JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 15, 2022) – James L. Adkins is the first director of Clinical
Research for the Center of Excellence in Inflammation, Infectious Disease, and Immunity (CIIDI) at East Tennessee State University.
The creation of the Clinical Research Office and Adkins’ appointment as the new director
highlights CIIDI’s growth in translational and clinical research activity.
“Our clinical research enterprise has expanded dramatically over the last three years,
making it necessary for us to create a Clinical Research Office and to hire both another
clinical research coordinator as well as a phlebotomist,” said CIIDI Co-Director Dr.
Jonathan Moorman. “Mr. Adkins has been required to direct all of this expansion. He
has also negotiated and coordinated with the College of Business and Technology to
create an MBA educational opportunity for their students within our Clinical Research
Office and growing center. Mr. Adkins is essential to the growing translational research
program within this Center of Excellence.”
Adkins joined CIIDI in March 2018 as the sole clinical research coordinator, with
functions primarily related to obtaining blood specimens for the center’s biorepository.
He also worked with faculty, staff and providers to increase recruitment efforts.
He holds a Master of Business Administration from ETSU.
“I am pleased to accept this new position and excited about the opportunity to continue
building the Clinical Research Office,” Adkins said. “I look forward to providing
more sustainability for the center, creating further opportunities for students and
faculty to engage in clinical and translational research, highlighting the center’s
advances in biomedical discoveries, and perpetuating the overall missions of both
CIIDI and ETSU’s Quillen College of Medicine. I aim to maintain a commitment to biomedical
research devoted to improving the quality of healthcare in the Appalachian Highlands.”
A major objective of the Clinical Research Office is to facilitate services for faculty,
staff and students who wish to engage in human research. CIIDI’s Clinical Research
office will assist investigators in identifying funding, developing protocols, collecting
and analyzing data, and providing technical support on a fee-for-services basis.
In addition, the Center is creating a research and development sector geared toward
advancing novel therapeutic trials, gaining fundamental insight into emerging infectious
diseases, and production of various mediums used in experimentation.
CIIDI is part of the ETSU Quillen College of Medicine and headquartered in Building
6 of the university’s VA campus. Learn more at www.etsu.edu/com/ciidi/.