Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute Receives $78.4 Million NIH Grant

Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) received $78.4 million Clinical and Translational Science Award from NIH, the fourth consecutive grant since its inception in 2008. The grant provides federal funding over the next seven years to support research services, educational resources and programs, and local, regional, and national initiatives. The award was announced by Tufts University and Tufts Medicine on June 7.

CTSI tufts accelerates the translation of laboratory and medical research into clinical use, widespread medical practice, and the improvement of health care and health policy. It connects people to research, advisory and educational resources and fosters collaboration with scholars and community members, with the goal of improving public health.

Over the past decade and a half, Tufts CTSI has provided outstanding services, resources, education and mentoring to support research among Tufts CTSI partners and has conducted groundbreaking research contributing to the field of clinical and translational science, said Harry P. Selker, dean of Tufts CTSI and principal investigator of the new grant.

While maintaining our integration between Tufts University and Tufts Medicine and adhering to our core principles, we are pleased to have the opportunity to further grow our offerings together with our longtime partners Brandeis University, Jackson Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University and RAND Corporation; Tufts Clinical Affiliates; community and industry collaborators; and now with input from our new partner, Kaiser Permanente Health, he added.

In addition to the main Clinical and Translational Science Award, Tufts CTSI has also presented research fellowships and grants for career development components of the faculty who are under consideration by NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). These are for a K12 Faculty Career Development grant (with principal investigator Karen Freund) and T32 Research Grant awards (pre-doctoral and post-doctoral, with principal investigator David Kent).

With this long-term grant, Tufts can continue to foster collaboration among our researchers, foster innovation in the development of new treatments and therapies, and positively impact the broader public health and health policy landscape. said Tufts University President Anthony P. Monaco.

THE Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) will promote new initiatives and programs to improve clinical care and health while maintaining Tufts CTSI’s existing resources and services for the research community. As part of the new award, in addition to providing resources to the Tufts community and beyond, Tufts CTSI will have the opportunity to advance its clinical and translational science research agenda to directly address significant translational barriers to positively impacting health.

The CTSA grant will also support a research equity and inclusion program to address health care disparities. Also, the new grant will focus on dissemination and implementation sciencemove the search into everyday useand support researchers in the effective use of clinical innovations.

Tufts CTSI has provided invaluable clinical and translational science education and mentorship opportunities for faculty and staff across our university, said Caroline Attardo Genco, Tufts president and senior vice president ad interim.The next seven-year cycle promises to bring a new cycle of innovation stemming from our cross-school collaborations and local and national partnerships that will have a transformative impact.

This support will greatly enhance our ability to foster research collaborations among our affiliated teaching and research partners with the goal of introducing new and innovative therapies to treat diseases yet to be treated, said Helen Boucher, principal at Tufts University School of Medicine and Chief Academic Officer of Tufts Medicine. Ultimately, this will lead to better patient outcomes.

As an integrated health care system for learning, Tufts Medicine strongly supports CTSI’s goal of improving health care delivery, operational efficiency, value, outcomes and patient care experiences, he said Michael Dandorph, president and CEO of Tufts Medicine. This award demonstrates our commitment to integrating translational and clinical research into patient care for all the diverse communities we serve.

Tufts CTSI is one of over 60 Clinical and Translational Science Award hubs that include the NIH-sponsored CTSA national network of consortia of leading medical research institutions. These organizations work together to improve the translational research process to get more treatments to more patients faster, collaborating locally and regionally to catalyze innovation in education, research tools and processes.