2008 Awardees
Alabama
UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Science
Birmingham, Alabama
Principal Investigator
Robert Kimberly, M.D., University of Alabama at Birmingham
Victor Darley-Usmar, Ph.D., and postdoctoral fellow Elena Ulasova perform research to understand how diabetes and dietary factors affect mitochondrial function in the heart. A better understanding of these processes will help in designing new therapies for treatment of diabetic patients.
The vision of the UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) is to transform the university's environment by building productive and efficient interdisciplinary research teams through educational ingenuity, regulatory reorganization, resource coordination and methodological innovation. The mission is to develop a transformative infrastructure that spans the spectrum from preclinical research to bench-to-bedside translation to community implementation. This center builds upon a long-standing collaborative network that involves Historically Black Colleges and Universities and underprivileged communities in its region.
Using the community health advisor model, UAB CCTS investigators have a strong record of NIH- and CDC-funded community-based participatory research involving the Alabama “Black Belt,” one of the nation's most underserved areas. Further, in collaboration with Alabama's Historically Black Colleges and Universities, they have built an extensive network for training the next generation of health disparities researchers. CCTS will provide the crucible to bring these activities to the next level. Through its innovative “One Great Community” component, CCTS will support three community incubators (Urban Lay, Health Professionals, and University), as well as a Research Incubator to insure the bidirectional flow of information between the lay and the research communities that will generate new knowledge at the intersection between science and community needs.
California
Scripps Translational Science Institute
La Jolla, California
Principal Investigator
Eric J. Topol, M.D., Scripps Research Institute
Kelly Frazer, Ph.D., director of genomics research at Scripps Translational Science Institute in San Diego, is working on an integrated Omics Program that studies the intersection of genomics, proteomics and glycomics and their influence on disease. She is researching how a piece of chromosome 9 (called 9p21) contributes to heart disease.
The Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) will emphasize three dimensions of translation: traditional bench-to-bedside, bedside-to-bench and back to bedside, and bedside to the community and practice of medicine. The vision of this program provides the appropriate amalgam of integration and innovation, and it capitalizes on particular strengths at The Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Health and partnering institutions as well as strengths of faculty members that have led to the development of the goals of STSI.
Building upon and establishing specific collaborations with leading translational science and clinical investigators will accelerate discovery that has impact across multiple research disciplines. Collaborations with a large subset of the 550 life science companies in San Diego provide an extraordinary advantage for accessing innovative technology and catalyzing benefits to patients. STSI exploits the excitement of today's scientific advances to advance tomorrow's preventions, improve health, and train future leaders of academic medicine.
Spectrum: The Stanford Center for Clinical and Translational Education and Research
Palo Alto, California
Principal Investigator
Harry B. Greenberg, M.D., Stanford University
A team reviews tape of a simulated birth at the Center for Pediatric Education at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. The facility is the world's first dedicated pediatric and obstetric medical simulation center, allowing health-care professionals to hone their skills in a simulated medical environment. The hospital is a participating institution in the Stanford Center for Clinical and Translational Education and Research. (Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Photo)
Spectrum: The Stanford Center for Clinical and Translational Education and Research will pursue a multidisciplinary approach to transform and integrate critical components of clinical and translational research related to human health across Stanford University's academic and clinical enterprise. The goals of the center are to effectively convert basic discoveries into practical methods that will improve human health and to prepare the next generation of research leaders to ensure that the translation of discoveries into benefits for human health continues into the future. This mission will be accomplished through a series of coordinated and synergistic transformative changes in their educational and mentoring programs, institutional governance structure, research support infrastructure, and the professoriate, which are all intended to promote clinical and translational research at Stanford and in the community.
The vision for the Stanford center is to transform the goals of the institution to incorporate the needs and priorities of the local community while continuing to promote research. To realize this vision, Stanford is creating an Office of Community Research to create and establish bidirectional information flow between the community and investigators, making the community a true partner in setting the research agenda and priorities. The Office of Community Research will serve as a single point of contact for community groups and Stanford investigators, with the goals that include enhancing understanding of local community needs and priorities and improving dissemination of key research results to the local community to promote health and improved clinical practice.
Colorado
Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute
Aurora, Colorado
Principal Investigator
Ronald J. Sokol, M.D., University of Colorado Denver
Ronald J. Sokol, M.D., principal investigator for the University of Colorado Denver's CTSI, examines 14-year-old Matt Gordon who is participating in research studies that will translate discoveries into new treatments for cystic fibrosis.
The University of Colorado Denver and its affiliates are using this award to speed biomedical discoveries from laboratories to the lives of citizens. The university and its partners will create an unprecedented statewide network of research, health care and community facilities. Working together, the new Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) turns biomedical findings into improved patient and community health. CCTSI coordinates the efforts of scientists, health care providers and advocates from two research universities, six health care professional schools, five hospitals, a health care network and more than a dozen community health programs.
The institute's five goals are to: 1) convert laboratory discoveries into clinical use, 2) bring clinical advances into communities, 3) apply new technologies to deliver personalized medicine, 4) train future researchers, and 5) advance child and maternal health. A dynamic Partnership of Academicians and Communities for Translation (PACT) s exchanges between communities and academic programs that let scientists share discoveries with communities, but at the same time let communities tell scientists what medical and public health needs should be addressed. CCTSI commits personnel and informatics resources to six diverse and well-developed community partnerships as its initial focus for launching this shared translational research agenda. Following initial testing in these communities, CCTSI will adapt successful models to the remaining PACT communities. Eventually, PACT should have an impact on the health care of all of Colorado's more than 4 million residents and the 1,300 physician practices and 300 hospitals that serve them.
Illinois
Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute
Evanston and Chicago, Illinois
Principal Investigator
Philip Greenland, M.D., Northwestern University
Dr. Stephan Schuele (right) leads the Northwestern University Comprehensive Epilepsy Center based at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The center's team of neurologists, neurosurgeons, radiologists, neuropsychologists, electrophysiologists and nuclear medicine specialists apply the latest advances in molecular biology, imaging and pharmacology to diagnose and treat epilepsy.
The Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS) is dedicated to facilitating, supporting and promoting research that results in better medical treatments and improved health care. NUCATS is the physical home and central hub for translational research across the Northwestern University enterprise. The institute is composed of five centers, and participation spans several geographic locations, including the involvement of all four NU-affiliated hospitals and six NU schools located on two campuses: the Feinberg School of Medicine, the Kellogg School of Management, the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Communication, the School of Education and Social Policy, and the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Basic scientists, medical practitioners, community-based medical practitioners and community-based organizations are working together with leaders in the fields of communications, education, business and public health to eliminate barriers to innovation.
Indiana
Indiana Clinical and Translational Science Institute
Indianapolis, Indiana
Principal Investigator
Anantha Shekhar, M.D., Ph.D., Indiana University School of Medicine
Mu Wang, Ph.D., (right) director of the Protein Analysis and Research Center, and Attaya Suvannasankha, M.D., assistant professor of medicine, are employing proteomics tools to find biomarkers for multiple myeloma at Indiana University School of Medicine.
Indiana Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) will increase translational biomedical research and improve the health of the people of Indiana and beyond. The Indiana CTSI has developed enhanced educational programs to train translational researchers, a newly designed community engagement activity to produce effective and bidirectional community partnerships, a streamlined process for all available research infrastructure to accelerate translational projects, and a partnership with commercial and philanthropic organizations in Indiana.
The critical link connecting all of these efforts is the university's medical informatics program that enables all parties to interact in an easy, responsive and prompt manner. Thus, the Indiana CTSI brings together the research resources of the entire state. It will provide the national network of CTSAs with a statewide laboratory to experiment with innovative methods aimed at transforming research in biomedical sciences, health economy, health care delivery and health policy. It will create pilot projects, train translational researchers, foster community engagement, build research resources and technologies, and leverage the resources of the Greater Indiana Community.
Massachusetts
BU Clinical and Translational Science Institute
Boston, Massachusetts
Principal Investigator
David M. Center, M.D., Boston University
Lisa Gagalis, R.N. (right), a study coordinator at Boston University Medical Campus, performs lung function testing on research participant Ashley Mendez, who is enrolled in a clinical trial of omalizumab, an antibody-based treatment for asthma. This trial is being conducted as part of the Inner-City Asthma Consortium funded by NIAID. (Vivian Borek Photo)
The Boston University Clinical and Translational Science Institute (BU CTSI) will integrate, connect and expand research and programs across traditional academic departments and schools. The institute will act as a bridge between disciplines to facilitate interactions by incorporating multiple key programs that support the university-wide commitment to a home for translational research.
The CTSA grant will allow the institute to build on existing strengths to create an environment linking faculty members, trainees and university programs to speed the translation of innovations in medical science to improve maintenance of health and diagnosis and treatment of diseases and share these innovations with other university-based CTSAs. The BU CTSI environment also will support the bidirectional development and translation of ideas that begin in the clinic to the BU scientific community and back to identify new ways to improve health and delivery of health care services. Moreover, the institute will significantly enhance existing partnerships with Boston's community health centers, transforming the conduct of clinical and translational research by infusing it with community-based perspectives and needs.
Harvard Catalyst: The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center
Boston, Massachusetts
Principal Investigator
Lee Marshall Nadler, M.D., Harvard University
Akiko Yabuuchi, a Ph.D. in George Daley's lab at Children's Hospital Boston, conducts stem cell research inside a clean room. Daley is a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and part of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. (Harvard University Photo/Justin Ide)
Harvard Catalyst: The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center will alter the culture of clinical and translational research at Harvard by creating structured and effective methods to connect and support individual investigators and teams of investigators. The center will create managed approaches to focusing the skills of experts in diverse disciplines to find innovative solutions to challenging questions in clinical and translational research. It will deploy both new and old resources more effectively, lowering the barriers to the initiation and conduct of clinical and translational research within and across institutions.
In parallel, the center will build a structure to encourage initiation of new clinical and translational research projects and provide mechanisms for bringing together interdisciplinary and cross-institutional teams, opening the doors of the clinical and translational research enterprise to researchers and engineers with diverse backgrounds, skills and resources. The center will educate the broader Harvard research community on the opportunities, challenges and goals of clinical and translational research.
The overarching goals focus on the individual development of clinical and translational researchers and alignment of incentives with desired outcomes. Structured processes will be created that will enhance the ability of investigators to identify information, seek expertise and access tools necessary to conceive and successfully complete clinical and translational experiments.
Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute
Boston, Massachusetts
Principal Investigator
Harry P. Selker, M.D., M.S.P.H., Tufts University
Hans Klingemann, M.D., is director of the Bone Marrow and Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Program at Tufts Medical Center. This program is an example of the clinical and translational research conducted by Tufts Medical Center and Tufts University researchers. (Tufts Medical Center Photo)
The Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute will build on long-standing traditions of multidisciplinary collaboration. The institute will leverage that history to produce ground-breaking translational research to bring therapies to patients more quickly. Among the endeavors the institute will undertake will be a program aimed at cultivating connections between researchers and community groups, transforming the research process by developing ways for these groups to learn about each other's needs, interests and perspectives. The program includes annual needs assessments with community partners to identify perceived health needs and research priorities. This partnership will facilitate the recruitment of diverse participants in research efforts to accelerate the adoption of evidence-based care into clinical practice settings. The emphasis on community involvement uniquely reflects both Tufts University and Tufts Medical Center's dedication to active citizenship and biomedical research by including multiple hospitals, community organizations, health plans, industry and others in Massachusetts and nationally.
New York
Einstein-Montefiore Institute for Clinical and Translational Research
Bronx, New York
Principal Investigator
Harry Shamoon, M.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Pediatric clinical research is a vital component of the enterprise sponsored by the Einstein-Montefiore Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.
The Einstein-Montefiore Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) is founded on successful interdependent programs comprising pediatric and adult patient research facilities, core laboratories, and expanded clinical research training programs, including a Ph.D. in clinical investigation. Jointly supported by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center, ICTR encourages the development of new methods and approaches to bidirectional clinical and translational research. One focus will be on the improvement of education, training and mentoring to aid new investigators in navigating the increasingly complex research system, while taking advantage of newly designed and improved biomedical research informatics tools. ICTR actively engages the ethnically diverse communities of the Bronx, made up of 1.4 million people, collaborating with regional and affiliated institutions to expand research and training opportunities throughout the Bronx community. ICTR builds upon existing clinical research programs, such as the Hispanic Community Health Study; on interdisciplinary centers in diabetes, cancer, liver, health disparities, neuroscience, transplantation and HIV/AIDS; and on an expanding base of translational research faculty in genetics, systems biology and stem cell research, many of whom are housed in a new state-of-the-art facility. ICTR will enhance community collaboration and participation in its research, as well as expand and develop partnerships with community organizations in the Bronx. During the past two years, the Clinical and Translational Science Award development process has involved a broad range of faculty from numerous disciplines (including medicine, dentistry, nursing, epidemiology, social work and biomedical sciences) through these transformative partnerships.
North Carolina
The North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences (TraCS) Institute
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Principal Investigator
Marschall Runge, M.D., Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
UNC students at all levels are inspired to participate in clinical and translational research. Here, two students display the results of their research project that involved an improved way to detect kidney disease.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill solicited input from over 300 faculty, administrators and other stakeholders, drawn not just from the university but across the state, to establish the Translational and Clinical Sciences (TraCS) Institute. The TraCS Institute is transforming the way research is performed in the state by partnering with communities to more rapidly and efficiently translate scientific discoveries into improvements in the health of citizens. The TraCS Institute has three simple goals: 1) prepare and empower faculty, health care providers and citizens to participate in all aspects of the process involved in translating good ideas into health advances; 2) provide the advice and resources necessary to design and execute the best research projects; and 3) ensure that the best discoveries and ideas evolving from these projects are rapidly used to solve important health problems in the state. The Translational Research Advisory Board, consisting of senior faculty from across the UNC System, partners with communities to identify and prioritize important health issues and calls for project proposals that address these priorities. The TraCS study section, which includes community members, prioritizes and helps improve project proposals contributed by over 40 units across campus and the state. A special TraCS program ensures that best ideas that result from these projects are implemented throughout the state to improve the health of citizens.
Ohio
The Ohio State University Center for Clinical and Translational Science
Columbus, Ohio
Principal Investigator
Rebecca D. Jackson, M.D., Ph.D., Ohio State University
Caroline Whitacre, Ph.D., one of the world's most acknowledged authorities on autoimmune disease, is among hundreds of scientists at The Ohio State University Medical Center who translate innovative research findings into personalized patient care. (The Ohio State University Medical Center Photo)
The Ohio State University (OSU) has established the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) to improve the quality of care for all patients in the community by creating a transformative clinical and translational science discipline that is at the core of the OSU academic culture. It supports a robust and integrated partnership between the OSU and Nationwide Children's Hospital and links these sophisticated health care systems as a laboratory for biological, clinical and behavioral research. By also working through affiliated hospital networks, a primary care network and extension offices in all 88 counties in Ohio, CCTS accomplishes clinical and translational research through innovative collaboration with the community. As part of its community engagement plans, CCTS has selected the Appalachian region of Ohio as an area of emphasis — an area with some of the state's highest poverty rates. Expanding its community-based research programs to include unique partnerships with the Appalachia Community Cancer Network and Partners for Kids, a Nationwide Children's Hospital organization, provides clinical research opportunities to this rural community.
Texas
Institute for Integration of Medicine and Science
San Antonio, Texas
Principal Investigator
Robert A. Clark, M.D., University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
A medical student at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio celebrates new life with a mother and baby while on obstetrics rotation at the Regional Academic Health Center, a campus of the Health Science Center in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. (UT Health Science Center at San Antonio Photo)
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio has established the Institute for Integration of Medicine and Science as the home for the Clinical and Translational Science Award. The institute's mission is to spur integration of clinical and translational research, education, training and career development across all schools and among partner organizations in South Texas. The institute will bring existing and newly developing resources and intellectual capital to bear on clinical and translational research for the improvement of human health. Meaningful two-way community participation has promoted buy-in from all stakeholders and will remain a key principle.
Institute partners have brought together major talent and a broad array of resources to create synergies that add value to all participating organizations, residents of the region and the CTSA network. Distinctive features of the institute include thriving partnerships with key public and private organizations, major investments in research resources and infrastructure, one of the world's largest primate research colonies, the largest cadre of military health care and biomedical research operations in the United States, and a 46,000-square-mile service area populated by predominantly Hispanic residents. This area includes some of the country's poorest people and has high rates of health disparities, providing an opportunity, challenge and obligation for this institute to make a significant impact on human health.
The primary vision is to work closely with all partners to translate the results of the academic- and community-based research for the direct benefit of the regional population.
Utah
University of Utah Center for Clinical and Translational Science
Salt Lake City, Utah
Principal Investigator
Don McClain, M.D., Ph.D., University of Utah
Lauren Jones, R.N., assistant nurse manager (front left), Shelley Stanton, R.N., and Donald A. McClain, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Utah Center for Clinical and Translational Science, prepare a patient for a PET scan as part of a clinical trial.
The University of Utah Center for Clinical and Translational Science will build on the university's strengths in genetics and bioinformatics to translate promising bench science into practices that improve human health. The center serves as an academic home for clinical and translational research, developing innovative health services for the community and health researchers, providing seed funds to initiate clinical and translational research projects, and training a new generation of clinical and translational investigators.
The center and its partners are increasing the visibility, volume and quality of participatory research by connecting investigators at the university with other health care institutions, clinical practitioners, public health personnel, patients and research participants. As the sole academic health sciences center serving Utah's rapidly growing racial, ethnic and culturally diverse population, the center will support the empowerment and representation of underserved populations as stakeholders in translational research. The center also links research activities across systems that together provide health care coverage to 80 percent of Utah's population as well as patients in surrounding states.
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