Contents
Critical Resources
An Eye to the Future: Training the Next Generation of Researchers
CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL SCIENCE AWARD CONSORTIUM
Creating a unique network of medical research institutions across the nation, the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) consortium is working to reduce the time it takes for laboratory discoveries to become treatments for patients. The consortium also is fulfilling the critical need to train the next generation of clinical and translational researchers through innovative advanced degree programs, mentoring, diverse collaborations and interdisciplinary teams. It brings together basic, translational and clinical investigators; community clinicians; clinical practices; networks; professional societies; and industry to develop new professional interactions, programs and research projects. Currently consisting of 38 research institutions, by 2012, when the program is fully implemented, the consortium will connect approximately 60 CTSA sites. The consortium is led by NCRR.
CORE COMPETENCIES FOR CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL INVESTIGATOR TRAINING
The task of CTSA education programs is to prepare the next generation of investigators to conduct clinical and translational research that will address the health care challenges faced in the United States. Creating a recognizable discipline centered on clinical and translational science will help build this workforce. To help establish the discipline, NCRR and the CTSA Education and Career Development Key Function Committee have drafted national standards for core competencies in clinical and translational science. The thematic competencies identify common, basic elements that should shape the training experiences of junior investigators by defining skills, attitudes and behaviors that can be shared across multidisciplinary teams of clinician-scientists. The overall goal is to create a competency-based education for training clinician-scientists that will define the discipline of clinical and translational science. Below are the training competencies for master's and doctoral candidates:
- Identify major clinical/public health problems and relevant research questions
- Critique the literature regarding the status of a health problem
- Design a study protocol for clinical and translational research
- Study methods, design and implementation
- Laboratory, clinical and population research methods
- Statistical methods and analysis
- Bioinformatics
- Conduct of responsible research
- Scientific communication skills and dissemination
- Population diversity and cultural competency
- Principles of community engagement in clinical and translational research
- Translational teamwork
- Leadership and professionalism
- Cross-disciplinary training and mentoring
- Advancement of knowledge
A SMORGASBORD OF COURSES
Thomas Pearson, co-principal investigator for the CTSA at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, is creating a database of courses that will be available to all students and researchers at any institution at the click of a button. "The CTSA consortium has done a nice job to create a core curriculum in clinical and translational research," Pearson said. But not every institution is able to provide high-level courses in specialized fields, such as proteomics or genomics. Such courses are not core competencies but are, as Pearson put it, "icing on the cake."
As a result, he has been collecting high-quality courses on important but more specialized topics developed at each CTSA institution. Once collected and reviewed by a panel of advisors, the courses will be posted on the Web as online lectures, Webinars, slide presentations and other Internet-friendly formats. "We are making a CTSA national consortium," Pearson said "This is just one way to become stronger than our parts."
In addition to making hundreds of courses available online, the Rochester CTSA has a pilot program to allow visiting professors to teach courses at different institutions as a "traveling show." Also, the program will provide scholarships for students to attend courses offered at different sites. "The idea is to give people at CTSA institutions more opportunities," Pearson said. "If I have a medical student interested in proteomics, I can tap the best teachers anywhere."
