Translational Research: Research
Overview
The Division of Translational Research at BIDMC provides a unique “home” for faculty who play a major role in the infrastructure for clinical/translational investigation. At its inception, the division was integrated with the Harvard-Thorndike General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Recently, the GCRC was incorporated into the Harvard Clinical Translational Science Center (CTSC) funded through the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award. This five-year $200 million grant from the National Institutes of Health which includes institutional support from Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, and the affiliated Academic Health Care Centers brings together the 11 Harvard schools and 18 Harvard teaching hospitals in an unprecedented collaboration to advance therapeutic discovery and patient care.
Dr. Steven Freedman, the Chief of the Division of Translational Research at BIDMC, co-directs the Harvard CTSC with Dr. Lee Nadler (Dana Farber Cancer Institute); Drs. Freedman and Nadler are the Associate Dean and Dean for Clinical and Translational Research at Harvard Medical School, respectively. The goal of the Harvard CTSC is to enhance clinical and translational research by addressing critical gaps and barriers and providing the needed connections to facilitate discoveries from the bench to the bedside. This includes 10 Programs: education and training, regulatory support, biostatistics, biomedical informatics, novel clinical and translational methodologies, translational technologies, participant clinical interactive resources (replaces the GCRCs), diversity and health disparities research, community outreach research, and pilot grant funding.
Successful clinical and translational research requires an interdisciplinary and cross-institutional approach. The Harvard Catalyst, a pan-Harvard enterprise made possible by the Harvard CTSC, will provide not only the funding but the mechanism critical to create interdisciplinary teams within and across institutions. BIDMC and the Division of Translational Research will play a major role in Harvard Catalyst initiatives with the first initiative being the creation of a cohesive biostatistical core directed by Dr. Shiva Gautam.
