Goal #2: Promote partnerships and collaborations

This honor recognizes leaders who apply informatics expertise to advance health care by improving personal and population health and enhancing organizational performance.&nbsp;Dr. Huerta is a national leader across the data and informatics research community and has transformed how data is used in clinical and translational research. His efforts focus on integrating advanced informatics solutions into research workflows which enable investigators to harness data for discovery and innovation.The FAMIA Fellowship recognition highlights Dr. Huerta’s impact on the data and informatics community and his dedication to improving health outcomes through data-driven approaches. Congratulations Dr. Huerta on being selected as a Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association!

Ohio State University Clinical and Translational Science Institute

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Ohio State University

Tim Huerta, Ph.D., M.S., The Ohio State University Clinical and Translational Data Science co-lead, has been selected as a 2026 Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association (FAMIA) through the prestigious FAMIA Applied Informatics Recognition Program.

Tim Huerta Named 2026 Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association

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Goal #1: Advance clinical and translational science

With a mission to improve health outcomes, Grace Gombolay, M.D., M.S., Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Emory, and Pediatric Neurologist at Children’s, is leading national collaborations to advance care for children and adults with rare neuroinflammatory diseases. Her work focuses on conditions where the immune system attacks the brain—such as autoimmune encephalitis, Rasmussen’s encephalitis, and new-onset refractory status epilepticus (NORSE)—which can cause significant neurological and cognitive challenges for patients and their families.Through her formation and leadership of the CONNECT (Conquering Inflammation and Epilepsies ConsorTium) registry and now the NIH-funded&nbsp;<a href="https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11173108" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ARISEN (Autoimmunity, Rasmussen’s, Inflammation &amp; Status Epilepticus research Network)</a>, Dr. Gombolay is transforming how these rare conditions are studied, diagnosed, and treated. Both initiatives bring together institutions across the country to better understand these disorders, identify new biomarkers, and move the field toward clinical trial readiness.How Georgia CTSA Training Fueled Her GrowthDr. Gombolay attributes much of her research foundation to her experience as a Georgia CTSA KL2 Scholar and Master of Science in Clinical Research (MSCR) graduate. The two programs provided complementary skills that shaped her into a confident and methodical investigator.“The&nbsp;<a href="https://georgiactsa.org/training/ms-clinical-research.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MSCR program</a>&nbsp;gave me the research foundation I needed—statistics, methodology, leadership, and clinical trials training,” Gombolay explains. “Those skills have been instrumental in how I think about science and how I approach my patients.” Additionally, the&nbsp;<a href="https://georgiactsa.org/training/kl2.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">KL2 program</a>&nbsp;further strengthened her grant writing, study design, and collaborative approach. “The grant writing course was transformative. It made me a better scientist, writer, and reviewer. I still use what I learned every time I prepare a proposal.”She also emphasizes the power of mentorship and peer connection within Georgia CTSA. “Having colleagues who were navigating similar challenges made a huge difference. That community inspired me to stay focused, push through setbacks, and keep building collaborations.”From Training to Leadership and Lasting ImpactThe skills and support Dr. Gombolay gained through Georgia CTSA helped her move from an early-career investigator to a nationally recognized leader in rare disease research. Her KL2 project on biomarkers in autoimmune encephalitis evolved into CONNECT—the first multi-center pediatric registry of its kind in the U.S.—which now includes data and biospecimens from over 19 centers.Building on that success, along with Dr. Kristy Murray (Professor of Pediatrics, Vice Chair of Research at Emory, and Chief Research Officer at Children’s), Dr. Gombolay now co-leads ARISEN, a five-year NIH U54 grant through the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network. When preparing the ARISEN proposal, she again partnered with Georgia CTSA to strengthen the mentoring and training components for junior investigators—an element she credits as pivotal to securing the award.“I received a letter of support from Georgia CTSA for the U54 grant,” she remarks. “That collaboration helped us show our commitment to training and career development for early-stage investigators—a key reason we were funded.”Advice for Future Georgia CTSA ScholarsReflecting on her experience, Dr. Gombolay encourages current and future KL2 and MSCR scholars to stay persistent and make the most of the opportunities the programs provide.“My advice is to keep applying, keep learning, and keep building relationships. Research is challenging, but programs like Georgia CTSA give you the structure, mentorship, and community to succeed. The training you gain here continues to influence every step of your career.”The impact of that training extends far beyond her own research. Through CONNECT and ARISEN, Dr. Gombolay has created opportunities for more than 30 investigators to collaborate, publish, and secure their own funding. “Georgia CTSA and NIH support don’t just impact one researcher,” she reflects. “They create a ripple effect—fueling careers, collaborations, and discoveries that will ultimately benefit patients and families for years to come.”

Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance

Photo of Dr. Gombolay in front of a computer

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Emory University

Grace Gombolay, M.D., M.S., an Emory Professor, Pediatric Neurologist at Children’s and former Georgia CTSA KL2 Scholar, leads national collaborations through the CONNECT registry and the NIH-funded ARISEN network to advance diagnosis and treatment of rare neuroinflammatory diseases. She credits Georgia CTSA training and mentorship for equipping her with the research, grant-writing, and collaborative skills that enabled her transition to a nationally recognized leader whose work is creating lasting impact for patients and investigators alike.

Former Georgia CTSA KL2 Scholar Leads Registry to Improve Treatments for Rare Diseases

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Goal #7:  Training and career support programs for translational scientists

The Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC CTSI) has launched an exciting new platform for accessing trainings and educational modules geared towards learners interested in clinical and translational research and translational science. The Learning Network contains a wide range of courses that address learning needs for principal investigators and co-investigators, research professionals, students, and community members. Importantly, learners are able to search for courses based on their role or their type of research (i.e. clinical, healthcare delivery science, and community based). Additionally, courses are aligned with competencies put forth by the <a href="https://mrctcenter.org/clinical-trial-competency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Joint Task Force</a>, which outline eight competency domains for clinical research professionals. These include competencies like communications and teamwork, ethical and participant safety considerations, and data management and informatics. Finally, the content is also searchable alignment with principles of <a href="http://ncats.nih.gov/about/about-translational-science/principles" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Translational Science</a>, as defined by the National Center for Advancing Translational Science. There are seven principles; examples include efficiency and speed, creativity and innovation, and cross-disciplinary team science. Grouping educational content based on competencies and principles allows learners to search based on an area of interest.Example courses cover topics such as clinical and translational research study design, quality improvement, clinical trial monitoring, dissemination and implementation, and more. Training topics are relevant to the skills, knowledge and activities of investigators and clinical research professionals from all areas.SC CTSI was searching for an updated solution for displaying all of the educational offerings in one, easy-to-use place that would best serve learners. To accomplish this, the group within SC CTSI responsible for education and workforce development facilitated the migration of the educational offerings to Brightspace, a learning management system used by USC for all of their course offerings. This move to Brightspace allows SC CTSI to centralize offerings and more easily collect user data and metrics for reporting purposes, and to make continuous improvements to the content based on the needs of our learners.&nbsp;“We are thrilled to share our new learning platform with the research communities at University of Southern California and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles,” said Tamara Simon, MD, MPH, CHLA Site Investigator and Director of Workforce Development at SC CTSI. “We believe SC CTSI Learning Network will jumpstart our capacity to provide clinical research training to a broad variety of users, ranging from faculty and staff to community members both in Southern California and beyond.”Future plans include migrating some of the existing content on what is currently the SC CTSI Online Educational Library to the Learning Network, as well as expanding the content as more educational material becomes available.“We are excited to use our community’s input and metrics from the existing courses to grow our offerings over the next year, so please visit early and often,” she added.New courses will be added on a continuous basis, so learners are encouraged to bookmark the page and check back often. To access the Learning Network, <a href="https://courses.sc-ctsi.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">click here.</a>

Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute

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University of Southern California

The platform, launched in January 2026, contains a wealth of educational offerings tailored to learners at all stages of their clinical and translational professional journey.

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Tim Huerta Named 2026 Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association

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