Steering Committee Minutes
NIH StrokeNet Steering Committee Call
Wednesday December 11th 12 noon ET
*All RCCs represented except R06, R10, R11, R17, R18
1. Joe Broderick (NIH StrokeNet PI) Welcome and time line of events
o Intervals for Steering Committee calls –monthly 12noon ET 2nd Wednesday of the month
o Next Steering Committee call will be Wednesday January 8th noon (ET)
o Diane Sparks-MTA will begin to be distributed early in Jan 2014, first to RCC’s , satellites MTAs will follow
o RA’s will come later in Jan 2014
o Diane Sparks will contact each RCC PI prior to sending the MTAs to confirm satellites.
2. Dawn Kleindorfer (Director Educational Core) -Year One Fellowship Fund allocations
o All reallocation or carry-over of funds must be approved by Joanna Vivalda. Funds need to be
designated for educational activity as it relates to the network (per Scott Janis).
o These funds may be carried-over into future project years for fellowship support
o These funds may be used to support fellow educational activities such as travel to the ISC to attend
fellow workshops.
o These funds may be used to support fellow costs not funded for year one
o At the NIH StrokeNet meeting at the ISC, a session for fellows is being planned.
o These funds should not be used for projects unrelated to education.
o These funds may also be used for StrokeNET study coordinator education.
o The NCC is in the process of hiring an Education Coordinator who will send educational updates and
information.
o Discuss your site specific issues with Joanna Vivalda.
3. Scott Janis (NINDS Project Scientist) and Joseph Broderick -Connecting to “outside” Satellites by RCCs
o Satellites need to be linked to one RCC
o RCC’s are not required to add additional satellite sites, but if choosing to do so make sure that both the
RCC and satellite are clear on the expectations and responsibilities of each as stipulated in the
MTAs/RAs
o Satellites need to be affiliated to one RCC (regardless of protocol). Diane will identify where there is a
overlap.
o The NINDS cannot disclose which investigators and their institutions submitted a grant to become a RCC
in the network. However, many of these centers are still interested in being part of the network but to
do so must be affiliated with one of the current StrokeNet RCCs. The RCCs are encouraged to interact
directly with interested centers who may reach out and contact them, however an RCC is not obligated
to add them as a satellite site. An RCC may choose to keep the relationship with the center open and
add them at a future time when studies are initiated to the network and their participation would
benefit the function of the RCC.
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Diane Sparks will discuss with individual RCC PIs the MTA process (legal umbrella) with satellites, and
confirm who will have an MTA/RA. Diane Sparks requested all RCCs send her their NOA to include with
the satellite MTAs.
RCCs will be evaluated as a consortium of their local network rather than evaluating the individual
performance of each of their satellites. It will be the responsibility of the RCC to ensure that their
consortium of sites is recruiting into the network trials and their overall performance will be monitored
by the NCC. While adding satellites could increase recruitment, the RCC must be aware that there will
no additional monies given to their grant for adding more satellites. The only additional source of
money will be through the direct reimbursement for enrolling into the network trials; thus high enrolling
sites will likely benefit in their ability to expand their network and enroll more subjects. The RCC will be
responsible for oversight and management of their satellites, including protocol compliance, quality of
data & ensuring participant safety. RCC’s should choose satellites wisely and consider that it is not
necessary to quickly add sites now.
An NIH StrokeNet SOP for RCC management of a satellite will be available in early January.
4. Joe Broderick- Network participation and governance
o The network will have three scientific and protocol driven working groups (Trreatment, Prevention, and
Neuro Recovery and Rehabilitation) to be formed by members evenly distributed across the RCCs.
o Each RCC is to nominate an individual from their collaborative RCC team for each working group and
rank these nominations by their 1st, 2nd or 3rd choice (this should be the RCC’s preference, not PI’s
preference). A single individual could be nominated for more than one groups but this is at discretion of
RCC. The Executive Committee will select the membership of each of these working groups based on
the recommendations from each RCC. It will be important the committee has requisite expertise and
diversity but as well represents input from for various stroke disciplines (such as Neurosurgery,
Interventional Neuroradiology, Neurology, Physiatry, etc.). PLEASE return the selection form no later
than 20-December.
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There will be 8-10 members assigned to each working group (see attachment). The goal is to make each
working group functional (not too large) but also representative and integrated. Several RCC members
expressed a concern about a potential loss of input from the RCC’s not represented on the working
groups. A major function of the NCC will be to ensure that ideas being discussed or considered by the
working groups are shared across all members of the network and discussed more broadly by the
StrokeNet Steering committee. It is expected that all RCC’s will be involved in proposing and discussing
ideas with the working groups. In addition to these three groups, the network will also form an Imaging
and Educational cores, each with the same membership size as the treatment, prevention and recovery
working groups.
These working groups will provide input and mature protocol ideas submitted from RCC’s in the
StrokeNET as well as being a centralized source to stimulate discussions for priorities and potential
future studies in the network. As a centralized committed they will ensure that multiple, similar
protocol ideas can be collaboratively developed into one relevant trial. They will also work with the NCC
to determine the potential feasibility of new studies, generated both from StrokeNet RCC’s and
investigators outside of the network.
The NINDS expects to publish a StrokeNet specific funding announcement (FOA) for the submission of
new studies to the network in the Spring of 2014. It is expected that ALL studies submitted to be
conducted within the network will use this FOA. This process for the submission of projects will be a
topic for future Steering calls as the mechanisms and SOP’s are developed.
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The writing of a specific SOP for development, evaluation, and incorporation of study protocols in the
NIH StrokeNET is underway.
5. Laura Sauerbeck (Administrative Director) -Website under development
o Each RCC will have its own page on the StrokeNET website. Required content includes RCC Key
personnel (PIs, co-PIs, Coordinators) with their contact information and expertise will be collected on a
site template provided by the NCC.
o Along with the contact information each RCC is also asked to provide a brief (150 words or less)
description about their RCC
o A link to their institution or website can be on each page if desired
o If the RCC wants to have the institutional logo on the website, they are responsible for obtaining their
institutional permission and providing a copy to the NCC
o Any additional content will be welcomed (including pictures) as long as it fits into the allotted space.
During the call, the NINDS press release for the network was sent to sites. It was embargoed for release until 1pm on
12-December.
*Call participant list attached. Please email Rose if you were on the call and not listed. beckmare@ucmail.uc.edu.
√Minutes reviewed and approved by Laura Sauerbeck, Joe Broderick, Joanna Vivalda and Scott Janis.