Health Research Core (HR)

University Of Puerto Rico Med Sciences, San Juan PR

Investigators

Abstract

The Health Research (HR) Core’s main goals are to develop a Clinical and Translational Research (C&T) workforce, strengthen investigator-initiated C&T research, and increase the number and impact of clinical trials and observational studies conducted at the Alliance for Clinical & Translational Research IDeA CTR-N (Alliance), to improve health care for populations in Puerto Rico (PR) and the United States (US) mainland. Early stage and new investigators (ESI) in PR face considerable barriers in securing funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Therefore, supporting the development of independent investigators is vital to achieving the Alliance’s goals. The HR Core supports the development of ESI investigators by providing the necessary resources to conduct pilot projects (PP) to generate preliminary data and publications to submit a competitive NIH research grant (or equivalent) proposal. PP accelerates the transition from discovery to clinical application while strengthening investigators' expertise in community-based research. During the first four years of Alliance funding, the PPP received 56 pilot project applications, 74% of the applicants being ESI (n=45). Research topics encompassed our priority areas, including neuroscience (mental health and drug abuse, n=19), cancer (n=15), cardiometabolic diseases (n=10), emerging infections (n=16), and HIV (n=3). Additionally, 11 proposals addressed other areas, such as genomics, traumatic brain injury, biomarkers, and environmental health. Of the 13 (30%) pilot projects funded (17 investigators), 5% secured NIH peer-review or equivalent funding. In the next funding cycle, the HR Core will continue to build on these successes. We aim to significantly increase the number of successful investigators by providing robust resources and fostering collaborations among Alliance partners, affiliates, and other IDeA-CTRs. To achieve this, we have outlined a series of aims to advance investigators' transition to independence: Aim 1. Advance the development of innovative and interdisciplinary collaborative clinical and translational research on health conditions affecting the people of PR and the US mainland through pilot projects (PP) and developmental projects (DP) program funding, Aim 2. Support the development and implementation of multisite collaborative projects (CP), such as the Heath Innovation Project (HIP) of our community/primary care network (GROW-PR) and other projects requiring network-wide participation and/or collaborations with other CTR-Ns or IDeA state institutions outside the Alliance CTR-N network and Aim 3. Foster the development of competitive researchers in clinical and translational research, working closely with the Professional Development Core and the Investigators Development Pipeline Program (IDPP). From these efforts, we expect an increase in the number of independent investigators who conduct C&T research in PR.