CTSA K12 Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham

PROJECT SUMMARY The Deep South Translational Science Mentored Career Development Program K12 will support the training and advancement of Scholars to address the growing gap between research and the translation into clinical practice. Our Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) Partner Network of 11 institutions brings

existing training infrastructure and ongoing partnerships. Integrating diverse and complementary approaches within our clinical translational science (CTS) teams will accelerate scientific innovations and promote enhanced prevention, treatment, wellness, and health equity for the individual, the community, and ultimately

the population in our region, which is disproportionately burdened by chronic disease and poor health outcomes with social inequity being at the root cause We aim to create a career development program that instills Scholars with mastery of translational research (TR) core competencies through a curriculum that will

nurture “translational thinking” and working with those outside their discipline. To be successful translational researchers, Scholars will acquire knowledge of translational science (TS). Over the grant period, we will provide career development for 24 Scholars who will be supported by a collaborative research base (136

mentors) with more than $277 million in extramural funding. Our overall goal for this career development program is to facilitate new, and expand existing, innovative early career training opportunities across the translational spectrum in areas such as drug discovery, integrative “omics”, clinical informatics,

community engagement, and dissemination and implementation science with the goal of addressing disease and health disparities that disproportionately impact residents of the Deep South. We will mentor early career investigators and facilitate their growth into academic leaders within our Partner Network and nationally. Our specific aims are to: 1) Identify, recruit, and matriculate a cohort of Scholars

across the CCTS Network diverse by race, ethnicity, gender, scientific discipline and institution.; 2) Provide an intensive multidisciplinary, continually updated curriculum and collaborative, experiential TS training program with emphasis on diseases and health disparities prevalent in the US Deep South; 3) Enhance the

individualized career development of translational scientists representing a broad range of clinical and methodological disciplines through individual-, peer-, and team-based mentoring approaches, with a focus on future grant development and submission support to assist in successful career transition; 4) Advance

mentoring, foster “team science,” and continue the expansion of cross-institutional training experiences for K12 Scholars and other early career investigators. The Deep South Translational Research K12 will provide new and expand existing infrastructure across our Partner Network to recruit and train individuals with

significant potential to be highly successful translational scientists and to mentor them toward becoming leaders nationally with the ultimate goal to improve health outcomes in the Deep South.