‘ TRANSLATIONAL SCIENCE ’: HOW IT ’ S CHANGING OUR RESEARCH LANDSCAPE
A big part of the mission of the FSU College of Medicine is improving the lives of people in the communities we serve . There is considerable research , discovery and team-based science directed toward improving the health of all people , at all ages . Translating the discovery of new therapies , interventions , and drugs into successful treatments to improve health is called “ translational science .”
The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences , part of the National Institutes of Health , has been awarding major grants for a decade with the mission to “ transform the translational science process so that new treatments and cures for disease can be delivered to patients faster .”
These awards to major universities and research institutes , termed Clinical Translational Science Awards , support innovative approaches to training scientists at all levels to become translational scientists .
The College of Medicine has had a translational science partnership since 2009 with the University of Florida . Over the years , the partnership has evolved and grown and in 2019 , the UF-FSU hub , one of only two Clinical and Translational Science Award ( CTSA ) hubs in Florida , received a five-year , $ 29 million award . Titled “ Together : Transforming and Translating Discovery to improve Health ,” it is one of 55 grants that have been awarded across the country to help speed up the process of transforming scientific discovery into patient care .
Since that grant was awarded , a multidisciplinary team directed by Jeffrey Joyce , senior associate dean for research and graduate programs , supports multiple programs that have created a multi-college effort to increase translational science research . The College of Medicine has seen a corresponding increase in grant funding .
Though it ’ s only one small portion of the College of Medicine ’ s research portfolio , it is a significant one , and its focus aligns closely with our mission . As for the College of Medicine ’ s portfolio ? It has experienced unprecedented growth under Joyce ’ s leadership , reaching $ 144.1 million in active awards as of Jan . 1 . That ’ s almost $ 20 million more than a year earlier , and about $ 60 million more than five years ago .
“ FSU College of Medicine research has been on an upward trajectory that has been critical to the growth in overall research funding at the university ,” Joyce said . “ I think people are surprised when they see the trajectory our research funding is on in light of the way the medical school was designed and the legislative mandate that guides our funding . In fact , our research is mission-focused to improve the health care of the communities we serve and is aligned with where the National Institutes of Health sees the trajectory of translational research .
“ The size of our awards continues to increase , indicative of multi-investigator team science success in obtaining extramural funding .”
Under the CTSA grant , FSU has been able to focus its efforts in “ translational science that engages communities in developing and testing biobehavioral interventions across the translational spectrum , to address sociocultural determinants of health .”
An example of those efforts is the success of Sylvie Naar , Endowed Distinguished Professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine . Naar created and is director of the College of Medicine ’ s Center for Translational Behavioral Science ( CTBS ). Her work illustrates how translational science is changing the research landscape at FSU .
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