Mike's Blog
Michael Kurilla, MD, PhD, NCATS Director of the Division of Clinical Innovation, writes a monthly blog on a wide variety of topics relevant to the CTSA Program. Mike’s Blog is featured each month in the Ansible, the CTSA Program newsletter.
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November 2, 2023
Fall is in the Air and a CR is in Effect
We are fast approaching our upcoming Annual CTSA Program meeting taking place November 6 – 8, right here in Crystal City (and that rhymes with fiscal and we’re in fiscal year 24 in the USG odd way of telling time). As in the past several years, the program has been...
By: Michael Kurilla, MD, PhD, NCATS Director of the Division of Clinical Innovation
October 5, 2023
FY23 Ends with a Bang, but Some of Us Are Whimpering
This month’s Ansible provides an update to the August Ansible regarding the CTSA Program awards in FY23, the first year under new mechanisms.
As expected from our modelling, we can report that the public data available from NIH RePORTER reveals that the 16 new UM1 CTSAs that...
By: Michael Kurilla, MD, PhD, NCATS Director of the Division of Clinical Innovation and Erica Rosemond, PhD, NCATS Acting Deputy (Division) Director and Branch Chief
August 3, 2023
But We’re not Economists…
"An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today. "
- Evan Esar
While we may be in the final quarter of FY23, for grants management, this is crunch time, analogous to tax accountants in April. As such, while many grant awards and...
By: Michael Kurilla, MD, PhD, NCATS Director of the Division of Clinical Innovation and Erica Rosemond, PhD, NCATS Acting Deputy (Division) Director and Branch Chief
July 6, 2023
Are you Smarter than ChatGPT? More Creative?
Way back in 2007, a TV gameshow aired, “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” Contestants answered questions taken from textbooks for 1st through 5th grade. Top prize was $1 million (two people took home the top prize, a public-school superintendent and a Nobel prize winner...
By: Michael Kurilla, MD, PhD, NCATS Director of the Division of Clinical Innovation
May 30, 2023
It Takes a Village, of Mentors
Several pressing biomedical research workforce issues have intensified in recent years: from the critical need to bolster diversity in science and medicine1 to the shrinking pool of postdocs2 to the enduring shortage of clinician scientists.3 The common thread uniting proposed solutions to these chronic issues is effective mentorship.1-7
NCATS continues to...
Guest Blog by: Jamie Doyle, PhD, Program Director, Division of Clinical Innovation