CTSA Program at University of Massachusetts

About This Grant

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The UMCCTS was funded in 2010 with the vision of building healthier communities together through translational innovation. Our mission is to advance learning and discovery to solve Translational Science challenges and improve well-being by: 1) catalyzing, rigorously testing, and disseminating evidence-driven approaches that remove Translational Science (TS) roadblocks to efficient, high quality, and impactful translational research (TR); and 2) building a workforce of skilled professional staff and investigators capable of changing paradigms in TS and TR. As Massachusetts’ only public university system (UMass) partnered with 3 large clinical systems (UMass Memorial Health; Baystate Health; Lahey Health), we share an enduring focus on public engagement and societal benefit. The UMCCTS engages a broad range of interest holders (communities, patient groups, foundations, industry, NCATS, and CTSA hubs) to ensure that the research we support and workforce we train address problems important to the communities we serve. With our partners, we identify important problems and needs, develop and validate enabling platforms, and provide resources that facilitate transdisciplinary team science. We use data and analytics to generate knowledge, apply that knowledge to improve performance, then use lessons learned to inform and refine the next improvement cycle. UMCCTS workforce development programs ensure the future sustainability of the TS enterprise. Our four Specific Aims correspond to NCATS strategic goals stated in the NCATS NOFO and build on our prior successes: Aim 1: Promote individual and community health by building community-centered systems and approaches that expand and sustain the engagement of participants, communities, and research teams; Aim 2: Develop a robust set of digital tools and informatics systems that engage a broad range of study participants, promote data sharing, enable actionable insights, and that extend our Learning Health System across partners and into home and community settings; Aim 3: Provide resources that overcome TS and operational barriers to continuously improve the quality, efficiency, and impact of TR across the spectrum; Aim 4: Advance the development of a skilled TS workforce through innovative educational curricula, transdisciplinary team-based training, and career development programs. By working with our partners on each of these aims we will accomplish our overarching goal of speeding the development of evidence-based, real-world approaches that promote health, treat disease, and respond to urgent public health needs locally, regionally, and nationally.