Aubrey Turner Email and Phone Number

I serve in a leadership capacity and with a primary function to sustain and enhance the Gillings School of Global Public Health’s and the Collaborative Studies Coordinating Center’s (CSCC’s) comprehensive research portfolio, which currently totals $32 million for the CSCC and $280 million for the School. In the CSCC, I serve as Associate Director for Research Funding and Strategy. I work with faculty from across the Gillings School of Global Public Health to identify opportunities to expand current projects as well as opportunities for collaboration within the school and across campus.I identify funding opportunities, serve as the primary point of contact for initial discussions, function as a proposal manager, support the development of strategic roadmaps for center funding, oversee the administrative aspects of research projects at the CSCC, develop resource planning model for staff and faculty, and support faculty in growing their grantsmanship. To support ongoing collaborations at UNC-CH and across the UNC System, I serve as a liaison across the Schools of Public Health, Medicine, Pharmacy, and other institutions in the University of North Carolina system. This includes: interfacing with investigators at UNC and other academic organizations, evaluating relationships and developing partnerships with various parties in the UNC environment, creating and presenting proposals for the CSCC and UNC to sponsors, and providing support to the School of Public Health’s research office as needed.

My primary duties centered on the management and support of 29 Centers and 32 Core facilities across the institution. Responsibilities included financial oversight, compliance with federal guidelines, business growth, capital equipment investments, communications, networking events, and iLab billing. I assisted in the startup of new cores and centers. I managed annual assessments and metrics for Cores and Centers. I led the development and approval of related policies and SOPs. I coordinated core services between our campuses in Winston-Salem and Charlotte. Many of my duties were in coordination with other units and teams. Collectively, my efforts supported the growth of research and training across the institution.

I was primarily responsible for developing large multi-disciplinary and multi-center collaborative grant proposals to a wide range of funding agencies and organizations. I worked with cross-functional teams composed of UNCG faculty/staff/leaders, counterparts at other universities, business/industry leaders, and members of the local community. I developed strategy around specific funding opportunities and overall funding trends of federal and foundation sponsors, to prepare for future attempts to secure funding. I mentored individual faculty on alignment of their research program with their funding strategy. I provided writing and editing support for large and complex grant proposals. I analyzed awards and submissions data to identify opportunities that could be leveraged. I improved research communication by launching an active email list to shares news, tips, and funding opportunities with the University’s diverse range of scholars. I developed new workshops for grant writing, funding searches, and research strategy. I oversaw the limited submission process. I served all departments, centers, schools and community organizations at UNCG.

Develop and submit large, multidisciplinary, and multi-collaborative grant proposals to a wide range of funding agencies and organizations. Collaborate and coordinate with the Development Office to identify and submit grant proposals to a broad range of private funding agencies. Provide writing and editing support and coordination of complex proposals for submission. Facilitate team formation for major multidisciplinary proposals. Review proposals for consistency with the requirements of the Request for Proposals and other Program Announcements. Manage the development of several proposals, reports, and other projects simultaneously to meet firm deadlines. Coordinate the flow of information between various departments to ensure that all deadlines are met. Create templates and “boilerplate” documents to support the proposal development infrastructure. Maintain knowledge of faculty expertise and collect current academic biographies and professional profile documents to expedite proposal development. Track funding opportunities and inform UNCG collaborators and partners of potential grant funding. Provide guidance and advice to PIs, project coordinators and others regarding format specifications, grant guidelines and procedures governing federal, state and private grant proposal submissions.

Develop and submit large, multidisciplinary, and multi-collaborative grant proposals to a wide range of funding agencies and organizations. Collaborate and coordinate with the Development Office to identify and submit grant proposals to a broad range of private funding agencies. Provide writing and editing support and coordination of complex proposals for submission. Facilitate team formation for major multidisciplinary proposals. Review proposals for consistency with the requirements of the Request for Proposals and other Program Announcements. Manage the development of several proposals, reports, and other projects simultaneously to meet firm deadlines. Coordinate the flow of information between various departments to ensure that all deadlines are met. Create templates and “boilerplate” documents to support the proposal development infrastructure. Maintain knowledge of faculty expertise and collect current academic biographies and professional profile documents to expedite proposal development. Track funding opportunities and inform UNCG collaborators and partners of potential grant funding. Provide guidance and advice to PIs, project coordinators and others regarding format specifications, grant guidelines and procedures governing federal, state and private grant proposal submissions.

My clinical experience included prenatal, neonatal, pediatrics, general adult, and disease-specific clinics. First year (2000-2001) was 50% clinical and 50% research, and then I transitioned to 100% research for the remainder (2001-13). While making significant contributions to biomedical research, I helped build a research team from 3 individuals to 30 members. I managed the complete life cycle of genetic research projects for cancer genomics. This included concept generation, identification of funding opportunities, grant proposal preparation, budget development, grant submission, post award documentation, study start-up, regulatory approvals, hiring study staff, training study staff, project management, data management, sample management, laboratory coordination, clinic coordination, data analysis, results interpretation, figure preparation, manuscript writing, manuscript submission, and submission of final reports to funding agencies. I coordinated the International Consortium for Prostate Cancer Genetics (ICPCG) for multiple years. Additional responsibilities included regulatory oversight (IRB and HIPAA) for a large center, teaching, graduate project mentorship, community workshops, and media relations. Primary research funding was from NIH grants that aimed to study the genomics of prostate cancer. Major research projects focused on the role of innate immune pathway genes in prostate cancer, prostate cancer gene/diet interactions in African American men, breast/colon/lung cancer genomics in the Women’s Health Initiative, and the first ever randomized trial of prostate cancer genetic risk score information.

In this prior position, I started up a new molecular biology laboratory as an addition to an existing research team. I was responsible for developing molecular assays to detect and quantify a specific virus within biological samples. This position involved researching the existing literature, developing new lab protocols, extensive testing of new protocols for virus detection and quantification, ordering of supplies and equipment, integrating my protocols into the overall research project, documentation of labwork, generation and documentation of data, production of publication quality images of results, and written summaries of the experimental protocols in preparation for publication. Lab techniques primarily consisted of collection of tissue specimens, preparation of sample, extraction of DNA from tissues, quality control of DNA, PCR, nested PCR, gel electophoresis, radio-labeling, fluorescent-labeling, southern blotting, dot blotting, film processing, and phosphorimaging.