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Mike's Blog

CTSA News

Mike’s Blog

Michael Kurilla, M.D., Ph.D., 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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May 6, 2026

Is Anyone Really Surprised?

A recent Stat article highlighted early results from the CMS’ WISeR (Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction) Model, an AI-enabled prior authorization pilot now underway in six states. The program is being piloted in Arizona, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Ohio, Texas, and Washington, which includes ten CTSAs. The...

March 30, 2026

When the Fecal Matter Hits the Circulating Blade; Just a ‘Gut’ Feeling

One advantage of a long career in medicine is the opportunity to witness the emergence and development of new concepts that advance from curious observations to routine clinical practice. One area of growing interest is the microbiome and its potential for manipulation. Its reach now appears far broader than we...

By: Michael Kurilla, M.D., Ph.D., NCATS Director of the Division of Clinical Innovation

March 2, 2026

Odds and Ends

Gotta admit, the groundhog was right this year. DC is digging out of its second snowfall of the year. Typically, we get at most one snow event where enough snow falls and sticks around to impact the area. This latest was smaller than the previous but still closed schools and...

By: Michael Kurilla, M.D., Ph.D., NCATS Director of the Division of Clinical Innovation

February 2, 2026

Can't Seem to Stop the Stuttering

I’m writing this blog entry in the waning days of the current continuing resolution (CR) we are operating under which expires as of Friday (January 30) at midnight (technically Saturday, January 31 at 12:01AM). Things had been looking quite hopeful over the last several weeks. The USG funds itself with...

By: Michael Kurilla, M.D., Ph.D., NCATS Director of the Division of Clinical Innovation

January 5, 2026

Quality Is Not an Act. It Is a Habit.

Quality is not an act. It is a habit.

- Aristotle

 

The NCATS CTSA Program Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC) initiative was launched in FY2020 as part of the UL1 administrative supplement (NOT-TR-20-014) with a straightforward mission: help hubs deliver the highest-quality, most compliant, and least burdensome...

By: Erica Rosemond, Chris Hartshorn, Soju Chang, Gallya Gannot, Erin Davis, & Stacia Fleischer

Coordination, Communication, and Operations Support (CCOS) is funded by theNational Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health.

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