Photo: Majed

One critical element of translating laboratory research into clinical care and public health practice is creating diverse and flexible educational opportunities for students interested in this type of work. UCSF offers some of the best clinical research and basic science training programs in the world to its students, but clear pathways into translational research careers don't yet exist.

"The importance of translational research is now widely recognized in academic medical centers," says Stephen B. Hulley, MD, MPH, chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Director of the CTST. "With its leading Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy and strong clinical and basic science training programs, UCSF is ideally situated to become a leading wellspring of translational scientists."

To facilitate the training of translational researchers, the CTSI's Clinical and Translational Sciences Training Program will be expanding its didactic programs and career development experiences by building on existing programs and developing new ones.

For instance, in the formal didactic program, two new tracks will be added to the existing Master’s Degree Program in Clinical Research offered by the Training in Clinical Research (TICR) Program.

One track will be for scholars who wish to conduct "laboratory-to-humans' translational research (applying basic science research to human subjects). The other track will be for those who wish to perform "evidence to practice" translational research (dissemination and implementation in the community of best practices in prevention and treatment).

CTST will also eventually include a PhD program in Clinical and Translational Research, again offering specialized tracks in the two types of translational research.

While the focus heretofore of the TICR Program has been on the "bedside" or clinical researcher, plans are now underway to provide training to the laboratory science community as well. "Many basic science investigators want to translate their findings into studies of humans but lack the training or collaborations to do so," notes Jeffrey Martin MD, MPH, Director of TICR and its Master's Program.

To remedy this, the TICR Program plans to develop a course sequence for laboratory scientists who want to learn more about clinical research and interact with like-minded clinic-based researchers. Adds Martin: "We believe that early exposure to translational research can have a powerful influence in forging connections between laboratory and clinical researchers."

Roadmap Programs

CTST is also home to one of 10 Roadmap T32 Predoctoral Programs in the U.S. Directed by Joel Palefsky, MD, UCSF's program provides pre-doctoral students in any of the four schools with salary, research support, and mentorship for 2-month, 3-month, 1-year, or 2-year research experiences.

In the realm of career development experiences, the CTST Program also administers one of only 12 Roadmap K12 Programs in the nation. The K12 Program, under the direction of Dr. Hulley, provides up to five years of salary and research support in a mentored research environment for leading UCSF scientists in their early years on the faculty. The emphasis is on multi-disciplinary research and applicants are encouraged to focus on one of the two types of translational research.

Links for more information:

• CTST Website
• TICR ( Training in Clinical Research) Program