Melena Bellin and Byron Vaughn

CTSI welcomes CTRS Medical Advisors Dr. Melena Bellin and Dr. Byron Vaughn

In early August 2019, CTSI will welcome Melena Bellin, MD, and Byron Vaughn, MD, as Clinical Translational Research Services (CTRS) Medical Advisors.

In welcoming both new Advisors to CTSI, Dan Weisdorf, MD, CTSI Deputy Director and CTRS Director, said, “Both Dr. Bellin and Dr. Vaughn represent an exciting advance for the organization—broadening our faculty leadership voice with the perspective of active, younger clinical investigators.” He added, “They both have the experience and skills to advance our mission and focus CTSI capabilities on the needs of the investigator community.”

The CTRS Medical Advisor role

The Medical Advisor roles serve as CTSI ambassadors and liaisons with the health science research community to help investigators succeed. The Medical Advisors will collaborate with CTRS function leaders to refine policies and processes, while also consulting with investigators on how best to engage with CTSI. The Advisors will also serve on CTSI Executive Leadership and Hub Leadership Teams to expand the diversity of faculty and research perspectives in the broader organization. 

Backgrounds and expertise

Dr. Bellin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, with a joint appointment in Surgery. Her focus is islet transplantation, transplantation of the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas, for patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus and patients whose pancreas has been removed to treat severe chronic pancreatitis. She will work with the Research Preparation Group, collaborating with Françoise Crevel, Lead Clinical Research Specialist. Dr. Bellin is a graduate of CTSI’s K-R01 Transition to Independence career development program.

Dr. Vaughn is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition. His research focuses on developing microbiota therapeutics for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), and he is actively involved in clinical and translational research for patients with IBD. He will be working with CTSI’s Recruitment function, with Cristy De La Cruz, Recruitment Program Manager, and with the Regulatory Specialist function, with Sydney Viel, Lead Regulatory Specialist. Dr. Vaughn is a graduate of CTSI’s Pre-K Discovery Scholar program. 

To learn more about the CTRS function of CTSI, visit the program page or contact [email protected].