CTSA K12 Program at Virginia Commonwealth University

Increasing burdens on the health system and reductions in overall community health highlight the critical importance of translational research to eradicate human disease, tackle emerging public health threats and promote health, for all Americans. To take on these challenges, we need a well-resourced, and well-trained research workforce, as highlighted by the NIH Physician-Scientist Workforce report1. The VCU Wright Regional Center for Clinical and Translational Science (Wright Regional CCTS) serves a region in Central and Eastern Virginia and North Carolina that includes both rural and urban communities and has vast experience serving all communities. The nature of our environment has driven the development of a research workforce that is prepared to meet the challenges of engaging and serving all communities. The Wright Regional CCTS serves as the hub for providing the translational research infrastructure for the training and career development of scholars through their professional life cycle. In addition, our existing partner institutions bring experience training the workforce across the translational spectrum with an emphasis on community engaged research (Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS)), informatics (Old Dominion University (ODU)) and mentorship (Virginia State University (VSU), a land grant university). Training scholars to translate research observations to clinical application in our communities is a priority for the proposed K12 Training Program. Our program will continue its commitment to providing early career faculty/late-stage postdoctoral fellows with a comprehensive “blueprint” for transitioning to research independence. We will recruit and train early career scientists from various research disciplines across the translational spectrum. Through integration with our UM1 and RC2 awards, K12 scholars will be exposed to an innovative and comprehensive program that supports 75% committed time to scholar specific domain expertise but also provides a combination of didactic, virtual, and experiential training in fundamental characteristics of the translational scientist. We will achieve our goals through the following specific aims: Aim 1: Prepare early career translational researchers for research independence through comprehensive, innovative, and individualized training in translational science. K12 scholars will be positioned to translate preclinical, clinical, and community-based research to improving health of all communities. Aim 2: Serve as an institutional resource for research career development and facilitate the creation of a community of clinical and translational researchers through both internal and external partnerships.