(COLUMBUS, Ohio) - Cynthia A. Gerhardt, PhD, director, Center for Biobehavioral Health in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, has been appointed Chief Clinical Research Officer (CCRO) at Nationwide Children's. Dr. Gerhardt also is a professor of Pediatrics and Psychology at The Ohio State University and program director in the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS), a partnership between Ohio State and Nationwide Children's to accelerate scientific discovery. She will begin this new role on April 3, 2023.
As CCRO, she will focus on the development and oversight of clinical research operations across Nationwide Children's, with an overall goal of facilitating impactful clinical research throughout the organization. She will oversee the full life cycle of the clinical research process, with an emphasis on increasing quality, compliance and efficiency along with promoting a culture of excellence among investigators and clinical research staff. The Biostatistics Core, Clinical Research Services, and Human Research Protection Program at Nationwide Children’s will report to Dr. Gerhardt as part of this role.
Dr. Gerhardt is the author of 185 peer-reviewed publications and currently is the principal investigator or co-investigator on more than $40 million in grant funding. She holds the Janet Orttung-Morrow, MD and Grant Morrow, III, MD Endowed Chair in Pediatric Behavioral Health at Nationwide Children's and is president-elect of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. She is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology and Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology.
“Dr. Gerhardt’s success as a center director, her leadership role in the CCTS at OSU, her strategic vision for our hospital and her well-earned national influence position her well to take on the role of CCRO,” said Dennis Durbin, MD, MSCE, president, Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's. “We are excited to have an accomplished clinician, scientist and leader to serve as Chief Clinical Research Officer and to lead our clinical research into a new era.”
About The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital
Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-23 list of “Best Children’s Hospitals,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of America’s largest not-for-profit free-standing pediatric health care systems providing unique expertise in pediatric population health, behavioral health, genomics and health equity as the next frontiers in pediatric medicine, leading to best outcomes for the health of the whole child. Integrated clinical and research programs are part of what allows Nationwide Children’s to advance its unique model of care. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s faculty train the next generation of pediatricians, scientists and pediatric specialists. The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded free-standing pediatric research facilities in the U.S., supporting basic, clinical, translational, behavioral and population health research. The AWRI is comprised of multidisciplinary Centers of Emphasis paired with advanced infrastructure supporting capabilities such as technology commercialization for discoveries; gene- and cell-based therapies; and genome sequencing and analysis. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org/Research.