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Dear Colleagues,
Thank you for taking time to read about what is happening this fall at PAVIR.
This is a busy time of year: we have just ended Fiscal Year 2019 and completed the development of the FY20 budget, each involves many, many financial transactions; we are making decisions about our employee benefit offerings and preparing for Open Enrollment; there is an NIH proposal deadline this week and lots of project close-out activity; and we are welcoming new employees. From June through August, you developed and submitted 23 sponsored research proposals, of which 14 are NIH proposals. With all the busyness, there is also considerable excitement.
FY19 Budget
We have spent much time this past year discussing finances and budget, and I’m pleased to report that our consolidated efforts and collaboration resulted in the desired outcome. We ended FY19 in a better and stronger financial position than budgeted, reducing the budgeted deficit significantly. This is the result of: changes we made in reducing administrative staffing and personnel expenses; VAPAHCS funding for shared research activities; a temporary reduction in the PI Admin allocation; and an increased negotiated indirect cost rate. I appreciate PIs’ cooperation and compliance with the requirement to spend the PI Admin fund allocation in the fiscal year it is distributed. We are closing the books on FY19, and in our next newsletter we will report on our FY19 financial and sponsored research activity.
PI Admin distribution restored to 8%!
The PAVIR Board of Directors approved management’s proposed FY20 budget, and I’m pleased to report that it includes the restoration of the PI Admin allocation to 8% for FY20. This was our principal priority in developing the FY20 budget.
The FY20 budget assumes, based mostly on awards already in hand, that we will have 7% growth in our direct and indirect revenue; this reflects your success in securing renewed and new sponsored research funding.
We are experiencing staffing turn-over and shortages in our Contracts and Grants unit, and I apologize for the inconvenience this may be causing you. We are focused on filling these positions with people who can effectively and professionally serve you and meet your needs.
During the National Association of Veterans’ Research and Education Foundations’ (NAVREF) 27th annual conference in September, Mary Thornton and I individually led and presented two sessions to share PAVIR’s experience and knowledge with the 81 other Nonprofit Corporations (NPCs) like us located at VAs across the country. It is exciting to know that PAVIR is regarded as an NPC leader within the NAVREF and VA communities.
Affirmative Action Plan
We have an annual Affirmative Action Plan, and we hold ourselves accountable to fulfilling it. Our FY18 goal was to recruit and appoint more female managers and supervisors, and I am pleased to report that we met and exceeded this goal. We will continue to focus on this, and our goal for FY19 is to recruit and appoint more disabled individuals and veterans in several job groups.
Retirement Plan Audit
Each year we have an external audit of our Retirement Plan, and we recently completed our most recent audit. The auditors found no issues, and we received a “clean” audit report, which means there are no financial issues and that PAVIR’s Retirement Plan accounting and management practices meet and exceed all standards. You can be confident that we are managing our $19 million retirement plan appropriately and effectively.
We are excited to share news about new employees and recent sponsored research awards as well as programs to improve our work environment. With your engagement and strong work, we’ll continue to be a voice for learning and research and a site where our basic research and clinical trials make a difference -- for Veterans, in our country and around the world.
I hope you enjoy reading about PAVIR’s news and some of the remarkable activities that make PAVIR a vibrant community. As always, I want to thank you for your ongoing partnership and support of PAVIR.
Please let me know if have any questions or comments.
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PAVIR Employee Engagement Survey Results
Thank you for participating in the employee survey sent out in August.
To find out more about the survey results click here.
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Dr. Mark Nicolls Collaborates with New Nobel Laureate
Nobel Prize science is being used to help lung transplant recipients.
Read More
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VAPAHCS Farmers Market & Carrot CouponsThe Palo Alto VA Farmers Market is open every Wednesday in front of building 100. There is still time to spend your carrot coupons before they expire on November 13, so make sure to come by and pick up some strawberries, honey, or this week's special deal.
For more information about the Carrot Coupon program, please click here.
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 Details for the below positions can be found at: https://pavir.applicantpro.com/jobs/.
Film and Video Editor Job Opening (Temporary, part time)
We are looking for someone who has experience in video editing and using Final Cut Pro.
Statistical Analyst - Biostatistics Job Opening (full time)
We are looking for someone with experience in the analysis of clinical data, especially in large database analyses.
Contracts & Grants Post-Award Analyst (full time)
We are looking for someone with experience in Federal, post-award research administration in medical research environments, including NIH and DOD funding.
Clinical Research Program Manager (full time)
We are seeking someone to serve as a content expert for clinical trials and industry sponsored research within PAVIR administration and to the VA research community.
Clinical Trials Financial Specialist (full time)
We are seeking someone to manage the pre- and post-award activities of industry sponsored clinical trials.
Associate Director of Research Administration (full time)
The Associate Director will manage, train, motivate, and supervise Pre-Award and Post-Award Contracts & Grants staff.
Contracts & Grants Assistant (full time)
We are looking for someone who will provide general administrative support and perform a variety of administrative duties in research administration.
Reminder: Share our job postings with your friends and receive a $100 referral bonus for each person who gets hired!
PAVIR Facebook
Check us out on Facebook and give us a “Like” and “Share”!
https://www.facebook.com/PaloAltoVeteransInstituteforResearch/
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PAVIR Open Enrollment
PAVIR benefits open enrollment period is fast approaching. The exact dates will be announced soon, but, as in previous years, open enrollment will take place in November with benefit elections effective January 1, 2020.
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Grant Proposals & Deadlines
PAVIR and Stanford have agreed that all proposal submissions involving a Dually Appointed Person (DAP) will be sent to PAVIR’s intake to analyze where the preponderance of work will take place. This was a decision made in concert with the VA Research Administration office to ensure adherence to the Master Agreement executed between PAVIR and Stanford. The agreement defines the preponderance of work as >50% of modified total direct costs, irrespective of which Institution’s budget pays for the cost, and emphasizes location of work.
 Contracts and Grants is in the middle of another busy season of proposal submission deadlines, and continues to accept applications for late fall. PIs needing PAVIR support for grant submissions should send requests to PreAward@pavir.org as early as possible so that we may assure adequate resources to assist with the application.
Please be reminded of the internal 5-business day before deadline due date to submit your final documents, as we cannot guarantee administration of an award for which PAVIR has not been given adequate time to review for regulatory and institutional compliance. We reserve the right not to accept last-minute proposal submissions.
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PAVIR IPA Guidelines
IPAs are agreements pursuant to the Intergovernmental Personnel Act which provides a mechanism for the Federal Government to share staff across institutional boundaries. Here at VAPAHCS, IPAs are usually implemented to allocate PAVIR or Stanford employees to VA funded projects.
Things to keep in mind:
- 60 Day Break: The IPA mechanism may not be used for more than two years without amendment, or for a total of four years without a break in service of 60 days.
- WOC appointments: All VA compliance requirements must be met prior to IPA start date and activation. This includes that the WOC appointment must cover the entire IPA appointment period. If the WOC is scheduled to expire prior to the IPA appointment period, either the IPA or the WOC appointment must be adjusted.
- To assure seamless implementation at the desired IPA start date, IPA requests must be submitted to the Contracts & Grants Analyst one month prior to the start date.
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Independent Contractors
A recent California Supreme Court ruling established the “ABC Test” to determine the correct classification of Independent Contractors (IC). The guidelines are much stricter and presume that all individuals are employees. An IC classification is only permitted if the hiring business can prove all three of the following are true (the burden of proof is on the employer):
- That the worker is free from the control and direction of the hirer in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of the work and in fact
- That the worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business
- That the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as that involved in the work performed
In response, PAVIR has changed the review process for onboarding ICs. Please be advised that IC requests are being reviewed thoroughly for compliance with the ABC tests. Requests that do not meet the new requirements will be denied, and the hiring manager will be referred to the HR Recruiting team to hire the individual as an employee.
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| PI |
Project Title |
Sponsor |
Amount |
| Peter Bayley, Ph.D. |
Feasibility of At Home Telehealth Yoga for Treating Chronic Pain |
NIH / NCCIH |
$610,961 |
| Ian Chen, M.D., Ph.D. |
Human iPSC-Based Modeling of Endothelial Progenitor Cell Maladaptation in Calcific Aortic Valve Disease |
AHA |
$231,000 |
Jorg Goronzy, M.D.
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Influence of Age on CD4 T Memory Cells
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NIH / NIA |
$1,836,842 |
Andrew Hoffman, M.D.
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Testosterone replacement therapy for assessment of long-term vascular events and efficacy response in hypogonadal men
(TRAVERSE) study
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Abbvie
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$1,235,130
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Mark Holodniy, M.D.
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NOVVA: Active Surveillance to quantify the burden of viral gastroenteritis in U.S. Veterans Affairs (VA) patient population |
CDC
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$248,168
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| Ngan Huang, Ph.D. |
Stretchable Tissue Chips for Customizable Rehabilitative Microenvironments |
NIH / AR3T |
$68,602 |
Mark Nicolls, M.D.
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Critical Role for Microvasculature in Airway Transplantation |
NIH / NHLBI |
$1,848,070 |
David Relman, M.D.
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Antimicrobial Resistance and Horizontal Gene Transfer in the Human Gut Microbiome in Response to an Antibiotic |
NIH / NIAID
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$713,033
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Blake Scanlon, Ph.D.
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Identifying Elders at Risk for Cognitive Decline Using the Brain Health Registry
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California Department of Public Health (CDPH) / UCSF |
$463,456
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Rajesh Shah, M.D.
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Using Machine Learning-based Radiomics to Distinguish Lung Cancer on CT from a Multi-Center VA Cohort
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Stanford Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging |
$75,000
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| Manjula Tamura, M.D. |
Management of Hypertension among Persons with and without Dementia in Long-Term Care |
NIH / NIA |
$1,083,684 |
| Tony Wyss-Coray, Ph.D. |
Targeting CD22 to Restore Brain Homeostasis in Alzheimer's Disease |
NIH / NIA |
$2,985,542 |
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Greetings to New Faces
PAVIR welcomes the following new employees.
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| Name |
Job Title |
Lab/Office |
| Kevin Brulois |
LS Research Associate II |
Dr. Butcher |
| Rachel Cohen |
LS Research Assistant I |
Dr. Maltzman |
| Jaila Coleman |
CR Research Assistant I |
Dr. Yesavage |
| Sydney Costantini |
CR Economics Research Assistant I |
Dr. Chan |
| Jen Crotty |
Contract & Grant Consultant I |
Core administrative office |
| Theresa Dinh |
LS Research Associate I |
Dr. Butcher |
| Hae Lynn Gim |
CR Research Assistant I |
Dr. Yoon |
| Torrey Guan |
LS Research Assistant I |
Dr. Nicolls |
| Tiffany Fuh |
CR Economics Research Assistant I |
Dr. Yoon |
| Samantha Hernandez |
CR Research Assistant I |
Dr. Wiltsey-Stirman |
| James Hirsch |
CR Research Assistant I |
Dr. Nguyen |
| Marissa Jaross |
CR Research Associate II |
Dr. Chung |
| Curtis Liang |
LS Animal Technician I |
VMU |
| Amber Lim |
LS Research Assistant I |
Dr. Nicolls |
| Chris Lim |
CR Economics Research Assistant I |
Dr. Chan |
| Taylor Loskot |
CR Research Assistant I |
Dr. Wiltsey-Stirman |
| Pedro Medina |
LS Lab Assistant I |
Dr. Chen |
| Sadaf Mughal |
CR Research Coordinator I |
Dr. Tsao |
| Monica Nable |
CR Research Assistant II |
Dr. Taylor |
| Alex Pura |
CR Research Coordinator I |
Dr. Sirich |
| Aaron Robinson |
LS Animal Technician II |
VMU |
| Giselle Tamayo |
CR Research Assistant II |
Dr. Woodward |
| Kelly Tanner |
CR Research Assistant I |
Dr. Zeitzer |
| Joshua Teso |
CR Research Assistant I |
Dr. Taylor |
| Shefali Verma |
CR Research Assistant I |
Dr. Shah |
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Upcoming Holidays
PAVIR will be closed on the following dates: 
- Monday, October 14 - Columbus Day
- Monday, November 11 - Veterans Day
- Thursday & Friday, November 28 & 29 - Thanksgiving
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