University of Utah Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS)
The University of Utah Center for Clinical and Translational Science builds on the University's strengths in genetics and bioinformatics to translate promising bench science into practices that improve human health. The Center serves as an academic home for clinical and translational research, developing innovative health services for the community and health researchers, and training a new generation of clinical and translational investigators. The Center and its partners will increase the visibility, volume, and quality of participatory research by connecting investigators at the University with other health care institutions, clinical practitioners, public health personnel, patients, and research participants. The Center also will formally link research activities across systems that together provide health care coverage to 80 percent of Utah's population as well as patients in surrounding states.
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University of Utah and research institutions across the country have joined together to develop a secure and convenient nationwide research registry where people who would like to participate in research can be matched with research studies. ResearchMatch.org is a not-for-profit effort. Volunteers of any age, race, ethnicity or health status are invited to join. Please visit www.ResearchMatch.org to learn more! |
News and Announcements
Dr. Michael Varner, CCTS Associate Director for Women's Health, Named Interim Director for Personalized Medicine | From Dr. Lorris Betz, Interim President of the University of Utah: "I'm pleased to announce that Dr. Michael Varner, professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, has agreed to serve as interim director for the University's Program in Personalized Health Care. Dr. Varner is an exceptionally experienced clinician, researcher and administrator and I'm grateful he has agreed to add this interim position to his already full plate as associate director for Women's Health Research at the U's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS), co-director of the U's Institute for Women's and Children's Health Research, and director of Perinatal Research for Intermountain Healthcare. Dr. Varner is also the newest member of the U's Benning Society and holds an H.A. and Edna Benning Presidential Endowed Chair."
FURTHeR Released for Alpha Testing | The Federated Utah Research and Translational Health electronic Repository (FURTHeR) has been released for Alpha testing to a group of health sciences researchers.
T-CER Launched and Providing Funding Opportunities | The University of Utah Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) and the Department of Pediatrics, are pleased to launch the Translational Comparative Effectiveness Research (T-CER) Scholars Program. This program is funded by the National Institutes of Health KM1 CA56723-01 translational comparative effectiveness research training award. Dr. Carrie Byington, H.A. and Edna Benning Presidential Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Program Director, Utah CCTS is the Principal Investigator for the grant award and Director for the T-CER Scholars Award Program.
U of U's Global Health Initiative Featured at GHC's 2010 Annual Conference | The Global Health Initiative (GHI) at the University of Utah has been recognized by the Global Health Council as one of 5 programs from around the world featured at the 2010 GHC Annual Conference for the development of promising models for the advancement of health and well-being.
UNP Honored at CCPH Conference | University Neighborhood Partners (UNP) was honored at an awards ceremony held during the Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) 11th Conference, "Creating the Future We Want To Be: Transformation through Partnerships," in Portland, Oregon. UNP received an honorable mention for the Community-Campus Partnerships for Health Award. Dr. Rosemarie Hunter (Special Assistant to the President for Campus Community Partnerships, University of Utah and Director, University Neighborhood Partners) and Carolynn Hoskins, (University Neighborhood Partners Advisory Board Co-chair and Resident Partner), were in attendance to receive the award. The award recognized exemplary partnerships between communities and higher educational institutions that build on each other's strengths to improve higher education, civic engagement and overall health of the communities.
Progress Made Against Genetic Killer of Infants and Toddlers by University of Utah Researchers | Project Cure SMA Clinical Trials Network is making headway with support of Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Conference Report: 2010 ACRT/CTSA Meeting; Washington D.C. | The 2010 ACRT/CTSA Meeting in Washington, D.C. was an outstanding opportunity to engage in peer discussion regarding mentorship, collaboration, and grant funding. While at the meeting, I was able to attend several key lectures and discussions, including the Plenary Sessions titled "Risks and Rewards in Creating Partnerships Among Academia/Industry/Government to Achieve Public Health Outcomes" by Dr. Alving and "Role of Government in Promoting Translational Research Agenda" by Dr. Clancy.
The CCTS and the National Children's Study Forge Collaboration | The University of Utah Study Center for the National Children's Study and the Utah CCTS have established a very successful collaboration, which facilitates an easier data collection experience for NCS participants.
The CCTS' Jeffrey Botkin, MD, MPH Recently Published in the Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics | Three articles published in the Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics are the result of a multi-institutional collaboration funded by a grant to the University of Chicago's CTSA. Lainie Friedman Ross, MD, PhD, who is the Carolyn and Matthew Bucksbaum Professor of Clinical Ethics and Associate Director, MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago was the Principal Investigator for the project. Jeffrey Botkin, MD, MPH, Associate Vice President for Research at the University of Utah was a co-investigator.
CTSA: Transforming basic science trainees into translational investigators. | The Center for Clinical & Translational Science (CCTS) is extending the curriculum of the Master of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) program to reach an increasing demand from basic science departments. Until now, the CCTS has served as an academic hub for clinical and translational research. With new grant support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the CCTS and its MSCI program are now accessible to basic science graduate students. This new support will assist in funding graduate students as they complete their Ph.D.s, as well as complete the MSCI.
CCTS, Department of Pediatrics Receive Supplement Grant for First Studies Of Methadone Treatment in Neonatial Abstinence Syndrome | Neonates whose mothers take narcotics during pregnancy often become tolerant to those drugs and undergo withdrawal reactions after birth. This condition, Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), is a serious problem for newborns, who won't feed, are jittery, may have seizures, and can even die. University of Utah neonatologist Robert M. Ward., M.D., a professor of pediatrics who helped write the American Academy of Pediatrics' latest policy statement on NAS, says an increasingly common treatment of NAS - methadone - is uncertain at best, because little is known about how the drug works in newborns, whether it causes neonatal heart problems or its financial costs.
West Coast Consortium Advocates for Participant and Clinical Interactions Resources (PCIR) Units | The CTSA West Coast Consortium met in Park City, Utah, on November 16, 2009, to discuss how to optimize the performance and long-term survival of PCIRs, which evolved from former NCRR-funded General Clinical Research Centers. The most recent request for CTSA applications stipulates that PCIRs are optional; West Coast Consortium members expressed concern that this decision suggests NCRR does not view PCIRs as essential to clinical and translational research.
Curry Koening M.D., M.S., Awarded K12 Grant For Novel Studies in Giant Cell Arteritis | Curry Koening M.D., M.S. of the Division of Rheumatology in the Department of Internal Medicine, has received a K12 clinical research award from the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) to continue research that could revolutionize the understanding and treatment of giant cell arteritis (GCA) - a disease that causes inflammation of the aorta and blood vessels that supply the head and neck regions.
CTSA Sites at Utah and Michigan Collaborate to Understand Neuropathy in Diabetes, Prediabetes, and Obesity | Investigators at the University of Utah and University of Michigan are collaborating on National Institutes of Health-funded research projects studying nerve damage associated with diabetes and obesity (peripheral neuropathy).