Translational Research and Technology Innovation

Advancing Therapeutic Discovery & Patient Care

Overview 

The Division of Translational Research and Technology Innovation 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 played a key role as the Associate Dean of Clinical and Translation Research at Harvard Medical School in obtaining NIH funding to support the Harvard CTSC. 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 included 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. The Division of Translational Research and Technology Innovation plays a major role in Harvard Catalyst initiatives including mentoring, biostatistics support, and the Grant Review and Support Program (GRASP).

Successful clinical and translational research requires an interdisciplinary and cross-institutional approach. An important aspect in translational research are cross-disciplinary partnerships bringing together different groups within academia and with industry and government. Dr. Camilia Martin plays a critical role as Director of Cross-Disciplinary Partnerships to develop successful models to facilitate these relationships.