Louise Henderson, PhD (Director: Carolina Mammography Registry / Director: Epidemiology Research Team)
The Epidemiology Research Team (ERT), which includes the Carolina Mammography Registry (CMR) and the North Carolina Lung Screening Registry (NC LSR), has been working diligently to continue research activities throughout the pandemic.
By early March 2020, the potential impact of COVID-19 on research was coming into focus. One of the major challenges our group faced was maintaining UNC’s high standards for data security while working remotely. We started to plan for the possibility of remote work by working closely with UNC School of Medicine (SOM) IT to ensure we could safely access Epic@UNC and our secure network drives from home. Initially, we expected to work from home for about three weeks. Of course, three weeks turned into three months and beyond, but we have continued to maintain safe and secure access to our data and data collection systems throughout. We owe a great deal of thanks to SOM IT for making this possible.
Another challenge was developing new ways to continue the data collection activities that are a central part of our scientific mission. In accordance with UNC Health’s restrictions on the presence of non-essential personnel in the hospital, we paused in-person recruitment to our studies in March. We have since worked with our partner locations on COVID-19 safety protocols that allowed us to resume recruiting patients. The CMR’s Defining Texture Changes in Breast Tissue (DETECT) study began recruiting participants in September 2020 and the NC LSR will resume in-person recruitment in January 2021. Procedures at the subset of NC LSR sites that recruit patients using informational packets were unaffected by the pandemic. A small number of non-UNC facilities that participate in the registries require on-site collection of data exports and on-site medical record abstraction. We are currently developing plans to resume these activities in a manner that complies with social distancing and other COVID-19 prevention recommendations.
Like other groups, the ERT has also had to shift our communication styles dramatically. We have embraced virtual meetings and screen sharing. We’ve also added a “show and tell” portion to our weekly staff meetings to share pictures of kids, pets, plants, and baked goods. Although each group has faced different challenges, we have managed to continue our research operations including data collection, analysis, and publication. We are also excited to leverage our existing infrastructure to assess how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected our patient population and their health behaviors. We continue to appreciate the resilience and dedication of our team members, clinical partners, and the broader UNC community who contribute to the success of our endeavors during these unique times.
Sarah Nyante, PhD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Louise Henderson, PhD
Professor of Radiology