University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute

University Of Pittsburgh At Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Since 2006, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) has fundamentally transformed the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and its approach to training scientists (2,419), its conduct of research (6,551 studies), and its community engagement (>200 community partners) and the integration of research in health practice across western Pennsylvania (>250K research participants in Pitt+Me Registry). We established clinical and translational science as a new academic discipline across Pitt and its affiliated healthcare system, UPMC, and created the infrastructure and workforce needed to sustain it. Over the past 14 years, we trained researchers in the core competencies of team-based translational science and stood up 11 resource cores. We supported studies that developed new diagnostics, preventive approaches, therapeutics, and devices. CTSI services enabled research in comparative effectiveness and pragmatic clinical trials, precision medicine, and community-partnered priorities. We made research accessible across the region by creating a clinical research ecosystem of research-informed participants (from newborns to older adults) in the CTSI Pitt+Me Research Participant Registry, which made >174K referrals to 960 studies. We built a network of community organizations through trust to identify high-priority topics for research studies and to disseminate results. Nationally, we lead the Accrual to Clinical Trials (ACT) Network, which streamlines cohort discovery for local and multicenter clinical trials across the CTSA Consortium. CTSI serves as a catalyst for high-quality, rigorous translational research, both locally and nationally. We are now poised to pivot from successfully enabling the sequential translation of individual studies to systematically accelerating the real-world impact of research. We define “research impact” as changing standards of care through the dissemination and sustained implementation of best practices supported by translational research evidence. Over the next 5 years, we will provide the training, resources, and expertise necessary for CTSI-supported studies to develop a “path to impact” and thus support progress toward achieving our mission: CTSI will accelerate the dissemination and implementation, and hence the impact, of translational research.