CTSI Receives $67.3 Million for Continued Work

The Institute for Clinical Research Education—which serves as the Research Education and Career Development Core of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at the University of Pittsburgh—is proud to report that the National Institutes of Health recently awarded $67.3 million to the CTSI to continue supporting its mission for an additional 5 years. The CTSI in Pittsburgh was among 10 institutes nationwide to receive renewed funding in recognition of its success during the initial 5 years of funding.

The CTSI proposal for renewal of its support listed 5 specific aims. Working toward each of these aims, the CTSI and ICRE have already begun to update many activities and implement new programs.

Aim 1 is to develop and implement new curricula to advance careers in the entire spectrum of translational research.

• The Translational Research Track of the Master of Science Program in Clinical Research is now under the leadership of Carol Feghali-Bostwick, PhD. The track offers some new courses and makes two independent studies available for students wishing to pursue a particular translational research project as part of their degree program.
• The ICRE now has a Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) Track within the Master of Science Program in Clinical Research. This track is led by Douglas Landsittel, PhD. The ICRE also recently proposed a Certificate Program in CER, which is being considered for approval by the University and hopes to begin enrolling students in 2012. ICRE faculty have already developed a number of new courses for the CER Track and the proposed certificate program.
• The Graduate School of Public Health recently began offering the Certificate Program in Community-Based Participatory Research and Practice, which can be taken by ICRE students interested in this area of study.

Aim 2 is to stimulate careers in clinical and translational science (CTS) through training and career development programs throughout the pipeline.

• The ICRE is working with the School of Medicine to establish scholarly projects for medical students in CTS fields, particularly in health services and health disparities. The students would be mentored during their scholarly projects.
• The Research Acceleration and Moving Productivity forward to K Award (RAMP to K) Program will be launched in early 2012 and will soon be accepting applications. The goal of the program is to help junior faculty members write competitive proposals for institutional and extramural career development awards.
• The PhD Program in Clinical and Translational Science is now one of 18 options that students in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) within the School of Medicine can pursue. This PhD program in CTS has recently welcomed its first MSTP student.
• The ICRE has recently implemented the Leaders IN Clinical and Translational Science (LINCS) Program, which offers medical residents and fellows the chance to combine study for a PhD in CTS with their clinical training.

Aim 3 is to implement a mentoring program for scholars and trainees to become future mentors in CTS.

• The Training Early Academic Mentors (TEAM) Program will be launched in early 2012 and is currently accepting applications. The program is designed for assistant and associate professors who have at least one mentee and wish to acquire the skills and knowledge needed to successfully navigate the challenges of mentoring. Program participants will interact with one another, with their own master mentors, and with other senior mentors in various fields.
• A new mentoring database was created during the fall of 2011 and now contains more than 300 University mentors who work in various disciplines and have served as mentors or teachers within the ICRE. Searchable by field of study and a variety of demographic variables, the database is intended to facilitate the creation of mentor-mentee relationships.

Aim 4 is to transform all CTSI educational offerings into competency-based programs with continuous improvements and evaluation.

• A competency framework for the ICRE's clinical research degree programs was recently completed, and the competency criteria are now being implemented. As a starting point, the ICRE faculty are being trained with regard to the mandatory inclusion of competencies in each course session listed on their syllabi.
• Some faculty who teach core courses will be coached by a pedagogical expert in the use of additional active learning strategies. These strategies are intended to offer students more and different opportunities to practice the skills and knowledge that they need for competence in clinical and translational research.

Aim 5 is to develop an incubator for innovations to continuously generate new and cutting-edge ideas on education and research methods to advance the field of CTS.

• The ICRE leadership and members of the ICRE Steering Committee are beginning to explore technological and pedagogical innovations that promote learning by adult students. The introduction of student response systems, such as "clickers," is under consideration, as is the greater use of hybrid courses in which in-class time is spent not only in acquiring skills and knowledge but also in practicing new skills and integrating newly acquired information.

The ICRE and CTSI look forward to another successful 5 years in their mission to train CTS researchers and advance the field of CTS.

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