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Partnerships, Collaboration, and Connectivity Transform Clinical and Translational Science
From the Director
Partnerships, Collaboration, and Connectivity Transform Clinical and Translational Science
With the upcoming announcement of the next round of Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs) in September, it is the ideal time to feature the training and research under way at the current CTSA sites. The articles that follow provide firsthand accounts of how CTSA support is enhancing investigators’ skills by providing training in multidisciplinary and translational research, supplying new tools that transcend specific research areas, offering regulatory and patient recruitment assistance, and generally working to break down barriers from laboratory to clinic.
These examples are representative of numerous other efforts taking place in the CTSA institutions. The CTSA principal investigators and researchers are actively collaborating through steering committees focused on specific topic areas, such as informatics, training, translational research, community engagement, and oversight of pediatric involvement in all aspects of CTSA activity. In addition, consortium members have embraced partners that are both numerous and heterogeneous, including pharmaceutical companies, the Veterans’ Administration hospitals, health maintenance organizations such as Kaiser Permanente, and state health agencies.
Future issues of the NCRR Reporter will focus on other CTSA sites and highlight additional features of the program, including progress on development of informatics systems that will provide interoperability and connectivity for conducting clinical and translational research while further enabling the CTSA sites to function as a consortium. Other highlights will include community engagement initiatives that bring together the CTSAs with underserved populations, grassroots and advocacy organizations, and public health professionals.
While NCRR is leading this effort, the CTSA program could not succeed without
the assistance and cooperation of staff drawn from across the multiple Institutes
and Centers of NIH. These individuals are helping us to guide and assist
the consortium as it expands in both size and expertise. It is in this way—through
multiple partnerships, collaboration, and connectivity—that CTSAs will
transform clinical and translational research and apply new scientific advances
to real-world practice.
Barbara Alving, M.D.
Director, NCRR
