ITM-Loyola

Essentials of Patient-Oriented Research EPOR

WHAT IS EPOR?
The Essentials of Patient-Oriented Research (EPOR) is a crash course in how to conduct clinical research. Get insider tips from senior researchers and learn how to create and run a successful study. Courses are free and open to everyone, ranging from trainees to nurses to researchers. EPOR is held each Fall (Introductory Topics to Clinical Research), Winter (Ethics of Clinical Research) and Spring (Statistical Methods in Clinical Research).

WINTER EPOR: ETHICS OF CLINICAL RESEARCH
The Winter EPOR course helps meets the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training requirement for trainees receiving National Institutes of Health (NIH) and/or National Science Foundation (NSF) funding. The session gives you a front-row seat to the issues scientists can face and the best ways to handle them. Winter EPOR addresses everything from conflicts of interest to the ethical treatment of animals to intellectual property. All those who receive support from a NIH and/or NSF training grant are required to complete an 8-hour RCR course at the start of their training and again every four years.

LOGISTICS
Classes will occur via Zoom and will run from January 6th through March 10th for a total of 10 weeks, Tuesday evenings 5:15PM-6:15PM. Winter session registration is due no later than January 19th, the last date attendees can still be eligible for a certificate of completion. Individuals will receive a certificate of completion if they attend 8 of the 10 sessions.

*Please note that if you have taken Summer RCR or Winter EPOR within the past 4 years and received a certificate of completion, it is not necessary for you to retake this course at this time. If you did not attend the required 8 sessions to receive a certificate of completion, you are welcome to attend sessions that you have not previously attended within the past 4 years to fulfill this requirement for completion.
**Please note that due to updated guidance issued by the National Institute for Health (NIH), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), this online training does NOT completely fulfill the requirements for federally funded training or career development awards without additional in-person research training. This separate in-person research training can be fulfilled through the ITM or individuals can obtain their own in-person research training through department or discipline-specific activities at their respective institution.
***We request that you keep your web cameras on as much as possible as a professional courtesy to the speakers. However, we understand there will be times when your camera may need to be off. If you anticipate that your camera will need to remain off for the entire hour or all/most of the course, please contact us.

Click here to view the complete schedule.
Click here for registration.

For questions, please contact Les Cooke at lcooke@bsd.uchicago.edu or Snezana Pavlic at spavlic@bsd.uchicago.edu.

Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)

The Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) gives you a front-row seat to the issues scientists can face and the best ways to handle them. RCR addresses everything from conflicts of interest to the ethical treatment of animals to intellectual property.

Individuals supported by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) and/or National Science Foundation (NSF) training grant are required to complete RCR training at the start of their appointment and again every four years. NIH requires at least eight contact hours of instruction that includes substantial discussion or other interactive training. This course will be taught live online via Zoom.

Summer RCR registration is now open!! The RCR course is free and open to everyone. Classes run from July 7^th through August 11^th for a total of 6 weeks, with sessions held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5:15 PM to 6:15 PM (CT).

Registration will remain open through July 15, 2026, at 5:00 PM, which is the last date participants may register and still be eligible to earn a certificate of completion. Participants must attend at least 8 of the 11 online, instructor-led sessions to receive a certificate of completion.

Please note that while the course is open to everyone, attendance tracking and certificates of completion are only available to participants affiliated with ITM member institutions and other Chicagoland partner institutions. Participants from outside these institutions are welcome to attend but are not eligible for attendance verification or certificates of completion.

After registering, you will receive Zoom instructions by email. If you are unable to attend the summer session, RCR certificates may also be obtained through the ITM’s Winter Essentials of Patient-Oriented Research (EPOR) course.

Please note that if you have completed Summer RCR or Winter EPOR within the past four years and received a certificate of completion, you do not need to retake the course at this time. If you previously attended but did not complete the required eight sessions, you may attend sessions that you have not previously completed within the past four years to satisfy the attendance requirement and earn a certificate.

Please note that updated guidance from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) indicate that online RCR training alone may not fully satisfy the requirements for certain federally funded training and career development awards. Additional in-person research training may be required. The ITM Grand Rounds series provides opportunities to fulfill this in-person component, or participants may complete comparable discipline-specific in-person training through their institution or program.

As a professional courtesy to our speakers, we encourage participants to keep their cameras on whenever possible. We understand that circumstances may occasionally require cameras to be off. If you anticipate needing to keep your camera off for the entire session or for most of the course, please contact us in advance.

Click here to view the complete 2026 schedule and speaker bios.
Click here for registration.

Questions? Contact Les Cooke at lcooke@bsd.uchicago.edu or Snezena Pavlic at spavlic@bsd.uchicago.edu.

Informatics Seminars

Take advantage of two free monthly seminars that are open to everyone and cover a variety of topics for every skill level: the Center for Research Informatics (CRI) Seminar Series, which provides training in informatics research tools and techniques, and the Computational Life Sciences Seminar Series, which highlights research in the fields of bioinformatics and computational life sciences, fosters collaborations, and provides a broad audience for feedback on current research. Learn more here.

Pathobiology of Disease Seminars

Enjoy a free lunch and learn from renowned local and international experts. These sessions are open to everyone and supported by the ITM and the University of Chicago Department of Pathology. View our calendar of upcoming sessions.

Advanced Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)

Advanced CBPR classes give you the roadmap and skills to involve community members in all stages of the research process, giving both academic researchers and the general public equal input in everything from study design to the best ways to recruit trial participants. This free, six-session course is held each Fall, Winter, and Spring quarter to put researchers at the forefront of community partnerships and transparent research.

This course is not currently being offered.

Questions? Contact Natalie Watson, the ITM’s Community Relations Program Manager, at nwatson@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu.

Want to receive academic credit? Contact Contact Kelsey Bogue, CHeSS Assistant Director of Training Programs, at kbogue@bsd.uchicago.edu.

Translational Science Courses & Degrees

The ITM and The Center for Health and the Social Sciences created the Committee on Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS), an independent academic unit within the University of Chicago’s Biological Sciences Division (BSD), to offer dynamic, multidisciplinary courses for all ITM members across Chicagoland. Courses are open to undergraduates, graduate-level trainees, postdoctoral fellows, junior and senior faculty and staff, and fellow CTSA institutes at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

Questions? Contact Kelsey Bogue, CHeSS Assistant Director of Training Programs, at kbogue@bsd.uchicago.edu.

View current listings and register here.

Career Scholar Seminars

Career Scholar (K) Seminars are open to everyone at all six ITM institutions and offer you the chance learn about resources to accelerate your career and hear renowned researchers share how they got to be where they are today and ways they overcame obstacles. From external funding sources to incorporating informatics into your work, K seminars will connect you with the skills and tools needed to jumpstart your career. These monthly sessions are required for those recipients of the NIH Career (K) Development Awards administered by the ITM, but are open to anyone looking to advance their career. These lunchtime seminars are held Nov. 2018 through May 2019 on the third Wednesday of every month in Billings Hospital room W-507 on University of Chicago’s Hyde Park campus. Lunch is provided.

Contact Sonya Redmond-Head, ITM Career Award Program Administrator, for requests to participate virtually.

View a calendar of upcoming events, and click here to see what a session is like.

Questions? Contact Sonya Redmond-Head, ITM Career Award Program Administrator, at srhead@bsd.uchicago.edu.