About The ITM

What We Do For You

Collaborate. Innovate. Heal.

The Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) helps you live your best life by making research breakthroughs happen and getting those discoveries into the real world to improve your health as soon as possible. The ITM is a partnership between the University of Chicago and Rush in collaboration with Advocate Aurora Health, the Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Loyola University Chicago, and NorthShore University HealthSystem that’s fueled by almost $35 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). We’re part of a network of more than 60 NIH-supported sites across the country working to slash the time it takes to develop and share new treatments and health approaches. We work with you and for you to make participating in health research easy, so that together we improve health care for all.

Join the movement and learn more about how we help researchers, physicians, community members, industry, government organizations, and others. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn @ChicagoITM.

This project is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through Grant Numbers UL1TR002389, KL2TR002387, and TL1TR00238 that fund the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM).

6

Leading Chicagoland Academic Medical and Health Care Systems

115

ITM Core Faculty, Researchers, and Staff

9.5 Million

People ITM Networks Reach

$35 Million

Funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Where We Come From

Top academic medical centers and leading scientific institutions.

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is an urban research university that has driven new ways of thinking since 1890. Our commitment to free and open inquiry draws inspired scholars to our global campuses, where ideas are born that challenge and change the world.

UChicago research has led to such breakthroughs as discovering the link between cancer and genetics, establishing revolutionary theories of economics, and developing tools to produce reliably excellent urban schooling. We generate new insights for the benefit of present and future generations with our national and affiliated laboratories: Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. In partnership with our neighbors, we invest in Chicago’s mid-South Side across such areas as health, education, economic growth, and the arts. Together with our medical center, UChicago Medicine, we are the largest private employer on the South Side.

UChicago Medicine is one of the nation’s leading academic medical institutions and has been at the forefront of medical care since 1927. Today, it comprises the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine; the University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division; and the University of Chicago Medical Center, which U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks among the best hospitals in the nation. It has about 900 physicians and has affiliations with 12 Nobel Prize winners in physiology or medicine.
In all we do, we are driven to dig deeper, push further, and ask bigger questions—and to leverage our knowledge to enrich all human life.

Learn more at uchicago.edu and uchospitals.edu.

Rush

Rush is an academic health system improving the lives of its patients and the diverse communities it serves with nationally-recognized health care, education, and research, as well as a commitment to community partnerships.

The Rush system comprises Rush University Medical Center, Rush University, Rush Copley Medical Center, and Rush Oak Park Hospital, as well as numerous outpatient care facilities throughout the Chicagoland area. Rush University, with more than 2,500 students, is a health sciences university that comprises Rush Medical College, the College of Nursing, the College of Health Sciences and the Graduate College. Rush has more than 11,500 full-time employees and nearly 2,000 employed and private physicians. In fiscal year 2016, the three-hospital system helped nearly 50,800 patients admitted to its hospitals, 184,000 who visited its emergency departments, and more than 1 million outpatients.

In that same period, Rush received $102 million in research awards, including $67.5 million in research awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). During the past decade Rush has risen 26 rankings to be 58th in the nation for the amount of NIH funding it receives as a medical school.

Rush predates the city of Chicago. Rush Medical College received its charter on March 2, 1837, two days before the city was incorporated. Rush Medical College was the first medical school in Chicago, and one of the earliest in the Midwest.

Learn more at rush.edu.

Advocate Aurora Health

Advocate Aurora Health is the largest health system in Illinois and one of the largest health care providers in the Midwest.

A national leader in population health management, Advocate is one of the largest Accountable Care Organizations in the country, and is committed to research that advances patient care and health outcomes through the Advocate Research Institute. Advocate operates nearly 400 sites of care and 12 hospitals, including two of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals, the state’s largest integrated children’s network, five Level I trauma centers (the state’s highest designation in trauma care), three Level II trauma centers, 8 Magnet hospitals recognized for nursing excellence, one of the area’s largest home health and hospice companies and one of the region’s largest medical groups. Advocate Aurora Health has about 6,700 physicians on staff and trains more primary care physicians and residents at its four teaching hospitals than any other health system in the state. As a not-for-profit, mission-based health system affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ, and in strong partnership with many diverse communities, Advocate leads initiatives to enhance individual and community health, and contributed $692 million in charitable care and services to communities across Chicagoland and Central Illinois in 2016.

Learn more at advocateaurorahealth.org.

Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT)

Illinois Institute of Technology, also known as Illinois Tech, is a private, technology-focused, research university, located in Chicago, offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, architecture, business, design, human sciences, applied technology, and law.

One of 21 institutions that comprise the Association of Independent Technological Universities (AITU), Illinois Tech offers exceptional preparation for professions that require technological sophistication, an innovative mindset, and an entrepreneurial spirit.
Learn more at iit.edu.

Loyola University Chicago

Founded in 1870, Loyola University Chicago is one of the nation’s largest Jesuit, Catholic universities, with nearly 16,500 students. More than 11,000 undergraduates call Loyola home.

The University has four campuses: three in the greater Chicago area and one in Rome, Italy, as well as course locations in Beijing, China; Saigon-Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Vernon Hills, Illinois (Cuneo Mansion and Gardens); and a Retreat and Ecology Campus in Woodstock, Illinois. The University features 13 schools, colleges, and institutes, including the Quinlan School of Business, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, Stritch School of Medicine, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Communication, School of Continuing and Professional Studies, School of Education, School of Law, School of Social Work, Graduate School, Institute of Pastoral Studies, Institute of Environmental Sustainability, and Arrupe College of Loyola University Chicago. Ranked a top 100 national university by U.S. News & World Report, Loyola is also among a select group of universities recognized for community service and engagement by prestigious national organizations like the Carnegie Foundation and the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Learn more at LUC.edu.

NorthShore University Health System

NorthShore University HealthSystem is an integrated healthcare delivery system consistently ranked as a Top 15 Teaching Hospital in the U.S. The NorthShore system, headquartered in Evanston, IL, includes four hospitals – Evanston, Glenbrook, Highland Park and Skokie.

NorthShore also includes a 900 physician multispecialty group practice, NorthShore Medical Group, located in over 100 locations in the Chicagoland area. NorthShore is a Magnet-recognized organization, the first in Illinois to receive this prestigious honor as an entire system that demonstrates excellence in nursing and high standards in patient care. The system also supports the NorthShore Research Institute; the NorthShore Foundation; and the NorthShore Home & Hospice Services. In addition to launching Be Well Lake County, a community health initiative committed to providing greater access to comprehensive care, NorthShore contributes more than $210 million in charitable care and services to the communities it serves.

Learn more at northshore.org.

Who We Are

Based in Chicago. Internationally-Known.
Working with you and for you to improve health care for all.

ITM Central Leadership

ITM Central is the main ITM governing body that oversees operations and programming. All ITM cores and committees report to ITM Central.

Julian Solway
ITM Director
Julian Solway, MD, is the ITM’s Director and the Principal Investigator (PI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant that operates the ITM.

Solway launched the ITM in 2007, and under his leadership it has grown and been renewed by the NIH.

Solway, the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor for Medicine and Pediatrics, is an authority on asthma and has a robust research program funded by the NIH and other organizations for more than 28 years. His research focuses on finding more effective treatments for asthma. He is an expert in pulmonary medicine, and under his leadership, scientists and clinicians work to translate pulmonary research into new treatments for the public.

Solway has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed articles, as well as chapters in leading textbooks on lung biology, asthma, and pulmonary pharmacology.

He also serves as University of Chicago’s Biological Sciences Division’s Dean for Translational Medicine, the Department of Medicine’s Vice Chair for Research, and Chair of the Committee on Molecular Medicine.
Joshua Jacobs
ITM Director
Josh Jacobs, MD, is Director of the ITM and Principal Investigator (PI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant that operates the ITM.

At Rush, Jacobs is the William A. Hark, MD, Susanne G. Swift Professor and Chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery.

In addition to his roles at the ITM and Rush, Jacobs has also previously served as a president of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS).

He specializes in hip and knee reconstruction and replacement surgery, and has conducted extensive research on prosthetic devices and implants. He also works as a consultant for orthopedic implant manufacturers regarding the development and testing of spine, knee, and hip implant devices. His highly regarded work in the orthopedics field contributed to his being named among the top 1 percent of Top Doctors in America by U.S.News & World Report and Castle Connolly.

When he isn’t working hard in the lab or the clinic, Jacobs enjoys spending his time long-distance cycling and playing the baritone saxophone.
Sara Serritella
ITM Communications Director
Sara Serritella is the Director of Communications of the ITM and a lecturer at the University of Chicago. She orchestrates the ITM’s strategic messaging everywhere from the National Institutes of Health to hyper-local campaigns throughout Chicago. She oversees the scaling of ITM communications efforts, trains academics on the most effective ways to share their science with the general public, and helps share the powerful stories of the volunteers who participate in health research.

Serritella leads The New Normal™ Campaign and Save Da Hoomans™, a collaboration with the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Rush, Loyola University Chicago, and others to increase awareness of and participation in health research.

Serritella brings more than a decade of experience to the ITM from her time in the journalism, nonprofit, and venture capital sectors, and she has advised everyone from corporate executives to government officials on communications strategies.

Serritella has reported at media outlets across the country and contributed to the Pulitzer Prize-winning team reporting at the Detroit Free Press.

She is a proud alumna of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications.
Gerald Stacy
ITM Administrative Director
Gerald Moose Stacy is the Administrative Director of the ITM, where he executes its many projects and manages its staff and faculty leaders across all six ITM institutes.

Prior to joining the ITM team, he spent almost a decade managing the third largest National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program in the country at Johns Hopkins University’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) in Baltimore, Maryland. Gerry contributed to building the ICTR into a $17 million per year grant in less than a decade, where what started out as a team of three evolved into a staff of nearly 30 and a community of more than 300 faculty members who received salary support.

In addition to his extensive CTSA expertise, Gerry is also known for his legendary, award-winning pies and for his more than 12 years of experience singing in choirs at the Washington National Cathedral, where he sang for many high-profile events including the funerals of Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald R. Ford.
Michael Quinn
ITM Evaluations Director
Michael Quinn, PhD, is the Evaluations Director of the ITM, where he collects data, conducts analysis, and measures the programs’ impacts.

Quinn is a senior research scientist in UChicago’s Department of Medicine and a social psychologist with extensive experience in the design, implementation, and evaluation of health education curricula. He has conducted more than a dozen studies over the years as a co-investigator or principal investigator, including a community-based study that significantly impacted organ donation intentions. He is also active in a evaluating a variety of large-scale UChicago projects that began at the ITM.

Quinn works with the Chicago Diabetes Research and Training Center as Education Specialist, where he has developed and implemented successful clinic- and community-based behavior change programs in nutrition, exercise, and weight loss programs for people at risk of developing diabetes.

Quinn also trains physicians to use effective behavioral counseling and motivational interviewing approaches with their patients.

ITM Site Leaders

Have a question about the ITM activities at a particular institute? The below site leaders are in charge ITM operations at their university or medical center.

Denise Angst
Denise Angst
Advocate Health Care Leader
Denise Angst, PhD, RN, is the ITM’s Advocate Health Care Affiliate Leader. Denise is Vice President of Research and leads Advocate’s engagement in number of ITM clusters including Community and Collaboration, Research Capacity, and Learning Health Care Systems. At Advocate, Angst directs the Advocate Research Institute comprised of 4 regional research centers and over 70 research staff across Chicagoland and southern Illinois. The Institute provides centralized operations, consultation, support and training to investigators, and serves as a central point of contact to accelerate collaborations with academic and industry partners. Angst has spent over 25 years in clinical and translational research, and her own research has centered on the impact of chronic conditions on children and families, illness management and decision making. Angst developed and led the Achieving Excellence in Clinical Research conference, which attracts participants from around the Midwest and has been running for 14 years. She previously served as vice-chair of the Advocate Health Care IRB, and is a member of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Clinical Research Committee.
Sean David MD, SM, DPhil, PLDA
Sean David MD, SM, DPhil, PLDA
NorthShore University HealthSystem Leader
Sean P. David, MD, SM, DPhil is Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at the Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago and he is Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Family Medicine and Program Director for Translational Science in Outcomes Research at the NorthShore University HealthSystem. He is a family physician and a clinical and translational scientist whose NIH-funded work focuses on health equity in precision medicine and primary care. He is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Medicine, and he completed his residency at Dartmouth, and received his public health, translational science, and leadership degree training at the T.H. Chan Harvard School of Public Health, the University of Oxford, and Harvard Business School, respectively. He is engaged in numerous research, educational and research leadership activities at NorthShore and the University of Chicago including the NorthShore Center for Personalized Medicine (PMed), and the University of Chicago Department of Family Medicine Steering Committee on Academic Integration, and he leads the Outcomes Research Health Equity Research Seminar and directs the Primary Care & Population Health Investigators Group (PCPH). Dr. David is the NorthShore site leader for the Institute for Translational Medicine 3.0 grant. He is also a side leader for the ITM Community and Collaborations, Career Development, and Training Clusters.
Patrick Corrigan
Patrick Corrigan
Illinois Institute of Technology Leader
Patrick Corrigan, PsyD, is the ITM's Illinois Institute of Technology Affiliate Leader. He coordinates Illinois Tech research efforts vis-à-vis the ITM’s mission of improving health care for all, and connects Illinois Tech researchers with ITM resources, funding, and more.Corrigan is a licensed clinical psychologist and Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Illinois Tech and previously was professor of psychiatry at the University of Chicago where he directed its Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at UChicago. Corrigan’s work in psychology examines the challenges of social injustice to physical health and wellness goals for people with serious mental illness. He stresses the importance of understanding the impact of health stigma and social determinants, especially ethnicity and poverty.Aside from his career in academia, he can still fix a broken circuit breaker thanks to his experience working as an electrician while in college.
Elaine Morrato
Elaine Morrato
Loyola University Chicago Leader
Elaine Morrato, DrPH, MPH, CPH, serves on ITM leadership committees and oversees ITM operations at Loyola University Chicago, connecting its researchers with ITM funding, education, and collaborative opportunities to help advance their work. She is the founding Dean of the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health. Trained as an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, Morrato is board-certified in public health, and has worked in product development and marketing at Procter & Gamble. Over the past decade, she has contributed to federal policies and advised the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on safe drug research. Morrato has been a visiting scientist for the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology since 2018.

ITM Cores and Leaders

It takes a village – and a variety of specialty areas – to find new treatments, disease prevention, and other ways to improve human health. The ITM has ten specialty cores that include members of each ITM institute so that we can efficiently work together to make strides and collaborate with the public. Learn more about each core and its leaders below.

ITM Staff

Gayle Averyheart
Research Diet Technician
Gayle Averyheart is Research Diet Technician at the ITM. As a longtime member of the Clinical Research Center (CRC) team, she helps make sure clinical trials run smoothly and safely. She works closely with patients, administering Dexa scans, running basal metabolic rate (BMR) machines to measure patients' metabolisms, designing and preparing patient meals, and more. Averyheart has her associate's degree in nutrition and is registered with the American Dietetic Association. She has been with the University of Chicago for 37 years. Outside of nutrition, Averyheart enjoys participating in theater productions.
Les Cooke
Clinical Research Regulation and Training Lead
Les Cooke is the ITM’s Clinical Research Regulation and Training Lead. He is responsible for planning, directing, and managing the daily operations of the ITM’s Workforce Development and Regulatory Knowledge and Support programs. He coordinates finances, meetings and events, and program services across ITM institutions. Prior to joining the ITM team, Cooke spent nine years as Regulatory Compliance Administrator for UChicago's Biological Sciences Division Institutional Review Board and eight years managing a research lab in UChicago's Department of Nephrology. He holds a master’s degree in animal sciences with a focus in reproductive physiology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Outside of research, Cooke enjoys gaming, sports, and traveling to warm places.
Sonja Johnson-Hall
Associate Administrative Director
Sonja Johnson-Hall is the Associate Administrative Director at the ITM, where she works in everything from financial management to research coordination to human resources administration. Johnson-Hall has a degree in business administration with a concentration in human resources management. She began her career at the University of Chicago in 2003 with the department of medicine’s accounts payable office, and moved to what is now the Clinical Research Center (CRC) in 2006 as the project assistant to the administrative director. She has helped the ITM grow since its inception in 2007 and has worn many hats during that time, having held multiple positions within the department.
Leeon Jones
Research Coordinator
Leeon Jones is the ITM’s Clinical Research Center (CRC) Research Coordinator. She sets up research appointments and works closely with patients to complete clinical studies, including helping with blood draws, patient assessments, and more. Prior to her current role, Jones worked for 23 years as a patient care technician in the CRC, formerly known as the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC). During those years she took care of clinical trial participants during the evening and night shifts. Before that, she worked as a cardiac nurse. When she’s not helping clinical trial participants and patients, she loves going to the movies and spending quality time with anything related to interior design and chocolate cake.
Nandini Kaluvakolanu
Core Lab Research Technologist
Nandini Kaluvakolanu is the Research Technologist at the ITM’s Clinical Research Center (CRC), where she has a hand in everything that goes through the CRC’s Core Laboratory. Kaluvakolanu has been with the CRC since 2004, analyzing samples, managing lab equipment, conducting clinical analyses, administering clinical tests, and helping CRC studies run smoothly. Before the CRC, Kaluvakolanu graduated with a degree in science from Osmania University in India. She has a background in clinical laboratory technology, and has completed various trainings in human subject protection, specimen processing, and impacts on accredited clinical laboratories.
Jennifer Kilkus
Bionutrition Research Manager
Jennifer Kilkus is the ITM’s Clinical Research Center (CRC) Manager of Bionutritional Research, where she provides investigators with nutritional expertise tailored to their studies. She manages the CRC's Diet Technicians, designs research diets, maintains nutrient databases, performs diet analyses, measures body composition, and more. She has been at the CRC for 12 years. Kilkus has a master’s degree in human nutrition, certificate in medical writing and editing from University of Chicago, and dietitian-nutritionist license. She has worked as a clinical dietician and bionutritionist at Loyola University and University of Illinois at Chicago.
Gosia Labno
Senior Communications Manager
Gosia Labno is the Senior Communications Manager for the ITM. She helps execute the institute’s communications strategy through writing, video production, and social media management. Previously, she worked in the communications departments at UNITE HERE Local 1 and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. Gosia holds an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Chicago and a B.S. in Media and Cinema Studies from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. In her free time, she enjoys reading, taking walks with her dog Astro, and yoga.
Snezana Pavlic
Administrative Assistant
Snezana Pavlic supports the Administrative Director, ITM and CRC staff with financial reconciliation, purchasing, logistics, calendar management, meeting coordination and more. Snezana is impressed by the institute’s dedication to health improvement and persistent work towards new health discoveries. Prior to coming to the ITM, Snezana worked in university level international affairs, working with international student recruitment. She enjoys travel, crochet, and is an avid reader.
Sally J. Pirowski
Clinical Research Nurse
As a clinical research nurse at the ITM’s Clinical Research Center (CRC), Sally Pirowski carries out research protocols in collaboration with principal investigators and study teams. Before joining the CRC, Sally spent most of her nursing career taking care of patients at the bedside in a Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, prep, and recovery areas of procedure units. She also served in many administrative roles during her career at UChicago Medicine. Sally deeply believes that there is so much we have yet to discover about all that can be done to improve our health and well-being and she finds great joy in working at the CRC.
Sonya Redmond-Head
Career Development Coordinator
Sonya Redmond-Head is the ITM’s Career Award Program Administrator. She has been with the ITM for more than six years, and she oversees three of the ITM’s funding mechanisms—Career Development (K) Awards, Pilot Awards, and Short-Term Pilot Awards for residents—to ensure researchers get the funding they need to conduct innovative research. Redmond-Head also manages the administrative process for the Clinical Research Center (CRC). Prior to joining the ITM team, Redmond-Head lived in Honolulu, Hawaii, where she worked for a consulting firm hired to help recruit U.S. Department of Homeland Security TSA Agents.
Sherry Robison
Trial and Recruitment Innovation Office (TRIO) Manager
Sherry Robison is the ITM's Trial and Recruitment Innovation Office (TRIO) Manager. She helps all translational human subject research move smoothly. From sharing innovative methods, tools, and best practices across ITM institutions to aiding with the research participant recruitment process, Sherry helps make ITM clinical trails run as efficiently as possible. Before joining the ITM staff, Sherry earned her MBA at Purdue University and spent 13 years in the research world as a research administrator at both University of Chicago and Rush. Outside of the research world, Sherry is a huge runner and has completed seven marathons and a half Ironman.
Brittney Stano
Lab Technician
Brittney Stano is a lab technician at the ITM’s Clinical Research Center (CRC). In her role, she helps process human samples for various research study. Brittney is a recent graduate of Saint Xavier University. She holds a B.S. in Biology and Psychology. During her undergraduate years, she worked in a lab and as biology tutor. She joined the CRC to help others and believes that the results yielded from health research will help improve the quality of people’s lives. Brittney has a pet bearded dragon named Beardo!
Natalie Watson
Community Health Program Development Specialist
Natalie Watson is the ITM's Community Health Program Development Specialist and University of Chicago's Center for Community Health and Vitality. She holds a master's degree in counseling from Governors State University. She is project coordinator for the ITM-supported Chicago Area Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Network's (CAPRICORN) Patient and Clinician Advisory Committee. Prior to her current role, Watson developed STEM programming for high school students. She also helped develop an internet-based adolescent depression intervention program for University of Chicago's Project CATCH-IT.