Institute of Translational Health Sciences

The Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) has served as the clinical and translational science hub for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho (WWAMI) since 2007. The hub brings together 3 top US research institutions as partners: the University of Washington, Seattle Children’s, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The spokes of the hub are academic, clinical, community-based, and other research organizations across the region. Leveraging networks and relationships built over several years, ITHS will continue to grow and strengthen our regional Collaboratory, a “center without walls”, to promote research that improves the health of the people across WWAMI and beyond. There is a strong need for clear career pathways, education, and environments that support professional growth for clinical and translational researchers (CTR) at all levels. ITHS will expand its competency-based TL1 predoctoral program in 2 ways: creation of a cohort at a WWAMI university and with a translational research curriculum to train health professional students during the course of their clinical training. The Institute will establish competency-based training and career advancement pathways for research staff. We will provide a learning system that can produce tailored educational content on-demand and at any time. ITHS will promote the growth of a research workforce reflective of the communities served. To enhance Collaboration and Engagement, ITHS will enact team science as an operational standard in CTR, while cultivating a culture that rewards collaboration in faculty promotion. The Institute will integrate community stakeholders at all stages of translational research. We will develop a Rural Health Lab handing the leadership of a research project to a rural community with the aim to tackle a critical community health issue. Methods and Processes are key to efficiency and quality in research. We will support study metric tracking across a regional research network, enabling organizations to benchmark performance and collaboratively test and share process improvements. We will develop a pipeline of support for discovery research to ensure more health innovations reach the clinic. Informatics and “big data” drive future innovation. ITHS will make clinical data science more accessible, developing new methods, tools, and education for data exploration, machine learning, and real-world evidence analysis. We emphasize use of the electronic health record to implement evidence-based guidelines in the clinic. ITHS will reduce barriers to research participation through integration of remote technologies into clinical studies.