Q. What is the CTSA?
A. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical and Translational Science Award is an NIH Roadmap grant that supports the educational programs and scientific infrastructure necessary to create a new discipline of clinical and translational research. The overarching goal of the CTSA is to speed the translation of new scientific discoveries to enhanced patient outcomes.
Q. What other institutions have received CTSA funding?
A. A list of institutions that have CTSA funding can be found on the CSTA Web site. Together these institutions form the CTSA consortium.
Q. What is the CTSA consortium?
A. The CTSA consortium is the collaboration of NIH-funded CTSA institutions that will work together to develop best practices and share resources for better research resulting in more and faster medical discoveries.
Q. How will consortium members interact?
A. We will interact through conference calls, meetings, working groups and by the development of new research partnerships.
Q. What amount was awarded to The Ohio State University Medical Center and for how long?
A. The amount is $34.1 million over five years (June 2008 through April 2013).
Q. What happens when the funding period ends?
A. We will apply for continuing competitive renewal-just like the Comprehensive Cancer Center funding from the National Cancer Institute, part of the NIH which is funded on five-year grant cycles. The CTSA program will continue to support the most meritorious academic medical centers in their mission to enhance clinical and translational research efforts.
Q. What will OSU/OSUMC do with this funding?
A. We will develop new programs and enhance existing efforts in 10 key areas that range from graduate education, research training, career support and mentoring of faculty through the research infrastructure and pilot funding needed to support clinical and translational research activities. These programs will exist under the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS).
Q. What is the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS)?
A. It is OSUMC’s new academic home for clinical and translational research at OSU, funded by NIH CTSA.
Q. What are the CCTS's goals?
A. The overarching goal is 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.
Q. Who is leading the CCTS?
A. Rebecca Jackson, MD, is the principal investigator of the CCTS and co-principal investigators include Drs. William Malarkey and Joel Saltz of OSUMC and Dr. John Barnard of Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The 10 program directors and their co-directors come from varied scientific and educational backgrounds and include faculty from each of the seven Health Sciences colleges (Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Optometry, Public Health, Veterinary Medicine and Dentistry).
Q. How will the CCTS benefit patients? The community?
A. The CCTS will benefit patients and the community by increasing the translational of new discoveries to enhancements in delivery of patient care. The increased engagement of the community in the research mission and in contributing to the setting of research priorities will ensure that the CCTS is responsive to community needs.
Q. How will OSU and OSUMC collaborate on this initiative?
A. Faculty, staff and students within OSUMC have a strong commitment to clinical and translational research and will be actively engaged in all aspects of the CCTS mission. In the submission of this grant and through the creation of the CCTS, they have joined together with faculty from across this comprehensive university to synergize, leverage and create this new academic discipline of clinical and translational science at OSU.
Q. How will this advance research at OSUMC?
A. The CTSA will provide access to educational and research infrastructure resources as well a new pilot funding initiatives.
Q. How does the CCTS differ from the research activities already under way?
A. The CCTS enhances access, expands the current infrastructure that is available as well as develops some new programs and resources to support CTSA.
Q. How does the CCTS fit within the OSU/OSUMC mission?
A. The CCTS’s resources will facilitate our ultimate goal of personalized health care through its research and education mission.