North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (NC TraCS)

The North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (TraCS) is a dynamic regional network of universities, research institutes, healthcare providers, and >250 community collaborators across our state. Based at UNC Chapel Hill, TraCS has strategically fostered partnerships with NC A&T, which brings expertise in workforce development, engineering, and data science, and NC State, with a nationally ranked school of veterinary medicine and additional expertise in engineering and computer science. Over the next seven years, we will catalyze development, testing, implementation, and dissemination of translational science and research to improve human health, by completing our Overall Aims. Aim 1: Perform and support research that advances the science of translation with the goal of clearing barriers to rapid translation of research towards implementation of best evidence to our patients and their communities. Aim 2: Maximize the informativeness of translational research, to drive its impact to improve clinical benefits and reduce harms. Aim 3: Train and maintain an expert, multidisciplinary translational research workforce at all professional levels, prepared to meet the challenges of current and future health crises. Aim 4: Implement evidence-based strategies to improve human health using our learning health care system as our laboratory. We have intensified our efforts in dissemination and implementation, recognizing that this is a critical barrier to effective translation of innovation to health. We will capitalize on (i) the substantial resources of our learning health care system and (ii) the collective expertise of TraCS, honed over 14 years of supporting world-class translational research, to realize our vision of “A healthier North Carolina through innovation”. We will innovate methods and processes, engender trust, and recruit research participants to allow participation in research for all residents of our state. We will implement our advances to ensure benefits for our participants, their communities and patients everywhere. With broad stakeholder engagement and rigorous evaluation of our efforts, we will maximize the relevance of our research to those we serve. TraCS will lead and support efforts across the CTSA consortium to create a more efficient research environment.