Wake Forest University School of Medicine’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) has been awarded $28.2 million from the National Institutes of Health. The seven-year award is the medical school’s third Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), which is designed to accelerate the translation of research discoveries to improve patient care.
The CTSA program, which includes more than 60 leading medical research institutions, is funded by NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The institutions collaborate to improve the translational research process.
“With this funding support, the Wake Forest CTSI will continue its mission of advancing translational science and health equity, while leveraging the resources, reach and diversity of a large integrated health system,” said Ebony Boulware, M.D., dean of Wake Forest University School of Medicine and chief science officer of Advocate Health, of which the medical school is the academic core. Advocate Health is the nation’s third largest not-for-profit health system that serves nearly six million patients across the Southeast and Midwest.
The renewed funding will allow the Wake Forest CTSI to create a model for advancing translational science in a large academic learning health system to support a variety of initiatives such as rapid response to regional and national health emergencies, active participation in CTSA-sponsored trials, and pilot studies that address translational challenges.
Another objective is the recruitment and training of a highly skilled and diverse academic learning health system workforce to engage patient and community stakeholders who are essential to improving health and reducing health disparities.
When Wake Forest University School of Medicine joined the consortium in 2015, the medical school had $172 million in externally funded research. In 2023, that number increased to $436.5 million.
“The dramatic growth of our health system allows us to be uniquely positioned to recruit and engage diverse populations in groundbreaking studies,” Boulware said. “This funding provides even more momentum as we work to improve care delivery and the health of our communities, our region and our nation.”
The Wake Forest CTSA grant has been led since 2017 by Donald McClain, M.D., Ph.D., professor of internal medicine. With the funding of the new grant, program leadership will be provided by a new team that includes three principal investigators: Gary Rosenthal, M.D., vice dean for translational science and professor and chair of internal medicine; Jamy Ard, M.D., vice dean of clinical research and professor of epidemiology; and Kristie Foley, Ph.D., professor and chair of implementation science.
Media Contact: Myra Wright, mgwright@wakehealth.edu