What is SHARe?
SHARe is a CCTS Partner Network initiative to advance an expert community of practice and to catalyze multi-site clinical investigation. A 14-member consortium launched by the CCTS, SHARe builds on the shared mission and complementary scientific strengths of our Partner Network to develop a truly transformational research enterprise in multisite studies for the Deep South.
Who is in SHARe?
| Auburn University | Tulane University |
| HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology | Tuskegee University |
| Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center | University of Alabama |
| Ochsner Medical Center – New Orleans | University of Alabama at Birmingham |
| Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center | University of Mississippi |
| Pennington Biomedical Research Center | University of Mississippi Medical Center |
| Southern Research | University of South Alabama |
Multi-Site Clinical Trials
SHARe amplifies the power of multi-site clinical trials across the Deep South through strategic collaboration and national partnerships. By connecting regional institutions, communities, and participants to national Trial Innovation Network (TIN) study opportunities, SHARe expands the reach and impact of clinical research. Investigators can propose studies through Trial Innovation Centers (TICs), receive expert input on trial development, and recruit sites through the TIN network. SHARe extends this support for investigator-initiated trials (IITs), offering project development opportunities that foster innovation and accelerate the launch of impactful, multi-site studies.
Sharpening Best Practices
To optimize clinical research performance, SHARe emphasizes the continuous improvement of processes and professional development. Drawing on the Recruitment Innovation Center (RIC) and access to TIN training and webinars, SHARe members gain valuable insights into recruitment strategies and operational efficiencies. The initiative promotes the adoption of best practices in workforce development, technology integration, and collaborative culture. By sharing tools, resources, and expertise, SHARe helps institutions and study teams streamline their research efforts and elevate the quality and impact of their clinical investigation.
Regional and National Research Initiatives
SHARe connects complementary institutional strengths and subject matter experts throughout the region to enhance research initiatives, creating synergy across sites and disciplines. In so doing, study teams are ideally positioned to leverage a broad range of extramural funding mechanisms to advance scientific discovery, including the National Institutes of Health, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and non-profit foundations. SHARe has catalyzed projects and teams to further health improvements related to stroke (StrokeNET: UMMC, UAB, USA), nutrition research and physical activity (2 NORCs, MoTrPAC, Precision Nutrition: PBRC, UAB. LSUHSC), genomic medicine (All of Us: UMMC, USA, UAB, LSUHSC, Tulane) and community health outcomes (Forge AHEAD: UMMC, PBRC/Ochsner, UAB). These efforts demonstrate SHARe’s capacity to support high-impact, multi-site research that addresses regional health while contributing to national scientific advancement.
Why Engage with SHARe?
- Streamlined IRB Process: Multisite studies and clinical trials require a high degree of coordination among study sites. SHARe reduces the redundancies and eases the administrative burdens that slow typical time-to-activation. CCTS SHARe members sign on to a master IRB reliance agreement (SMART IRB), streamlining the review process.
- Expanded Recruitment Reach: Multisite studies and clinical trials frequently struggle with recruitment. SHARe offers access to a large, regional, and varied patient population. Whether you are studying a rare or chronic disease, looking for a genetic anomaly, or examining precision effects of an intervention, the SHARe network increases the catchment of potential participants who meet your research criteria.
- Accelerated Innovation & Collaboration: Multisite studies and clinical trials that participate in SHARe will help spur network-wide innovation among all faculty and health care providers, resulting in discoveries that can rapidly improve health care and, ultimately, benefit communities across the region.
Principal investigators from across any SHARe institution who are interested in proposing a study should contact the SHARe Administrative Director, Christina Cenczyk, MSCJ, for more information.
SHARe Advisory Committee
The SHARe Advisory Committee provides scientific leadership and oversight for the group’s activities, including enhancing the structure of proposed studies, creating productive collisions among experts, and promoting scientific or operational solutions to accelerate translation. Each institution appoints its own members. The SHARe Advisory Committee meets on the second Thursday of every month from 12:00-12:30 pm CT.
Interested in learning more? Contact a SHARe Committee member at your institution; Christina Cenczyk; or Vivian Fonseca, MD, FCRP, Medical Director to join the conversation!