Director

Gene D. Morse, Pharm.D., BCPS, FCCP is a Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Medicine and Pediatrics, has been a faculty member at the University at Buffalo since 1983. Dr. Morse also has a joint appointment as a Research Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Dr. Morse has an active clinical and translational research program with current funding from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG): PI- Pharmacology Specialty Laboratory and ACTG Clinical Trials Subunit) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA, RO-1: Drug Interactions and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Antiretrovirals). Dr. Morse was one of the initial investigators funded to establish the Adult ACTG as the PI for the UB Pharmacology Support Laboratory.

Dr. Morse is board certified as a Pharmacotherapy Specialist, directs a New York State-approved pharmacology laboratory and directs a post-doctoral fellowship in antiretroviral pharmacology. Dr. Morse is a past chairman of the NIAID, ACTG Pharmacology Committee and is the current Chairman of the Pharmacology Quality Assurance Subcommittee and Chairman of the Pharmacology Laboratory Subcommittee. Dr. Morse participates on NIH, Center for Scientific Review Panels which have included AIDS and Related Research Integrated Review Group (2000), Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group Review Group (2001), NIMH, Member, Special Emphasis Panel (2001), NIAID, Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trails Group (2003), AIDS and Related Research IRG (2004) and AIDS Clinical and Epidemiology Review Panel (2005, 2006). Dr. Morse was a 2002 recipient of the Sustained Achievement Award from UB and the 2004 recipient of the State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activity.

In the UB community, Dr. Morse has been a member of the Institutional Review Board (currently an alternate member), a past member of the Presidential Review Board (academic promotion and tenure committee), and serves on the Vice-President for Research/Associate Deans of Research Committee. Dr. Morse has established educational and research collaborations with all of the major biomedical research centers in Western New York including the Erie County Medical Center , the Veterans Health System Network, the Kaleida Health System and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Together these sites constitute a well-balanced environment in which the PRC is engaged in collaborative programs that focus on clinical and translational sciences research. Along with the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences and its genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics emphasis, the PRC is an ideal training environment for future clinical and translational scientists.

 Senior Administrator

Diane Fisher, BS, MPA

• Coordinates the completion of essential components of federal grant submissions
• Coordinates budget development for grants with investigators and UB Sponsored Programs
• Develops subcontract language and scope of work in collaboration with UB Sponsored Programs
• Ensures regulatory compliance for research in human subjects and c ompliance with the UB Director of HIPAA Compliance office for research projects requiring HIPAA Business Associated Contracts (BAC) and Business Associated Agreements (BAA)
• Facilitates communication between sponsors and investigators to ensure grant submission, conduct and reporting.
• Meets with regional administrative leadership to plan new research programs and coordinate UB, SPPS and partner organizations to facilitate program development and funding applications.
• Coordinates PRC administrative components to ensure efficient programmatic activity.
• Contract Negotiation and Administration
• Provides integration within SPPS for grant submission, regulatory matters, collaboration with UB faculty in other departments and regional biomedical research centers.
• Coordinates fiscal planning and annual reporting to NIH and other sponsors to ensure continued funding.

Administrative Assistant

Christine Kennedy

• Program Development: Facilitates the integration of the PRC with external partners.
• Program Administration: project coordination for the following programs:
  • “Evaluation of Patient Centered Pharmacotherapy Management and the Impact on Health and Economic Outcomes”, a multi-centered protocol
  • Western New York Center for Oncology Pharmacotherapy Research and Medication Management (Roswell Park Cancer Institute)
  • WNY Center for Chronic Medication Management (Lifetime Health)
  • Western New York Center for Medication Management and Pharmacoeconomics ( Erie County Medical Center )
• Sponsored Projects: organization of materials and assistance with the coordination of activities for research projects, research sites, and clinical trials.

Regulatory Compliance

Kelly Tooley, BS, MEd

• Institutional Review Boards ( HSIRB, CYIRB, and the VA): organization of materials and coordination of activities for research projects.
• Establish Standard Operating Procedures and Practices to ensure the rights and privacy of human research participants and the security of their health information.
• Implements a comprehensive safety program.
• Maintains operations in accordance with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) programs such as Good Clinical Practice (GCP), Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA).

Core Analytical Laboratory Manager

Robin DiFrancesco, BS MT ASCP, MBA

• Plan, facilitate, track, and coordinate the activities the laboratory performs for the granting agencies, project investigators and sponsors of laboratory services
• Coordinates personnel, projects long range goals and designs laboratory operations based on overall knowledge of ongoing status of activities, performance, and output
• Research current technologies, publications, resources to continually update and improve the quality of laboratory operations
• Function as a liaison to project investigators, sponsors, clinical sites, and other groups outside the PRC CAL.
• Provide technical reports for sponsors and manuscript preparation
• Directs quality assurance and quality control program

Core Laboratory Management Committee

Jill Hochreiter, BS MT ASCP, Laboratory Supervisor

Qing Ma , Ph.D., Research Scientist

Robin DiFrancesco, BS MT ASCP, MBA

• Prioritize, plan, and implement project administrative and scientific activities within the core laboratory
• Delegate workloads and resources to technical personnel and students activities
• Supervise activities of technical personnel and students
• Track progress of projects and present results and/or issues to director
• Discuss and resolve
• Prepare reports, publications, and presentations of final data

Pharmacometrics Group

Alan Forrest Pharm.D., Director

• Contribute to planning study parameters and design to ensure that outcomes will be measurable and appropriate
• Review ongoing study outcomes to determine feasibility of analyses and upgrade study measures
• Mentor students and advise PRC faculty in performing study outcome analyses
• Design and perform outcome analyses for biometric measures

Information Technology and Data Management Core

Francesco Lliguicota, BS, Senior Programmer and IT Coordinator

Michael Richardson, IT Assistant

• Facilitate PRC faculty’s research website and database creation
• Participate in planning and administration of PRC research projects contributing IT solutions and services
• Program and update all PRC website operations
• Maintain servers and files