Rashmi Pershad

Associate Director of Pre-Award Research Administration

Instructor

Research administration:operations, proposal submission, training and compliance

Rashmi Pershad MPhil. CCRP., CRA. Associate Director of Pre-award will assist faculty, students and staff preparing grants applications. She comes to George Mason University from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU); where she has served as Associate Director of Research Administration, training and compliance for the past 6+ years in the Department of Internal Medicine. She has a track record of increasing research funding and teaching new faculty to prepare grants. Rashmi brings extensive experience in all areas of research management; she is a certified research administrator (CRA) and has over 10years experience.

Rashmi completed her BSc. (Hons) in Microbiology from University College London and has a Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Central Lancashire. She is a certified clinical research professional (CCRP) and began her career as a research assistant using molecular biology techniques to perform experiments. Then, when she came to Houston, Rashmi worked at the DNA Core Facility at the MD Anderson Cancer Center from its inception, and served in progressive leadership roles, finally serving as the co-director and genome facility manager. In the five years that Rashmi directed the facility, it provided service to more than 50 faculty and the data generated by the facility was published in more than 100 publications. While at MD Anderson, Rashmi gained valuable knowledge about research, the strategy and psychology of grant writing, and preparing budgets for studies, which led her to switch to administrative research work. She raised more than $2.5 million in funding from the National Cancer Institute for the DNA Core and has been published multiple times.

Rashmi then went on to work as the Assistant Director of Research at Carolinas Rehabilitation Center, now part of Atrium Health, where she was instrumental in securing a NIDDR multi-center project grant. In her role as research manager at the Carolinas HealthCare System in Charlotte, Rashmi managed the daily operations of all grant-funded research projects and industry-sponsored clinical trials, including budgets, timelines and other deliverables. She was also a part of a grant-writing team that secured $13 million of federal, state and foundation funding for rehabilitation research.

In June 2015, she joined the VCU Department of Internal Medicine as the associate administrator for research administration and worked her way up to associate director of research administration. In this role, she supported Internal Medicine faculty from 11 divisions, overseeing administrative resources, processes and staff. Rashmi has served on numerous task forces at VCU and has also prepared and reviewed grant proposals for submission to National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Defense and to many different state agencies and foundations.

Selected Publications

Elizabeth T. Rogawski McQuade, PhD,^1,2 Kristin A. Guertin, MPH, PhD,² Lea Becker, MT,¹ Darwin Operario, PhD,¹ Jean Gratz, BSc,¹ Dave Guan, Meng,³ Fauzia Khan, MMCi,³ Jennifer White, BSN,¹ Timothy L. McMurry, PhD,² Bhruga Shah, MS,⁴ Stephanie Garofalo, MSN,⁴ Matt Southerland, BS,⁴ Kelly Bear, BS,⁴ John Brush, MD,⁵ Cynthia Allen, BS,⁵ Amy Frayser, BS,⁶ Rebecca Vokes, MHA,⁶ Rashmi Pershad, MPhil,⁶ Lilian Peake, MD, MPH,⁷ Christopher deFilippi, MD,⁴ Kathleen Barackman, MSN,⁵ Gonzalo Bearman, MD, MPH,⁶ Andrea Bidanset, MHA,⁸ Francis Farrell, PhD,⁸ David Trump, MD, MPH,⁷ and Eric R. Houpt, MD Assessment of Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and Risk Factors Associated With COVID-19 Infection Among Outpatients in Virginia. JAMA Network 2021 Feb 1;4 (2) e2035234. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.35234.PMID: 33555331

Flora M.Hammond, Alison K. Bickett, James. H. Norton and Rashmi Pershad. Effectiveness of amantadine hydrochloride in the reduction of chronic brain injury irritability and aggression. J Head Trauma Rehabil 2014 Sep-Oct;29 (5):391-9.

Perrin P, Niemeier J, Mougeot JL, Vannoy CH, Hirsch M, Watts JA, Rossman W, Grafton LM, Guerrier T, Pershad R, Kingsbury CA, Bartel S, Whitney M. “Measures of Injury Severity and Prediction of Acute Traumatic Brain Injury Outcomes.” The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation. Epub 2014 Feb 28.

Flora M. Hammond, Mark Sherer, James F. Malec, Ross D. Zafonte, Marybeth Whitney, Kathleen Bell, Sureyya Dikmen, Jennifer Bogner, Jerry Mysiw, Rashmi Pershad, and as the Amantadine Irritability Multisite Study Group Journal of Neurotrauma Aug 2015. 1230-1238. Amantadine Effect on Perceptions of Irritability after Traumatic Brian Injury: Results of the Amantadine Irritability Multisite Study.

Hawes JW, Knudtson KL, Escobar H, Grills GS, Hunter TC, Jackson-Macheslski E, Lin H, Needleman DS, Pershad R, Wiebe GJ. “Evaluation of Methods for Sequence Analysis of Highly Repetitive DNA Templates.” J. Biomolecular Techniques, 2006 (2):138-144. PMID 16741241.

Mu X, Beremand P, Zhao S, Pershad R, Sun H, Scarpa A, Liang S, Thomas TL, Klein HL. “Discrete gene set depend on POU domain transcription factor BRn3b/Brn-3.2/POU4f2 for their expression in mouse embryonic retina.” Development, 131, 1197-1210 (2004). PMID 14973295

Weil M, Pershad R, Wang R, Zhao S. “Use of BAC end sequences for SNP Discovery.” Methods Molecular Biology, 2004: 256:1-6. PMID 15024155

Wiebe GJ, Pershad R, Escobar H, Hawes JW, Hunter T, Jackson-Machelski E, Knudtson KL, Robertson M, Thannhauser, TW. (2003). DNA Sequencing Research Group (DSRG) 2003 – “A general survey of core DNA sequencing facilities.” Journal of Biomolecular Techniques. 14(3), 231-235. PMCID PMC2279958

Weil MM, Pershad R, Wang R, Zhao S. “Use of BAC end sequences for SNP discovery.” In: S. Zhao and M. Stodolsky (eds.), Bacterial Artificial Chromosomes: Methods and Protocols. Humana Press.2002.

Grants and Fellowships

Title: Characterizing moderators of gender differences in recovery from TBI (Niemeier PI) (2013-2015)

Role: Co-Investigator

Sponsor: Carolinas Healthcare Foundation, Center of Excellence Award

Title: AIMS: A Multi-Center, Parallel Group, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Amantadine Hydrochloride in the Treatment of Chronic TBI Irritability and Aggression: A Replication Study (1 Oct 2008 – 30 Sep 2014)

Role: Site Project Manager

Sponsor: National Institute of Disability Rehabilitation & Research Grant #H133A080035 (Hammond)

Title: Improving Outcomes in Acute Rehabilitation for Traumatic Brain Injury through Practice Based Evidence and Individualized Planning for the first year following Acute Rehabilitation
Grant # RO1HD050439 (Susan Horn ISIS/Hammond) (2007-2013)

Role: Project Manager

Sponsor: National Institute of Health (NIH)

Title: Post-TBI Irritability and Aggression: An Evidence-Based Approach to Management (1 Oct 2007 – 30 Sep 2013)

Role: Project Manager

Sponsor: National Institute of Disability Rehabilitation & Research (NIDRR)

Title: Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Improving Outcomes through Practice-Based Evidence (1 Oct 2005 – 30 Sep 2011)

Role: Project Manager

Sponsor: National Institute of Disability Rehabilitation & Research Grant subcontract with Craig Hospital Colorado

Title: Macromolecular Synthesis and Analysis and DNA Sequencing Facility (1998 – 2005)

Role: Co-Director (2003 – 2005)

Sponsor: NCI Shared Resource Grant CCSG CA 16672

Education

Master of Philosophy, University of Central Lancashire

BSc (Hons) Microbiology, University College London

Recent Presentations

May 2018 “Departmental Inter-Generational Training: How to Leverage the Knowledge and Expertise of Seasoned Research Administrators Within Your Area to Assist in The Training of The Next Generation.” National Council of Research Administrators Conference, Region III Meeting.

June 2018 SRA “Proactive Post Award Grant Management- What does it take?” Society of Research Administrators International Virginia Chapter Meeting.

April 2017 SRA “Understanding and Successfully Managing a Clinical Trial” Society of Research Administrators International, Southern Regional Meeting.

October 2016 AAIM Poster Presentation: “Partnering Research Administration with QI Faculty Leaders to promote Successful QI Scholarship” Sarah, M. Hartigan, MD. Rashmi Pershad, Meagan Sok Alliance of Academic Medicine Conference; Washington DC.

June 2016 Virginia Chapter Society of Research Administrators Conference- James Madison University VA: “What goes into a subaward agreement and the importance of sub recipient monitoring”.