News and Events
CRI Staff
15 Years of Service with the Ƶ Clinical Research Institute
14 Years of Service with the Ƶ Clinical Research Institute
The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center is conducting a research study that will look at whether calcium, vasopressin, or both early in the course of treatment would help severely injured patients that lose a lot of blood survive their injuries.
The CAlcium and VAsopressin following Injury Early Resuscitation (CAVALIER) trial will include approximately 1,050 people aged 18 to 90. Patients who have traumatic injuries with loss of blood may be enrolled by participating emergency medical personnel during their transportation to the hospital or after arrival to University Medical Center Hospital.
CAVALIER is an Exception from Informed Consent (EFIC) trial, meaning that, the trial requires performing a potentially life-saving intervention in people who are too injured to give permission. This study will look at treatment for patients who have a traumatic injury and have lost a lot of blood. These patients are too injured to give permission before receiving the study drug. Permission for continued participation will be obtained from patients once they are able, or from their family members, as soon as possible.
For more information about CAVALIER or to complete an anonymous survey on your thoughts about this EFIC study, please go to
This research is supported by DoD contract W81XWH-16-D-0024 W81XWH-22-F-0118. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.
More information on Emergency Research and Exception From Informed Consent (EFIC):
Starting on the left are Dr. John Garza (stats), Audry Deleon from RICE in Lubbock, Dr. Joud Enabi IM resident, and Elisa Hernandez and Asley Sanchez from the SOM Research Lab
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center is pleased to announce the creation of the Health Disparities Research Program (HDRP). This program will foster and financially support, wherever possible, research projects addressing health disparities in West Texas. HDRP is an initiative under the Clinical Affairs Council to transform health care through innovation and collaboration. Dr. Steven Berk, Executive Vice-President for Clinical Affairs, and chair of the Clinical Affairs Council, has graciously provided start-up funding to support this disparities research initiative. Up to $10,000 can be requested per project. In the first phase HDRP, seed grants will support research projects focusing on health disparities existing in West Texas. Special consideration will be given for cross departments, schools, and campuses teams promoting multidisciplinary collaboration. Interested investigators need to submit a paragraph in a Word document or PDF format describing the proposed study with the following required information:
1) Name of PI/Co-PI
2) School(s)/Department(s)/Campus(es) within Ƶ represented by those performing
the research
3) Brief, 1 to 2 paragraph, description of the disparities research project
4) Database to be used for data source
5) Budget and amount of funding support requested
Note: Six month and one year progress reports will be required for all funded projects.
Please submit projects and/or questions to John Griswold, MD at john.Griswold@ttuhsc.edu
Congratulations to Mariana Fiori, PhD, CCRC on being presented the 2024 Distinguished Staff Award. Ms. Fiori was nominated by her peers in the Clinical Research Institute for her contributions to the clinical research and the CRI. Great Job Mariana!!
Congratulations to Jammie Holland, LVN, CCRC on being presented the 2022 Distinguished Staff Award. Ms. Holland was nominated by her peers in the Clinical Research Institute for her contributions to the clinical research and the CRI.
Great Job Jammie!
2023 Lorenz O. Lutherer Clinical Research Award
Congratulation to MS3 student Brandon Couch for his work on “Improvement of Cell Viability in Temporary Storage of Split Thickness Skin Grafts. The project was awarded during the 35th Annual Student Research Week, Which was held February 28, 2023 – March 4, 2023.
2022 Lorenz O. Lutherer Clinical Research Award
Congratulations to MS2 student Hannah Daniel for her work on “Association of Dynamic Motion of Cerebellar Tonsils in the Outcome in Pediatric Chiari I Malformation”. The project was awarded during the 34th Annual Student Research Week, which was held March 8-11, 2022. Reagan Collins, Albin John, Laszlo Nagy, Roy Jacob
2021 Lorenz O. Lutherer Clinical Research Award
Congratulations to Asher K. George for his work on “Frailty is an independent predictor of any 90-day complication following Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy for Prostate Cancer”. The research abstract/presentation was awarded the Dr. Lorenz O. Lutherer Award during the 33rd Annual Student Research Week, which was held March 9-12, 2021.
Frailty is an independent predictor of any 90-day complication following robot-assisted
radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer.
Asher K. George, Erin Choi, Silvia Jakubski, Hasan Almekdash, Pranav Sharma
2020 Lorenz O. Lutherer Clinical Research Award
Congratulations to MS3-4 Students Kelly Little and Chloe Cooper for their work on “The Association Between Insurance Type and Patient Satisfaction Scores”. The project was awarded the Dr. Lorenz O. Lutherer Award during the 2020 Student Research Week, which was held March 10-13, 2020
Josie Martinez
Congratulations to Josie Martinez! She is the recipient of the 2022 CRI Service Excellence Award. Co-workers nominated Mrs. Martinez for her teamwork, hard work and dedication to the CRI and the Institution, as a whole.
- Criteria the person should have exhibited in order to be nominated for the CRI Excellence Award:
- Consistently seen having a positive helpful attitude
- Demonstrate high standards of professionalism
- Witnessed offering help* Witnessed accepting help.
- Has been repeatedly “caught in the act” of delivering excellent customer service and going beyond the call of duty.
- Professional/team building behavior and embodies CRI work ethic
- Participation in CRI and other activities that help professional growth and contributes to the mission of the CRI
- Demonstrated ability to exceed expectations while also working effectively and supporting each other as team members
Congratulations to this year's recipients of the CRI Seed Grant!!
Dr. Courtney Queen, Department of Public Health and Dr. M Haris Nazim, Department of Surgery-Amarillo "Integrating and testing a point-of-care diagnostic tool for the early detection of melanoma"
Dr. Nadezhda German, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Dr. Kendra Rumbaugh, Department of Surgery-Lubbock "Assessing the activity of selected inhibitors of quorum sensing in P. aeruginosa and S. aureus using in vitro polymicrobial infection models.
Visceral fat is associated with high-grade complications in patients undergoing laparoscopic or robotic-assisted partial nephrectomy for renal masses
Congratulations to Dr. Lindsay Penrose, Assistant Professor
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Title of Research Project: Soft tissue mobilization for lumbopelvic pain in the third trimester of pregnancy
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Congratulations to Dr. Ravindra M. Bharadwaj, MD, MPH, Division of Geriatric, School of Medicine Amarillo Campus
Title of Research Project: Glucose utilization and mitochondrial dysfunction in the blood cells of Alzheimer's Disease