Center for Clinical and Translational Science

The Rockefeller University Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) was awarded $22 million to support 5 additional years of research under the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program funded by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS). Drs. Barry Coller and James Krueger serve as Co-Principal Investigators of the new award and Maija Williams, MPH serves and Administrative Director. The CTSA also supports the Rockefeller KL2 Clinical Scholars Program, which is a 3-year Master’s degree program for doctoral level health professionals. Dr. Sarah Schlesinger serves as the Director, Dr. Barry Coller serves as the Co-Director, and Michelle Romanick serves as Career Development Coordinator of this program.Rockefeller was among the first 12 institutions selected for a CTSA in 2006 and has enjoyed continuous funding under the award since. Total CTSA funding awarded to Rockefeller since then is in excess of $139 million. Currently there are approximately 60 CTSA sites in the United States funded under the program. At Rockefeller, CTSA funds support a major portion of the research infrastructure for conducting studies in partnership with human participants in the Rockefeller University Hospital, with the University providing the balance of the funding. This includes experts in bioinformatics, biostatistics, research nursing, research pharmacy, clinical research coordination, research participant recruitment, protocol development, protocol monitoring and auditing, bionutrition, information technology, regulatory compliance, and protection of human participants. The Rockefeller University Advisory Committee for Clinical and Translational Science (ACCTS) is the governing body of the CCTS and reviews all protocols for scientific integrity, participant safety, and resource utilization before they are reviewed by the Rockefeller University Institutional Review Board (IRB). Dr. Robert Darnell serves as ACCTS Chair, and Dr. Dana Orange, a graduate of the Clinical Scholars Program, serves as Vice-Chair. The grant proposal included four specific aims, which are listed below.

1. To provide a robust infrastructure to conduct clinical investigation at the highest levels of participant safety, scientific rigor, bioethics, and regulatory compliance.
2. To ensure that every discovery at Rockefeller has its best chance of improving human health.
3. To educate the entire research workforce team in conducting translational research at the highest level of participant safety, scientific rigor, bioethics, and regulatory compliance.
4. To study and improve the clinical research enterprise both at Rockefeller and nationally.

Dr. Schlesinger commented, “We are enormously proud of the accomplishments of the Clinical Scholars and role they play in supporting clinical and translational science in both basic and clinical laboratories on campus. The more than 60 graduates of our program are leaders in clinical and translational science around the world, using the skills and experience they obtained in the program to improve human health globally. Dr. Krueger noted, “We are delighted that NCATS judged our proposal worthy of an additional 5 years of support since the infrastructure we have built as a team to support both our scientific and educational programs, including the Clinical Scholars Program and the Certificate in Clinical and Translational Science Program, is outstanding and plays a vital role in ensuring that all of our research is conducted to the highest levels of scientific quality and participant safety. Dr. Coller added, “We take great pride in knowing that many of the innovative programs we have developed at Rockefeller under the CTSA program are now being adopted at sites across the CTSA consortium, including our Research Navigation program under Donna Brassil, our Research Participant Perception Survey under Dr. Rhonda Kost, our Clinical Research Nursing initiatives under Dr. Candy Capili and Rita Devine, RN, MPA, our community-engaged programs linked to basic mechanistic science under Dr. Jonathan Tobin and Dr. Kost, our bionutrition program under Andrea Ronning, MA, RD, the role of the Research Hospitalist under Dr. Barbara O’Sullivan, our Biostatistics educational approach under Dr. Roger Vaughan, and our Bioinformatics program, which supports software development, data analysis, data sharing, and systems support under Dr. Yupu Liang and Prasanth Manukonda, MA, MS. We are extremely excited about the new initiatives included in our new grant proposal and look forward to a stimulating and productive next 5-year grant period.”