DAta | National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences

ID	Title	Body
250	University of Pennsylvania Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Principal Investigator Garret FitzGerald, M.D., University of Pennsylvania Website The Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program has been greeted enthusiastically by the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and its partner institutions. The Penn-led proposal was funded in the first round of CTSA Program hubs, and Penn has just completed its renewal. The overarching themes of the Penn proposal are: 1) fostering the development of translational therapeutics and 2) bridging the artificial divide between pediatric and adult physiology and disease. A strategic plan had identified clinical and translational research as a priority, leading to the formation of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT) in January 2005. ITMAT anticipated many aspects of the CTSA Program — among them, inclusion of dedicated “dry” and “wet” bench space for translational research and a robust educational program, configured on a Master in Translational Research (MTR). This CTSA Program application prompted intra- and interinstitutional consideration of how to build on this achievement. This has forged a transformational alliance between Penn, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), the Wistar Institute (WI) and the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (USP). Faculty from 9 of the 12 schools at Penn and from the partner institutions are represented in leadership roles. ITMAT, designated as the academic home for clinical and translational research, has been broadened to serve a transinstitutional role. Its structure has been transformed to foster interdisciplinary science from discovery of new molecules through to the study of drug action in large populations. This has been accomplished by developing interdisciplinary centers, related cores, innovative interdisciplinary programs of research and strategies to engage and inform communities and their physicians. A particular emphasis has been placed on training and innovative programs, which cover the entire career span, engaging undergraduate students through to mature clinicians. The proposal includes the flexible use of the MTR and new tracks in the Master in Clinical Epidemiology (MSCE) with the M.D., Ph.D., V.M.D., M.S.N., D.M.D., and M.B.A. degrees; dedicated slots for medical school entrants pursuing M.D.-MTR/MSCE degrees; and the flexible use of diverse faculty tracks at Penn and CHOP to broaden physician engagement in research. These initiatives will be pursued in partnership with industry, the State of Pennsylvania, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and a national network of CTSA Program hubs. Specifically, Penn and the FDA signed a memorandum of understanding to pursue jointly educational and programmatic initiatives in the area of translational therapeutics under the guidance of ITMAT. In summary, this initiative has fostered: An integrated strategy to develop clinical and translational research by Penn, CHOP, the WI and USP — more than 900 investigators from these institutions are now members of ITMAT; and The transformation and expansion of ITMAT. This has permitted the development of interdisciplinary structures designed to foster and facilitate research and education in this emerging discipline.
249	University of New Mexico Clinical and Translational Science Center	Albuquerque, New Mexico Principal InvestigatorRichard S. Larson, M.D., Ph.D., University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center Website The vision of the Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC) at the University of the New Mexico (UNM) Health Sciences Center is to continue expanding and refining a transformative, novel academic home for essential clinical and translational health sciences discovery in New Mexico and the Mountain West region. The UNM CTSC will integrate the efforts of community leaders and clinicians; basic, clinical and translational investigators; health care and research collaborators; and industry partners to advance meaningful human health discovery, and accelerate its applications in New Mexico communities. With its numerous, diverse partners in New Mexico and the Mountain West region, CTSC has the expertise, infrastructure and resources to: Synergize multidisciplinary clinical and translational research to catalyze the application of new knowledge and techniques on the patient-care front lines; Recruit, train and advance talented, highly skilled investigators and research teams strong in cultural sensitivity, health disparity and biotechnology; Create an incubator for innovative research, information technologies and research informatics; and Expand existing partnerships between UNM Health Sciences Center researchers, practicing clinicians and communities to speed the development of medical research.
248	University of Minnesota Clinical and Translational Science Institute	Minneapolis, Minnesota Principal InvestigatorBruce R. Blazar, M.D., University of Minnesota Twin Cities Website The University of Minnesota (UMN) Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) creates an academic home to promote clinical and translational research. CTSI is developing an ongoing alignment with major statewide healthcare organizations and insurers, electronic networks, special and rural community populations, the state department of health, and the Mayo Clinic. As a result, CTSI is in a position to have a strong impact on workforce training, health care outcomes and policy in Minnesota. CTSI aims to improve health and well-being by accelerating discoveries into practice, from the scientist's laboratory to the patient's bedside. UMN provides a full spectrum of research expertise and technologies to foster this acceleration. The CTSI goals are to: Create an academic home and an adaptive, sustainable infrastructure to support clinical translational science research at UMN; Foster meaningful relationships and transparent interactions between UMN and our communities to improve health statewide; and Train and reward interdisciplinary clinical translational science teams at UMN and in our communities. Increasingly integrated functions in university cores will support clinical translational science research trainees and junior faculty with learner-tailored curricula. Others will accelerate bench-to-bedside translation and commercial applications. The university's Biomedical Health Informatics initiative will provide networked clinical data and biospecimen resources while training future informatics scholars. The CTSI vision is for an environment that transforms relationships in the health care community, forging a true partnership to facilitate discovery, translation and knowledge dissemination that identify and address changing community needs to have an ongoing positive impact on people's health.
247	University of Massachusetts Center for Clinical and Translational Science	Worcester, Massachusetts Principal Investigator Katherine Luzuriaga, M.D., University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester Website The University of Massachusetts Center for Clinical and Translational Science (UMCCTS) was founded to enhance clinical and translational research across the five University of Massachusetts campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and UMass Medical School) and with its clinical partner, UMass Memorial Health Care. Guided by strategic planning and supported by CTSA and significant institutional funding, UMCCTS has fostered a culture of transdisciplinary collaboration; created new departments and interdisciplinary centers and programs; recruited clinical and translational researchers; and provided innovative research cores, services and pilot programs to its investigators. UMCCTS specifically has capitalized on its outstanding basic science research to create an ecosystem that accelerates early phase translation (T0-T1: discovery in and translation to humans). UMCCTS also has leveraged institutional resources and CTSA funds to build new, nationally recognized programs in T2-4 translation, including community engagement, health disparities, outcomes and global health. Key partners include patients and communities, foundations, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and members of the venture capital and philanthropic communities. The goals of the UMCCTS are: To accelerate the translation of basic discoveries into practical, cost-effective solutions that improve human health; and To develop and support the next generation of leaders in clinical and translational research. By supporting research that improves the science of translation and that accelerates the translation of UMass discoveries into products for clinical use, UMCCTS will improve the health of citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and beyond.
246	University of Kentucky Center for Clinical and Translational Science	Lexington, Kentucky Principal Investigator Philip A. Kern, M.D., University of Kentucky Research Foundations Website The goal of the University of Kentucky (UK) Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) is to transform the pace, effectiveness and quality of translational research leading to novel discoveries that impact health care. CCTS seeks to integrate research strengths of UK's scientists from disciplines focused on common diseases, such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, and from such disciplines as pharmaceutical sciences and biomedical engineering, which are essential to development of novel drugs and medical devices. UK also has significant scientific strength in the study of risk-related behaviors, such as smoking, alcohol, drug abuse and obesity — all of which are major factors in the high rates of cancer, heart disease and diabetes in Kentucky and across Appalachia. UK is a land grant university with 16 colleges, including engineering, agriculture and six health science colleges, located all on the Lexington campus. In addition to integrating this UK expertise, CCTS is collaborating with Marshall University, CTSA Program hubs at the Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati, and regional academic institutions to form the Appalachian Translational Research Network. This network will engage investigators in clinical and translational science; foster collaborations, joint pilot studies and mentoring; and develop strong programs in community-based participatory research. CCTS and its partners will prepare the next generation of scientists; break down barriers to translational research; accelerate the pace of scientific discoveries; and improve the health of citizens in Kentucky, the Appalachian region and the nation.
245	Institute for Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Iowa	Iowa City, Iowa Principal Investigator Patricia L. Winokur, M.D., University of Iowa Website The Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS) at the University of Iowa (UI) was established in 2006 by the Iowa Board of Regents to be an integrated academic home for clinical and translational science at the UI. ICTS has one central mission — to nurture the translation of advances in the biomedical and clinical sciences into novel therapies and diagnostic techniques and into more effective healthcare delivery and health policy. ICTS provides a number of programs and services to support clinical and translational research studies, to assist investigators in preparing research grants and Institutional Review Board applications, and to support the education and training needs of junior investigators and staff. In addition, ICTS has built a number of partnerships with research centers, colleges, and departments at the UI, with other academic institutions, and with community organizations and practitioners throughout Iowa. These partnerships seek to more effectively leverage existing strengths and resources to develop new initiatives in translational science. The underlying philosophy of the ICTS is to bring people and programs together in new ways that improve the field of translational science and that lead to innovative discoveries to improve the health of Iowans and others.
244	University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Clinical and Translational Science	Chicago, Illinois Principal InvestigatorDimitri Azar, M.D., University of Illinois at Chicago Website The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) will fundamentally alter clinical and translational investigation at UIC and our partnering institutions. Harnessing our diverse backgrounds, interests and expertise, CCTS will catalyze collaborative thinking and innovation. The center will organize, finance and house the infrastructure, expertise and resources for clinical and translational investigators within a single academic home, crossing administrative boundaries to harness and enhance existing UIC resources. CCTS' goals: Create and develop an academic home for clinical translational research at UIC that will provide a flexible, adaptable infrastructure to stimulate collaborative thinking, generative discourse and collective action, facilitating clinical and translational investigation. This will include establishing a robust pilot grant program, a Clinical and Translational Science Academy, a Web-based and geographic single point-of-access for investigators, and a matchmaking service to identify novel collaborations. Establish the research service infrastructure (six cores) to provide research support services. 3) Provide multifaceted educational experiences for pre- and postdoctoral trainees, junior faculty and established faculty who want to extend their thinking beyond current disciplinary boundaries. The administrative reorganization represented by CCTS will lead to rationalization and integration of significant and mature UIC resources for clinical translational research. CCTS will add to these resources to produce not only something different, but something better for clinical translational researchers and trainees at UIC and at partner institutions.
243	University of Cincinnati Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training	Cincinnati, Ohio Principal InvestigatorsJames E. Heubi, M.D., University of CincinnatiJoel Tsevat, M.D., University of Cincinnati Website The Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training (CCTST) is transforming the research environment among the University of Cincinnati and its affiliated partners in the community and industry. The CCTST will coordinate and plan the overall direction of the university's research infrastructure and training opportunities; serve investigators' needs from project concept to completion; optimize skills and foster career development of both new and experienced investigators; and ensure that community input informs research processes, and that the university's discoveries are translated to the community. Through Research Central, researchers will have easy access to centralized study design, biostatistical, bioinformatics, regulatory and community engagement support. The new Pilot & Collaborative Studies core will expand the pilot funding program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center to the entire university. Greatly expanded educational offerings, including a new Certificate in Clinical and Translational Research, will be developed, building on the success of the Dean's Scholars in Clinical Research, as well as a master's degree in Clinical and Translational Research program. Through the community engagement program, CCTST will further bidirectional research linkages with the local community, breaking down bureaucratic barriers by creating Institutional Review Boards that can coordinate community-based research. Expanding services, such as nursing/coordinator support and sample processing provided by the existing General Clinical Research Center and the Cincinnati Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, will promote patient-oriented research for populations in the community. New translational technologies, including proteomics, drug discovery, imaging, nanomedicine, gene transfer and stem cell biology, and translational and molecular disease modeling, will be made more accessible to researchers.
242	University of Chicago Institute for Translational Medicine	Chicago, Illinois Principal Investigator Julian Solway, M.D., University of Chicago Website The ultimate goals of the University of Chicago (UC) CTSA Program hub are to: Train scientists and health care providers at the university, partner institutions and community to determine the molecular underpinnings of disease and disease predisposition in any individual patient; Develop, test, implement and make readily available to community residents personalized therapies directed toward those individual underpinnings; and Do this in a way that is rigorous, valid, efficient, ethical and respectful of our community's needs and values. In a robust alliance with the Argonne national Laboratory, the Illinois Institute of Technology and two large health care organizations, the UC CTSA Program hub will undertake three bold new steps that will transform clinical and translational research: Creation of an Institute for Translational Medicine, a new university-wide structure to collect, integrate and disseminate the intellectual, organizational and resource infrastructure needed to promote and support multidisciplinary translational research collaborations; Synergistic research interaction with a new Urban Health Initiative which, through partnership with community stakeholders, aims to improve community health care access and quality, to build health literacy and trust throughout the community, to enhance a translational research program informed by and responsive to the needs of the community, and so to reduce health disparities; and Establishment of a new academic Committee on Clinical and Translational Science and of multiple novel training programs to encourage and develop careers in clinical and translational research, intended for high school students through university faculty and across the entire translational research spectrum. CTSA Program investigators will employ a systems medicine approach to leverage their particular expertise in social science, genetic medicine and integrative therapeutics.
241	University of California, San Francisco Clinical and Translational Science Institute	San Francisco, California Principal InvestigatorJennifer Grandis, M.D., University of California, San Francisco Website Despite explosive gains in our understanding of the basic mechanisms of human disease, meaningful translation of this knowledge to the treatment and prevention of disease has moved slowly. To accelerate the pace at which discoveries in basic science can serve the health of our patients and community, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) intends to establish a Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). Its mission will be to create a comprehensive, integrated academic home that promotes research and education in clinical and translational science at UCSF, at affiliated institutions, and in participating communities. Its goals are to: Support, enhance and integrate existing training programs, increasing the number of trainees from diverse disciplines and improving the quality of their training in clinical and translational research methods; Support, improve and integrate existing infrastructure to enhance the design and implementation of clinical and translational studies, fostering collaborations to achieve a diverse spectrum of high-quality, original research; Enhance career development of clinical and translational researchers by providing mentoring and opportunities to catalyze original research, and by changing the academic culture to appropriately reward multidisciplinary collaborative work; and Create a virtual home providing contemporary communications to simplify collaboration, to provide an optimal informatics matrix for conducting innovative research, and to nurture the growth of clinical and translational science. To reach these goals, UCSF is transforming its clinical and translational research organization to establish 13 interrelated programs that will provide the training, services and opportunities needed. These programs are led by senior scientists drawn from diverse disciplines in each of UCSF's four health science schools — dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy — and its graduate division. The plans reflect input from more than 200 interested, energetic and committed participants from throughout the community, including most of UCSF's academic leaders. These individuals worked collaboratively to ensure inclusion, transparency and flexibility in the design and planned implementation of CTSI. UCSF believes that this infusion of new energy and resources will create and sustain a rich environment for innovative research and drive the realization of UCSF's full potential to educate and to support the work of clinical and translational scientists. If so, biomedicine will be advanced, and the health of our patients and the community will benefit.

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