New Institute Supports Clinical and Translational Research

The Medical College's Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) is a new and innovative resource to support and advance education, collaboration and research in clinical and translational science.

The Institute was established at the Medical College of in response to the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) request for applications for a Clinical and Translational Science Award. As part of the NIH's roadmap initiative, this award will enable institutions to create an innovative and transformative environment that will promote the application of research to patient care.

The Institute's goal is to advance science and its application to patient care and technology transfer. Its scope is to serve as a mechanism in Southeastern Wisconsin for:

• Bringing basic discoveries to bedside use in the community
• Fostering collaboration among area academic institutions, health care providers, community advocates, and local and state governments
• Developing the next generation of clinical and translational researchers

The Institute will build on the Medical College's alliances with Froedtert Hospital, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin and the Children's Research Institute, the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center, and the BloodCenter of Wisconsin's Blood Research Institute. It will also build on a long history of collaboration with Marquette University, Milwaukee School of Engineering and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The CTSI will have adjunct faculty members from all these institutions. The adjunct faculty members will have access to the research facilities and educational services of all partner institutions. The CTSI, through its degree-granting members, is in the process of developing master's and PhD degree programs in clinical and translational sciences.

Some of the ways in which the Institute will meet its goal of advancing science and its application to patient care and technology transfer include:

• Providing resources and advanced technologies that support researchers and collaborators with the administrative, informatics, clinical, and scientific tools necessary to efficiently conduct collaborative, translational studies
• Educating a diverse population of basic science and physician researchers, health professionals, and students in a manner that promotes integrated basic and clinical team research, as well as assists in recruitment, advancement and retention of new investigators in clinical and translational science careers. This will include the development of new educational and training programs in clinical and translational sciences for faculty, staff, collaborators and community researchers, as well as graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and undergraduate students.
• Supporting the research of new and established investigators in areas that span the continuum of basic to translational science, including promoting development of new methodologies and commercialization of products
• Promoting research collaboration and intellectual exchange between diverse professionals that elicit novel approaches to area health care priorities, fostering long-term, bi-directional relationships with academic and community partners
• Conducting rigorous evaluation activities and regular monitoring of program milestones to identify performance challenges and ensure continuous progress.

"The Clinical and Translational Science Institute provides the framework for all of the Institute partners to pool their existing strengths and expertise together to more quickly and efficiently translate fundamental discoveries into better health care for the people of Southeastern Wisconsin," said Reza Shaker, MD, Senior Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research, the Joseph E. Geenen Professor and Chief of Gastroenterology/Hepatology, and Director of the College's Digestive Disease Center.

Members of the CTSI Executive Committee include: Dr. Shaker; Ellis D. Avner, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Physiology and Associate Dean for Children's Research Institute; Howard J. Jacob, PhD, Warren P. Knowles Professor of Human and Molecular Genetics, Professor of Physiology and Pediatrics and Director of the Human and Molecular Genetics Center; Gilbert White, MD, Associate Dean for the Blood Research Institute; Thomas Bray, Dean of Applied Research at the Milwaukee School of Engineering; Mark Harris, PhD, Associate Dean for Research at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; and William Wiener, PhD, Vice Provost for Research and Dean of the Graduate School at Marquette University.

MCW Health News presents up-to-date information on patient care and medical research by the physicians of the Medical College of Wisconsin.