GHUCCTS

Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources from GHUCCTS and our Member Institutions

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Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for community members, researchers, and investigators from GHUCCTS and our member institutions

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve in the greater Washington DC area, we are following the directives of our respective universities and institutions (see the links below for these). As a result, most GHUCCTS physical offices are closed and we have shifted to virtual support for our research faculty, staff and trainees. All of our services can still be accessed remotely by using the appropriate links on our website. Our Clinical Research Units at Georgetown University Hospital and Howard University Hospital remain open for ongoing studies that require scheduled visits for already enrolled patients, but not for new enrollments or new protocols at this time.

Please submit any questions that are not addressed on our website via the “Contact” tab on the website.  

           
Since our CTSA was recently renewed for its third 5-year cycle, our hub is now eligible to participate in all national CTSA-supported networks and trials. Please review our GHUCCTS investigator resources for COVID-19-related research and let us know if you would like to get started.

Below is a summary of helpful resources produced by GHUCCTS or members of our institutional communities. 

Fighting for Black Lives: Overcoming Vaccine Hesitancy

FIGHTING FOR BLACK LIVES: Black Americans are nearly 4 times more likely to be hospitalized from COVID-19 and 3 times more likely to die from it than white people — so Rev. Dr. Matthew Watley is fighting vaccine hesitancy in an effort to save Black lives.

Take Your Time: Dealing with Trauma Using Mindfulness Approaches During the Pandemic and Beyond (January 28, 2021) |This event, sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute, featured Dr. Aby Washington and GHUCCTS Community Engagement Co-Director Dr. Mary Dutton as a part of their "Take Time Thursdays" series. | Watch Archive (Password: 92H?UpaH)

Howard University Joins Novavax Phase 3 Clinical Trial Vaccine Against COVID-19 | Howard University announces its participation as a Phase 3 COVID-19 clinical study site to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a new coronavirus vaccine developed by Novavax. | Read More

Ethical Implication of Wearables in Pandemic Response: A Call for a Paradigm Shift | GHUCCTS member and Howard University Associate Professor Assya Pascalev, PhD, has co-authored a white paper on the ethical implications surrounding the use of wearable technologies in the strategic response to COVID-19. | Read More 

TIN convalescent plasma study by former GHUCCTS KL2 scholar Dr. Seble Kassaye featured on NBC4 | This trial is led by Johns Hopkins University. MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, MedStar Washington Hospital Center, and Georgetown University Medical Center are serving as subsites for the trial, with support from GHUCCTS and the Trial Innovation Network (TIN). | News Story | NBC4 Feature

GHUCCTS KL2 scholar alumna Dr. Seble Kassaye leads development of confidential COVID-19 symptom tracking tool | Infectious disease expert Dr. Seble Kassaye, associate professor of medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) and former GHUCCTS KL2 scholar, led a team of researchers to develop an online COVID-19 symptom tracking tool. The tool ensures a person’s confidentiality while being able to actively monitor their symptoms. | News Story | COVID-GU

GHUCCTS TL1 TBS Program Director Dr. Kathryn Sandberg repeatedly quoted regarding COVID-19 and gender | Dr. Sandberg is also the Director of the Center for the Study of Sex Differences in Health, Aging and Disease at Georgetown University. 

May 16, 2020 More women than men are dying of coronavirus in Massachusetts. Why is that? The Boston Globe
April 18, 2020 Do testicles make men more vulnerable to the coronavirus?  The Los Angeles Times
    April 7, 2020 In N.Y.C., the Coronavirus Is Killing Men at Twice the Rate of Women The New York Times
         March 20, 2020 In Italy, Coronavirus Takes a Higher Toll on Men The New York Times

GHUCCTS PI Dr. Thomas Mellman offers advice on how to cope with stress and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic | Dr. Mellman appeared on WHUR 96.3 Howard University Radio to share advice on how we can deal with the stress, anxiety, and worry caused by the coronavirus crisis. | Stream Interview

Reasoned action is needed to restart clinical training for medical and nursing students, ethicists say | "Students are not employees of our organizations," said GHUCCTS member Dr. Sarah Vittone. "They belong to the academic institutions, so we want to make sure that they're safe and that they are well-educated." | Read More

Coronavirus highlights nurses' heroic efforts and their dedication to service | GHUCCTS member Dr. Sarah Vittone, assistant professor at Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies and a clinical ethicist at the Edmund D. Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University Medical Center, writes an opinion piece for Fox News | Read More

Apply Advanced Technologies to Fight Pandemics | GHUCCTS member Dr. James Giordano co-authors piece for National Defense Magazine. Dr. Giordano is a professor at the Departments of Neurology and Biochemistry, and Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics Georgetown University Medical Center, and a senior fellow at the Project in Biosecurity, Technology and Ethics at the Naval War College. | Read More

A New COVID-19 Treatment Is Coming, But There's A Catch | A new medication to treat COVID patients will be available next week, but it requires an IV and is in short supply.  MedStar infectious disease expert Dr. Princy Kumar speaks with NPR Weekend Edition host Scott Simon about infection control precautions taken in their infusion center. | Listen to Interview

Howard University and D.C. Department of Behavioral Health to Offer ‘Psychological First Aid’ Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic | The Howard University Department of Psychiatry has announced the COVID-19 Recovery & Resiliency Project, a partnership with the D.C. Department of Behavioral Health. The project is meant to provide education and short-term psychological support to frontline health care practitioners and D.C. residents who are dealing with challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. | Read More

Georgetown’s Rebecca Katz Named Advisor on Biden Coronavirus Task Force | Georgetown University Medical Center’s Rebecca Katz, PhD, MPH, director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security, has been named as an advisor for President-elect Joe Biden’s new coronavirus task force. | Read More

Doctors hope 'old school' technique could help COVID-19 patients | More than two dozen companies around the world are in a race for a COVID-19 vaccine. Researchers at Johns Hopkins and Georgetown Universities are studying whether donated blood plasma from recovered coronavirus patients could help reduce the severity of disease in sick patients or prevent the illness altogether. | Read More

COVID-19 Has Harmful Effects on Children in Low-Income Families, Researchers Find | Since the pandemic hit, nearly 50% of responding parents in a new study of low-income families said they had lost their jobs or had decreased work hours and experienced food insecurity, according to Georgetown psychology professor Anna Johnson, PhD. | Read More

Georgetown Applying Patented Technology to Develop Fast and Accurate COVID-19 Test | After studying the results of a myriad of diagnostic tests used around the world for the virus SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, Georgetown University Medical Center biochemist Mark Danielsen, PhD, thinks he has a solution for making a better test — one that can deliver faster results and be accurate. | Read More

MedStar Researchers Use Visualization Dashboards to Enhance Situation Awareness of COVID-19 Telehealth Initiatives | The researchers used a situation awareness model and five-step process to identify operational end-user needs, along with design and develop visualizations to meet those needs. Three stakeholder groups (healthcare system executives, telehealth leaders, and telehealth managers) were identified and provided with visualization dashboards to seek their relative needs. | Read More

New COVID-19 Policy Mapping Tool and Database Released to Help Inform Decision-making | Amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases and in anticipation of outbreaks intensifying over the summer, the experts behind COVID-Local.org have launched a new policy mapping tool and comprehensive database. COVID-Local is a joint project of four organizations: the Global Biological Policy and Programs team at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), the Center for Global Development, and the Georgetown University Center for Global Health Science and Security, and Talus Analytics. | Read More

New "COVID-19: Back to Campus (Fall 2020)" CITI course module available | The Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) has launched a new course module titled "COVID-19: Back to Campus (Fall 2020)". Complete all three required modules while meeting the score requirements to earn the certificate. | Read More

Conditional Reprogramming: A Novel Way to Study the Novel Coronavirus | For Xuefeng Liu, MD, Professor of Pathology and Oncology at the Georgetown University Medical Center, figuring out how the coronavirus enters healthy cells and blocking that mechanism with antiviral drugs could be the key to mitigating the disease course. To further this investigation, he was awarded one of the 15 COVID-19 pilot research grants from Georgetown University Medical Center in April. | Read More

MedStar Investigators Report on Myocardial Injury from COVID-19 | MedStar Health researchers published a report highlighting two cases of COVID-19 infection with myocardial involvement with distinct mechanistic pathways and outcomes. The cases discussed the important decision strategies for these critically ill patients, such as the timing of cardiac catheterization (when indicated) and the requirement of early hemodynamic support. | Read More

Public Health Physicians: Four Measures Needed to Ensure Public Trust, Safety in COVID-19 Vaccine Development | Public health experts are outlining four key safeguards necessary during the development of a COVID-19 vaccine that will ensure the public can trust that an approved vaccine is safe and effective. Jesse L. Goodman MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Georgetown University Medical Center and Director of its Center for Medical Product Access, is one of the authors. | Read More

Howard University Partners with Black Coalition Against COVID-19 and Community Organizations to Address the Health Needs in DC Community | Howard University announced a new partnership with the Black Coalition Against COVID-19 to support a Virtual Health Ministry managed by The Leadership Council for Healthy Communities (LCHC), a coordinated alliance of concerned District organizations who are prioritizing the needs of the most vulnerable populations, under the leadership of faith institutions, with a focus on providing access to urgent medical care, social services and COVID-19 specific education. | Read More

MedStar Investigates Point of Care Lung Ultrasound for COVID-19 Patients | The research team retrospectively evaluated lung ultrasound images of 10 patients who received point-of-care ultrasound and were diagnosed with COVID-19. The study sought to diagnose and monitor patients who received point-of-care ultrasound and assess the findings. | Read More

‘The U.S. has hamstrung itself’: How America became the new Italy on coronavirus | Georgetown University Assistant Professor Alexandra L. Phelan, S.J.D., LL.M., LL.B., member of the Center for Global Health Science and Security, talks about the role of the federal government in COVID-19 response in the United States | Read More

New Georgetown Report Highlights Health Disparities and Calls for Racial Equity in the District of Columbia | Approximately three quarters of the deaths associated with COVID-19 in the nation’s capital have been among the African American community. A new Georgetown University report illuminates entrenched health and socioeconomic disparities that explain one reason this is occurring. | Read More

Automated COVID-19 Research Tracking Tool Wins International Data Challenge | A new online tool that gathers and organizes COVID-19 research and trending conversations about virus-related research was recognized as the winning professional entry to the COVID-19 Data Challenge from the Pandemic Data Room. The Data Challenge was led by QED Group in partnership with Georgetown University, Medstar Health, Amazon, Tableau, The Reis Group, IDS, Clear Outcomes, Geopoll, Exovera and others. | Read More

MedStar Health Top Enroller for COVID-19 Treatment Clinical Trial | MedStar Health is participating in a multi-center, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial to help evaluate treatment options for patients with COVID-19. | Read More

Everything Old is New Again: Repurposing Drugs Against COVID-19 | Three of the 15 research teams at the Georgetown University Medical Center that received seed funding for COVID-19 focus on “repurposing” drugs to speed efforts against the disease. | Read More

Amid COVID-19, Howard University Medicine Is Sending More Docs to ER Residency Programs Than Ever | The Howard University College of Medicine announced 16 graduates matching into emergency programs for residencies – more than any other year. In addition, 10 soon-to-be Howard-educated doctors matched into family medicine, and eight into internal medicine – other hospital residency programs seen as critical in the fight against the coronavirus. | Read More

Successful Delivery of Baby to COVID-19 Positive Mother: A Case Report from MedStar Health | Researchers from MedStar Washington Hospital Center and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital successfully delivered a healthy baby to a mom and dad who both tested positive for COVID-19. The case report, “An Uncomplicated Delivery in a Patient with COVID-19 in the United States” was published in the April 1 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine. | Read More

Georgetown Explores COVID-19’s Impact on Black Communities | GU President John DeGioia’s Facebook interview series recently featured Christopher King, chair of NHS’s Department of Health Systems Administration, who talked about the impact of COVID-19 on communities of color, and his work and teaching at NHS on the importance of bridging health care and public health. | Watch Interview | Read More

Georgetown Co-Sponsors COVID-19 Data Visualization Challenge | A robust response to the COVID-19 pandemic requires data and keen analysis. Play a role in the response by creating a COVID-19-focused data visualization and sharing with the global health and data visualization communities. Everyone can participate in this Challenge, with separate tracks for students and professionals. Submissions due May 3, 2020. | Read More

Howard University School of Social Work Assistant Professor, Karen Kolivoski, Ph.D. discusses coronavirus’ impact on youth and children in the juvenile justice system. | Kolivoski says that about 82 staff members in juvenile facilities have tested positive for COVID-19 in 23 states. According to the assistant professor, research shows that young people who have less involvement with the juvenile justice system have better outcomes. | Read More

Georgetown University Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Center for Global Health Practice and Impact emphasizes the need for strengthening local partnerships | Dr. Charles Holmes authors piece in ThinkGlobal Health titled "A Global Imperative for Local Support: The novel coronavirus pandemic raises the stakes for strengthening local partners and capacity to deliver health care". | Read More

Howard University Hospital Boosts Capacity to Meet Expected COVID-19 Surge in D.C. | The hospital is responding to the challenge of an anticipated surge in patient admissions during the COVID-19 crisis. In preparation, HUH has erected a new triage tent on the grounds of the main hospital in Northwest Washington and transformed an academic wing in the facility to accommodate the potential increase in coronavirus-related cases. | Read More

Co-Director of the Center for Global Health Practice and Impact at Georgetown University calls for global task force to address COVID-19 | In a wide-ranging interview on the COVID-19 crisis Tuesday, global health leader Mark Dybul, MD called for a greater focus on how the pandemic might spread in the global south and on specific mitigation steps.
Watch Interview

ORNL is in the fight against COVID-19 | In the race to identify solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are joining the fight by applying expertise in computational science, advanced manufacturing, data science and neutron science. | Read More
 
Georgetown Physicist Helps Create New N95 Mask Decontamination Guidelines | Daniel Blair, PhD, an associate professor in Georgetown’s Department of Physics and Institute for Soft Matter, is part of the team helping to create a set of best practices for the decontamination and reuse of N95 Personal Protection Equipment, known as PPE. | Read More

Howard University’s WHUT and Regional Pubic TV Stations Offer Educational Programing During COVID-19 Emergency | The "At Home Learning“ initiative launches on Monday, April 6 on Howard University Television (WHUT), Maryland Public Television (MPT) and WETA. The primary feature of the collaboration is a coordinated schedule of educational programs selected by the stations and available weekdays to viewers free over the air. | Read More

Georgetown University Professor featured in New York Daily News for opinion piece on "Respirators, Our Rights, Right and Wrong: Medical Ethics in an Age of Coronavirus
Daniel Sulmasy, MD, PhD, is the Acting Director of The Kennedy Institute of Ethics and Andre Hellegers Professor of Biomedical Ethics at Georgetown University. | News Story
 
DC area students offer childcare services to support healthcare workers on the frontlines of COVID-19 | DC Covid Sitters, organized by students at the George Washington Medical School, includes medical students from Georgetown and Howard Universities. They seek to "offset the impact of school closures and increased work demands on healthcare workers". | Read More | WTOP Feature

Medical Students Mobilize Swiftly to Organize Donations of Protective Equipment | The movement, MedSupplyDrive, aims to collect unused personal protective equipment (PPE) from researchers, businesses and individuals around the country and coordinate donations to local hospitals with the greatest need. | GUMC Feature

Practical tips to keep your home running smoothly during self-quarantine | Glenn Wortmann, MD, Director of Infectious Diseases at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, shares advice on how fresh air can boost your mood, but may not blow germs away | Washington Post Article


Additional resources:

COVID-19 Basics | The Community Engagement Alliance with NIH is sharing trustworthy and factual information about COVID-19. Learn what you can do to prevent the spread, and protect yourself and your community. | Learn More

NIH COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group: Ethical Quandaries in the COVID-19 Pandemic | Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Grady and her colleagues have provided consultation and have written and spoken about a number of ethical issues related to COVID-19 research and clinical care. In this talk, she will discuss a number of vexing ethical issues that have arisen during the coronavirus pandemic that span clinical ethics, public health ethics, and research ethics. | NIH Videocast

Engaging Racial and Ethnic Minority Patient Populations in COVID-19 Clinical Trials | The Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI) has hosted a free online webinar, Engaging Racial and Ethnic Minority Patient Populations in COVID-19 Clinical Trials. This webinar aired June 18, 2020. | Watch Webinar

NIH announces RADx-UP initiative to improve COVID-19 testing for underserved and vulnerable populations | RADx-Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) will establish a network of community-engaged projects to improve access to and acceptance of testing in underserved and vulnerable populations. The overarching goal of this $500M effort is to understand factors that have led to disproportionate burden of the pandemic on these populations, so that interventions can be implemented to decrease the disparities. | Read More

NIH clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine, a potential therapy for COVID-19, begins | A clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of adults hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has begun, with the first participants now enrolled in Tennessee. | Read More

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program Applications to Address 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Public Heath Need
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is issuing this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) to highlight the urgent need for research on the 2019 novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). NCATS is particularly interested in projects focusing on the use of informatics solutions to diagnose cases and the use of CTSA-supported core resources (e.g., advanced scientific instruments, highly-specialized facilities, and regulatory expertise) to facilitate research on COVID-19 and advance the translation of research findings into diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines. | NOT-TR-20-011

Identifying Best Practices for Conducting Clinical Trials with the New FDA Guidance During the COVID-19 Pandemic | The Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI) recently assembled a diverse group of presenters to discuss how COVID-19 is impacting clinical trials. | View Webinar | Download Presentation

Engaged Research Partnerships During COVID-19: Staying True to Principles of Engagement in Community-Engaged Research Partnerships during the COVID-19 Pandemic 
The Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities (ARCC) supports and promotes community-engaged research partnerships, and has created guidance on how to maintain principles of community engagement during this time. | View Guidance

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has released a COVID-19 Targeted PFA | In order to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, PCORI is issuing a new research funding announcement with an accelerated timeline to support innovative, high-impact studies that fit clearly within our core mission of patient-engaged and patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research. Applications are due May 26, 2020 at 5 PM EST. | Learn More | Download Funding Announcement

COVID-19 National and Global Resources

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Logo

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

The CDC has information about how you can protect yourself, your families, and what you should do if you are sick.

Visit CDC

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Logo

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

The NIH has information on the latest COVID-19 research developments, training for healthcare workers, and updates on what scientists are learning about the virus.

Visit NIH

World Health Organization (WHO) Logo

World Health Organization (WHO)

The WHO has information on the global impact of COVID-19, how countries are addressing the virus, and advice for international travel.

Visit WHO

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