Naomi's Final ORDE Blog

Well, although we just had a farewell blog for our ORDE Director, Lynette Michael, I'm afraid I am going to also say goodbye this week. After serving for nine years, I'm leaving to join Colorado State University as their Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Services. I'm excited for this new opportunity, but am also sad to leave my post and all my dear friends and colleagues at CU Denver and the Anschutz Medical Campus!

As I've reflected on my time here, I thought I'd leave you all with some of the lessons learned from our CU faculty related to grants over the years...

Michael McMurray, Associate Professor, Cell and Developmental Biology

Dr. McMurray once presented at a seminar, where he shared that as a long time NIH reviewer, he had never seen a proposal funded that did not include a figure in their specific aims page. His statement made me a life-long advocate for using figures well in proposals. They make it easy for reviewers to quickly understand what you're trying to do and prove that a picture is really worth a 1000 words!

Amy Brooks-Kayal, Professor of Pediatrics, Yale School of Medicine

When she was at CU, Dr. Brooks-Kayal was one of our favorite seminar speakers. She reminded us to always spell out why the problem you're trying to solve in your research is important. As an Epilepsy researcher, Dr. Brooks-Kayal share her strategy of highlighting "my disease is bad too" multiple times in a proposal. She said that in every presentation she gives and every proposal she writes, she shares the statistics around Epilepsy, knowing she can't assume that everyone understands how devastating a disease it is.

Jean Kutner, Professor, Internal Medicine

Dr. Kutner taught us the importance of creating balance in our lives. She doesn't look at work/life balance as such, "It's all just life," she said. She also shared with us her "Black Shoes" analogy. In her household for every new pair of black shoes she buys, she has to get rid of a pair. She manages her work responsibilities in the same way, If she agrees to take on something new, she intentionally considers what other things she can sunset or delegate to others.

Amy Wachholtz, Associate Professor, Psychology

Dr. Wachholtz told us to figure out what our t-shirt would say. If you were to wrap your research agenda into a catchy t-shirt slogan, what would it be? She highlighted the importance for researchers to show how their research is relevant now and into the future.

Bob Damrauer, Professor, Chemistry, Former Associate Vice Chancellor for Research

Working with Bob for most of my time at ORDE, I, of course, learned many lessons from him. But, probably the one that sticks out most was his insistence on stating things clearly. He made the point that before you can write about something clearly, you must be able to think about it clearly. Beyond this, Bob has in his email signature a Ross Perot quote, "If you see a snake, just kill it. Don't appoint a committee on snakes." For me it captured the importance of directness of which Bob is an exemplar.

Our blog will be on pause for a bit until a new resident grants blogger at CU steps in. In the meantime, below are some resources to tide you over.

Thanks for reading y'all; it has been my honor to write this blog since 2013! - Naomi

Resources:

ORDE Seminar Videos

SPIN Fund-Searching Tips

Research Funding Opps for New Investigators