993

Kim Brown, MBA
Community Research Senior Manager and Strategist
browki@ohsu.edu

Laura Campbell, MBA, MPH
Community Research Program Manager
camplaur@ohsu.edu
For more information about services and contact personnel, visit the OCTRI Community Research Hub website.
The OHSU Evaluation Core assists OHSU researchers and community organizations with planning and implementing effective program evaluation.

Adrienne Zell, PhD
Director, OCTRI Evaluation
Assistant Professor,
OHSU/PSU School of Public Health
zell@ohsu.edu
For more information about the Evaluation Core team and services, visit the Evaluation Core web page.
The HERN team uses evidence-based methodology to amplify patient and caregiver voices in order to improve understanding of patient experiences, illuminate patient preferences, and contribute to the design and conduct of patient-centered research.

Erika Cottrell, PhD, MPP
Director, Health Experiences Research Network
cottrele@ohsu.edu

Vivian Christensen, PhD
Co-Investigator
christev@ohsu.edu

Lauren Tarlow, MS
Research Associate
saxtonl@ohsu.edu
For more information on HERN goals and methodology, visit the HERN national website.
The OCTRI Informatics program accelerates translational research by providing informatics tools to leverage clinical data, developing state-of-the-art clinical research data collection and management software, and resolving research bottlenecks to enable new research modalities.

Robert Schuff, MS
Co-Director, OCTRI Informatics, Lead for Clinical Research Informatics
schuffr@ohsu.edu
503-494-5654

Shannon McWeeney, PhD
Co-Director, OCTRI Informatics, Lead for Translational Bioinformatics
mcweeney@ohsu.edu
503-494-8347
For more information on services and capabilities, visit the OCTRI Informatics or REDCap web pages.
The IPA team provides direct support for novel translational research through pilot project funding, support for strategic initiatives, career development awards, scholarships, education and networking opportunities for Portland's growing entrepreneurial community.

Aditi Martin, PhD
Director, OCTRI Innovation Programs and Awards
Senior Director, OHSU Collaborations and Entrepreneurship
martiad@ohsu.edu

Jonathan Jubera, MBA
Project Manager, Biomedical Innovation Program
jubera@ohsu.edu
503-805-8179

Melissa Mudd, MPH
Research Associate
muddm@ohsu.edu
503-494-1498
For more information, visit the Pilot Awards and Innovation and Entrepreneurship web pages or download the 1-pagers on OCTRI Pilot Awards and OCTRI Innovation Education.
The ISP team drives access and inclusion for special populations in research by leveraging existing institutional strengths, engaging partners, building collaborations, and employing innovative tools and trainings.

Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH
Director, Integrating Special Populations
eckstrom@ohsu.edu
For more information, visit the Recruitment web page or read more about NIH policy on inclusion across the lifespan .
OCTRI Navigator
The OCTRI Navigator team is your one-stop shop for questions about clinical and translational research at OHSU.

Kitt Swartz, MPH
Navigator Manager
swartzk@ohsu.edu
503-346-3540

Madeline Cresswell
Assistant Navigator
cresswem@ohsu.edu

Alina Dunbar
Assistant Navigator
dunbaal@ohsu.edu
For more information on accessing OCTRI services, visit the Navigator web page.
Recruitment
The OCTRI Recruitment team connects with research teams to ensure they have the tools and support they need for successful recruitment and retention throughout their studies.

Meredith Zauflik, MPA, ICDVP
Recruitment Specialist
zauflik@ohsu.edu
For more information on OCTRI recruitment support services, visit the Recruitment web page.
The RKS team provides expertise and support to help researchers successfully and efficiently comply with local and federal regulations required for the initiation and conduct of clinical and translational research.

Bridget Adams, MSHS, CCRA
Regulatory Knowledge and Support Manager
adamsb@ohsu.edu
503-494-5077

Ashley Price
Senior Research Assistant
price@ohsu.edu
For more information, visit the OCTRI Clinical Research Development and Consultation and the OCTRI Research Forum web pages.
OCTRI offers a wealth of educational and training opportunities for faculty, fellows, students, study coordinators, mentors, and mentees. Learn more at OCTRI's Training & Education web page.
Director

Cynthia Morris, PhD, MPH, FAHA
Program Director, Translational Workforce Development
Co-Director, KL2 Program
Co-Director, TL1 Program
morrisc@ohsu.edu
KL2 Program

David Jacoby, MD
KL2 Program Director
jacobyd@ohsu.edu

Melissa Mudd, MPH
Research Associate
muddm@ohsu.edu
503-494-1498
OSLER TL1 Program

Allison Fryer, PhD
TL1 Program Director
fryera@ohsu.edu

Karen McCracken, BA, BSN
Education Program Coordinator
mccracke@ohsu.edu
503-494-3095
CTSA program partners

Since 2017, OCTRI has been a key partner in establishing and leading the multi-institution Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program, the National Center for Data to Health (CD2H). The CD2H accelerates advancements in informatics by promoting data reuse and interoperability, tool sharing, informatics fluency, and collaboration across the entire CTSA network.

Melissa Haendel, PhD
Director, Center for Data to Health
Director, Translational and Integrative Sciences Lab
melissa@tislab.org

Anita Walden
Assistant Director, Center for Data to Health
waldenan@ohsu.edu

Andréa Volz
Engagement Manager, Center for Data to Health
waldenan@ohsu.edu

Connor Cook, MA
Program Manager, Center for Data to Health
cookcon@ohsu.edu

Racquel Dietz
Administrative Assistant, Center for Data to Health
dietzr@ohsu.edu
For more information about the Center for Data to Health, please visit the CD2H webpage. For more information on Dr. Haendel's work and team at the Translational and Integrative Science Lab, please visit the TIS Lab website.

Building a COVID-19 Analytics Platform to Turn Clinical Data into Knowledge
The National Institutes of Health has launched a centralized, secure enclave to store and study vast amounts of medical record data from people diagnosed with coronavirus disease across the country. It is part of an effort, called the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C), to help scientists analyze these data to understand the disease and develop treatments. The N3C harnesses the extensive resources of the NCATS-funded Clinical and Translational Sciences Awards (CTSA) Program and its Center for Data to Health (CD2H), with overall stewardship from NCATS.
The initiative will create an analytics platform to systematically collect clinical, laboratory, and diagnostic data from health care provider organizations nationwide. It will then harmonize the aggregated information into a standard format and make it available rapidly for researchers and health care providers to accelerate COVID-19 research and provide information that may improve clinical care.
There currently are 35 collaborating sites across the country. Diverse data from individuals tested for COVID-19 and related diseases are provided by institutions and organizations that execute the NCATS Data Transfer Agreement (DTA). Data access will be open to all users under a forthcoming NCATS Data Use Agreement (DUA), regardless of whether they contribute data. NCATS is taking multiple security and privacy measures such as implementing user registration, federated login, data use agreements with institutions and data use requests with users.
For more details, see the N3C FAQs. Register for access to the N3C Data Enclave here.
Administrative teams

Trish Pruis, PhD
Manager, Strategic Planning
pruist@ohsu.edu
The Finance and Operations Team strives to ensure that your OCTRI experience is smooth and successful, particularly in the areas of finance, human resources, facilities, technology resources and general operations.
Director

Christine R. Larsen, MS
Director, Finance and Operations
larschri@ohsu.edu
Operations

Margaret Wade
Operations Manager
wadem@ohsu.edu

Denise Duncan, MEd
Project Manager
Executive Coordinator to David Ellison, M.D.
duncande@ohsu.edu

Leticia Lares
Administrative Coordinator
lares@ohsu.edu
Finance

James Trotter
Financial Analyst 2
trotterj@ohsu.edu

Jenny Trotter
Financial Analyst 2
trotteje@ohsu.edu

Star Leigh Wall
Financial Analyst 1
walls@ohsu.edu

Trying to locate OCTRI?
OCTRI headquarters are located on the 4th floor of the School of Nursing at the OHSU Marquam Hill campus in Portland, OR.
If you have trouble locating our office, please call:
OCTRI Mailing Address
Mail Code: SN4N
3181 SW Sam Jackson Pk Rd
Portland, OR 97239-3098