CTSO Announces New Medical Director Committee

Due to the economic recovery plan, the Clinical Trials Support Office (CTSO) has restructured their medical director support. Going forward, a Medical Directors Committee has been formed with representation from each of the seven Clinical Trials Support Units (CTSUs). The committee is comprised of a Chair, Vice-Chair, and five committee members, all with staggering term limits. The committee will provide oversight of the CTSUs and offer a faculty perspective to CTSU operations.

2020 Medical Director Committee Roster

• Chair – Peter Higgins (Ambulatory & Chronic Disease) 
• Vice-Chair – Keith Aaronson (Heart, Vessel, Blood) 
• Judy Heidebrink (Neurosciences & Sensory) 
• Caren Goldberg (Children's) 
• Bob Hyzy (Acute, Critical Care, Surgery, & Transplant) 
• Chris Lao (Oncology) 
• Steve Taylor (Behavior, Function, & Pain)

Many members of the 2020 Medical Director Committee have represented CTSUs prior to the formation of the new committee. The CTSO is happy to welcome two new additions – Caren Goldberg, M.D., M.S., representing Children's and Judy Heidebrink, M.D., M.S., representing Neurosciences & Sensory. 

Joining the Team

Caren Goldberg, M.D., M.S. is a clinical professor of pediatric cardiology, caring for patients in clinic and in the pediatric acute cardiac care unit. She is the Director of the Michigan Congenital Heart Outcomes Research and Discovery (MCHORD). She serves as one of the principal investigators at the University of Michigan for the NHLBI-funded Pediatric Heart Network (PHN). Dr. Goldberg is the co-chair of the PHN’s long term follow-up study of the Single Ventricle Reconstruction cohort. Her research interests are focused on methods of improving long-term outcomes, including neurodevelopmental and quality of life outcomes, for children with congenital heart disease. She serves as the medical director for the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Follow-up program within the University of Michigan Congenital Heart Center and is currently the co-chair of the multicenter multidisciplinary Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Outcome Collaborative (CNOC). She is interested in research and helping others with their research, both because it's fun and because it helps us to answer important questions to serve patients and families. 

 

Judy Heidebrink, M.D., M.S. is a Clinical Professor of Neurology and the Richard D. and Katherine M. O’Connor Research Professor of Alzheimer’s Disease. She completed her Neurology residency, Geriatric Neurology fellowship, and MS in Clinical Research Design and Statistical Analysis all at the University of Michigan. She directs the Neurology Cognitive Disorders Clinic and is co-leader of the Clinical Core of the Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. She has been involved in collaborative clinical trials in dementia for over 20 years, including phase I-III studies focusing on the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s dementia. In addition, she has led the University of Michigan’s participation in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative since the inception of this longitudinal observational study of brain imaging and other biomarkers in the progression from normal aging to dementia.