Leadership
Committed to expanding the scope and pace of collaborative clinical research opportunities across the University of Minnesota and to our hub partners.
CTSI Co-PIs

Bruce Blazar, MD
Director and PI

Daniel Weisdorf, MD
Deputy Director, and Clinical Translational Research Services (CTRS) core Director
Executive Leadership Team
CTSI's Executive Leadership Team convenes weekly to collaborate on organizational strategic objectives, respond proactively to opportunities, and guide priorities across the Institute, including clinical and translational research support and collaboration, community-engaged research, research workforce development, and team science. Executive Leadership Team meetings are convened by Dr. Bruce Blazar, CTSI's director.

Bruce Blazar, MD
Director and PI

Constantin Aliferis, MD, MS, PhD, FACMI
Chief Research Informatics Officer

Michele Allen, MD, MS
Co-Director, Community Engagement to Advance Research and Community Health (CEARCH) and Co-Lead, Community & Collaboration

Timothy Beebe, PhD
Senior Advisor, Community & Collaboration

Melena Bellin, MD
Medical Advisor, Clinical Translational Research Services (CTRS)

Jerica M. Berge, PhD, MPH, LMFT, CFLE
Co-Director, Community Engagement to Advance Research and Community Health (CEARCH) and Co-Lead, Community & Collaboration

John Bischof, PhD
OACA Sr. Research Advisor for ODAT Grant Programs

Jennifer Cieslak, EdM
Chief of Staff

Jayne Fulkerson, PhD
Co-Director, Research Education, Training, and Career Development (CTSI-Ed)

Carrie Henning-Smith, PhD
Co-Director, Rural Health Program

David Ingbar, MD
Co-Director, Research Education, Training, and Career Development (CTSI-Ed)

Katy Kozhimannil, PhD
Co-Director, Rural Health Program

Ana Núñez, MD, FACP
Integration Strategist and Co-Director, Pathways to Research Program (PReP) and Advanced Pathways to Research Program (A-PReP)

Beth Nunnally, CPA, MA
Chief Financial Officer

Byron Vaughn, MD, MS
Medical Advisor, Clinical Translational Research Services (CTRS)

Boris Volkov, PhD
Monitoring & Evaluation Director, Affiliate Assistant Professor, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health

John E. Wagner, MD
Senior Advisor

Daniel Weisdorf, MD
Deputy Director, and Clinical Translational Research Services (CTRS) core Director

Sandra Wells, PhD
Director, Office of Discovery and Translation
Hub Leadership Team
CTSI’s Hub Leadership Team meets monthly. It brings together leadership from CTSI, hub partners, the community, University of Minnesota Duluth, and the Office of the Vice President for Research. The team focuses on collaboration to expand our CTSA hub’s research capacity, extending collaborative clinical and translational research opportunities, and strategies for harnessing our collective research capacity to address community and state-wide health needs. Hub Leadership Team meetings are convened by Dr. Blazar.

Roli Dwivedi, MD
Hub Leadership Team member—Community-University Health Care Center (CUHCC)

Steven Fu, MD, MSCE
Hub Leadership Team member—Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System

Ajay Israni, MD, MS
Hub Leadership Team member—Hennepin Healthcare

Kristen Jacklin, PhD
Hub Leadership Team member—University of Minnesota Duluth

Catherine McCarty, PhD, MPH
Hub Leadership Team member—University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth

Anne Murray, MD, MSc
CTSI Hub Leadership Team member—Hennepin Healthcare
Contact
To learn more about CTSI's leadership team, contact:
Rachel Matthes
Administrative Core Program Manager
[email protected]
(612) 626-6032