North Carolina
Duke Translational Medicine Institute
Durham, North Carolina
Principal Investigator
Robert Califf, M.D., Duke University
Scientists at Duke University Medical Center (Martin Tornai, Ph.D. shown here) have created a new breast scanner that will dramatically improve their ability to visualize small tumors while also reducing radiation exposure to one-tenth that of normal mammograms. Moreover, the new device does not compress the breast, as do traditional mammograms. (Duke University Medical Center Photo)
Duke University established the Duke Translational Medicine Institute (DTMI) to: 1) Create an institute that transforms how fundamental discoveries are translated into improved medical care by supporting creative translational research teams. The institute provides leadership and resources for original translational and clinical research, and it develops and performs studies regarding novel methods and approaches to translational and clinical science. 2) Create an environment in which trainees at all levels, including medical and nursing school students, physical therapists, pharmacologists, house staff, fellows, graduate students, junior faculty and career transition faculty can be trained in translational and clinical research. The training is built on the principle that a rich clinical and translational research environment provides Duke University trainees with models and opportunities for success. 3) Integrate translational and clinical science by fostering collaboration among Duke University's departments, institutes, centers and schools, using human resources supported by modern bioinformatics and a clinical research unit designed to integrate intensive measurements of biological processes. 4) Develop a community model for understanding how to translate the findings of research from bench to bedside, to populations using advanced informatics and health services delivery methods. The Duke University DTMI is founded on three entities, or pillars, including Duke University Translational Research Institute (DTRI), Duke University Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) and Duke University Center for Community Research (DCCR). These three entities bring together and expand existing programs and are designed to emphasize the continuities along the spectrum of research that begins in a basic science laboratory and concludes with novel therapies that change outcomes for individual patients. These three pillars — DCRI, DTRI and DCCR — are administratively joined into DTMI, which links with other key programs, including Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duke University School of Nursing, and Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, thereby creating a comprehensive home for clinical and translational researchers. The creation of DTMI is relevant to public health as it creates an environment that fosters speedier delivery of new interventions and health care practices to the community.
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.
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