Lynda Lane, M.S., R.N.
Lane elected to national clinical research center post
Lynda Lane, M.S., R.N., administrative director of the Vanderbilt General Clinical Research Center (GCRC), has been elected president of the national GCRC Association of Administrative Directors.
Seventy-eight GCRCs are funded by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR). They offer resources such as specialized research nurses, biostatisticians, core laboratories and metabolic kitchens to researchers. Collectively, they support more than 9,000 clinical scientists and 6,000 research studies nationwide.
"Lynda Lane's election is a signal honor that reflects positively on her and on the leadership role Vanderbilt plays in the national clinical research enterprise," said David Robertson, M.D., director of the Vanderbilt GCRC.
Lane has been at VUMC since 1996, and was named GCRC administrative director three years ago. She said she was “tickled” to learn of her election.
“It's very flattering,” she said, “and I feel very honored to serve such an important association.”
As president, Lane will serve as the association's liaison with the NCRR.
During her one-year term, she hopes to redesign the Web site to include orientation information for new administrative directors, standardized policy and procedures, and a feature section on the best practices from around the nation.
Among the nation's GCRC administrative directors, who usually come from a business background, Lane is unique because of her nursing background, her role as a faculty member in the School of Medicine, and her long track record as a productive clinical investigator in space physiology and medicine.
Vanderbilt's GCRC is one of the oldest and most productive in the country, hosting 320 investigators and 273 open protocols. Since its establishment in 1956, Lane is only the fifth administrative director.
The center's application for a Clinical Translational Science Award from the NCRR is currently being processed.
This new award aims to move scientific knowledge efficiently from the bench to the bedside to the community by providing funding not only to clinical research, but also relevant bench research.