Colorado Research Specialists

Ms. Higgins is responsible for screening, recruiting, and obtaining informed consent on subjects from the Denver CARES Facility who meet inclusion criteria and corresponding healthy controls. She also supervises this process at University of Colorado Hospital in the Medical and Burn ICUs. Ms. Higgins assists with data and sample collection (including bronchoscopy) in the CTRC, ensuring protocol fidelity is maintained through oversight of the screening process, and ensuring that CTRC staff adhere to the prescribed operating procedures. Ms. Higgins also serves as a liaison between the PI and the institutional review board, as well as the data safety monitor. She is tasked with ensuring regulatory compliance is maintained and communicating all issues to the PI for immediate resolution.

Mr. McKeehan manages regulatory and compliance for all COPARC studies, and serves a liaison between the PI and the institutional review board.

Dr. Maloney is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine and has been the Data and Safety Officer for alcohol-related projects with CoPARC since 2006. He is co-chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the CTRC at the University of Colorado Denver. He is extensively familiar with reviewing and critiquing safety issues that surround clinical investigations.

Suzanne holds a Master of Science Degree in Cell and Molecular Biology and has over 15 years of laboratory experience in both industry and academia. She is responsible for the processing, storage, and cataloging of samples collected at the UCD site from all research subjects and patients in the CoPARC biorepository. She coordinates the fulfillment and shipping of CoPARC sample requests to collaborators. She also performs various laboratory procedures and bioassays as needed.