The Consortium for Translational and Precision Heath (CTPH) formed by Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Houston, and SYNERGY, the Dartmouth Clinical and Translational Science Institute are the newest recipients of NIH’s Clinical and Translational Science Award. The award funds medical institutions dedicated to increasing the speed of implementation of proven medical innovations, supporting NCATS’s mission of “more treatments for all people more quickly.” The two new hubs join more than 60 leading medical institutions across the nation currently receiving CTSA Program funding.
SYNERGY is a collaboration between Dartmouth Health, Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine and Thayer School of Engineering, the White River Junction VA Medical center, and other institutions in Vermont and Maine. Steven Bernstein, M.D., Senior Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research and Professor of Emergency Medicine at Geisel, credits the success of their proposal to the consortia already having individuals with translational science expertise in operational roles in healthcare systems.
SYNERGY is one of just eight of the sixty CTSA hubs with a significant focus on rural healthcare delivery. Other focuses of the grant will be training more translational scientists under the direction of co-Principal Investigator (PI) Anna Tosteson, Sc.D., James J. Carroll 1948 Professor of Oncology in the Dartmouth Institute of Health Policy and Practice, and the development of technology to improve healthcare guided by co-PI Keith Paulson, Ph.D., the MacLean Professor of Engineering at Thayer and director of the Center for Surgical Innovation at DHMC and expert on medical imaging technologies.
The CTPH builds on an already strong partnership between Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Houston, along with other clinical and research groups within the Texas Medical Center that collaborate with these two institutions. The grant will focus on strengths from both institutions in basic science, translational research, health services, pharmaceutical sciences, and entrepreneurship to develop and disseminate innovations. The consortia will also work on connecting investigators to community healthcare organizations and government agencies to advance healthcare, clinical research, and policy within the region.
The leaders for the CTPH are Dr. Christopher Amos, professor and director of the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Fasiha Kanwal, professor of medicine and chief of the section of gastroenterology and hepatology at Baylor College of Medicine, and Dr. Bettina M. Beech, clinical professor of population health and the chief population health officer at University of Houston.
The CTSA Program is excited to welcome these two new innovative hubs! For more information about the awards, you can read the full articles regarding the CTSA Program funding received by SYNERGY and CTPH.
