Authored by:
Kimberly Pratt
Sponsored Projects Officer
Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital
Email: Kimberly.Pratt@nationwidechildrens.org
Kimberly Pratt is the Sponsored Projects Officer at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH.
8:30am: Our parking lot is two miles away from my office, so I get dropped off every day at my office in Research Building 3. I say goodbye to my 4-year-old son and we pinkie promise that he’s going to have a good day. I hope I am, too. Next stop: coffee and a doughnut left over from yesterday’s Breakfast Club before...
9:00am-11:00am: The best and fastest two hours all week are those spent with the rest of the SPOs (sponsored projects officers) and GCOs (grants and contracts officers) and our manager for our weekly staff meeting and education time. Our team is tight-knit and hard-working, so this is our opportunity to put work aside for a minute. We talk about the week we’ve had, plan for the week ahead, share what we’ve learned (and what we’ve messed up) and bond over baked goods. I’ve got a bunch of Amish friendship bread starter to share, if anyone wants some.
11:00am-12:30pm: I sit down with my headphones on and get to work on my list of “must do” items before I leave for the SRAI Midwest/Southern Section Meeting tomorrow. I respond to and send emails to my PIs, their teams and the research business coordinators who manage the financial side of things, route a few agreements for signatures and legal review and make a list of remaining tasks to pass off to my back-ups while I’m out next week. I’m trying not to leave them with too much that’s still outstanding and who am I kidding? I know I’ll be checking email constantly anyway.
12:30pm-1:50pm: I’m presenting a session at the conference, so I put the finishing touches on my presentation, print out my slides and notes and make sure I’ve packed my business cards and saved my presentation in three places. I’m trying not to be nervous already.
1:50pm: I leave my desk for a 2:00pm meeting with our director of Clinical Research Services across the street in the hospital. It’s the first spring day we’ve seen in Columbus and I’m thrilled to leave my office without a jacket. I’m tempted to stop and savor the moment, but…
1:55pm: I have to stop to check in to my flight on Southwest the exact minute I can. Even then, I still end up with a check-in in the high B numbers.
2:03pm-3:00pm: I arrive for the meeting. This is a complicated award and it looks like a PI’s study is going over budget. We dig into the agreement and the budget and decide we’re going to have to meet with the PI next week to make some changes.
3:00pm-3:05pm: I walk back to my office. I consider stopping for an iced coffee to get me through the rest of the afternoon, but I keep walking.
3:05pm-3:30pm: Just now, I realize I didn’t eat lunch, so I eat at my desk while checking email. Only ten emails while I was gone, not bad.
3:30pm-5:00pm: I finish triaging the remaining emails. I try to get to inbox zero, and so I use Outlook tasks to schedule what needs to get done next week, and next month and into the future. The last think I do on Fridays is to check off what I was able to accomplish this week and make notes and schedule follow-ups where I’m waiting on a reply.
5:15-5:30pm: I switch on my out of office message, shut down the computer, make sure I’ve packed everything I’ll need to take to the conference and wait for my ride. I survived Friday the 13th!
Next stop: Meet you in St. Louis!
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