The overarching mission and goal of the Stanford University School of Medicine (SOM) for the past five years has been the translation of discoveries into medical practice and clinical care. A plan developed in 2001 has fostered and encouraged such efforts in education and research by providing the resources to support such endeavors. The NIH Roadmap Initiative for Clinical and Translational Science Awards will enable Stanford University to create an administrative home for these efforts, the Stanford Center for Translational Medicine (SCTM). This Center will coordinate translational research and education with the necessary resources to further promote such ? efforts. The structure of the SCTM will be designed to initiate a cultural transformation, meshing current multidisciplinary programs into a new overarching discipline of Translational Medicine. ? ? During this planning phase, a thorough and rigorous assessment of research and education efforts, and the resources provided for these efforts, will be performed. This assessment will begin with a School-wide faculty survey designed to determine areas of strengths and weaknesses in current efforts. The results of this assessment will be disseminated to twelve faculty subcommittees charged with a specific area within the domains of research, education, and resources. The subcommittees will analyze and discuss the results and deliver a full assessment report to the Leadership Group. The Leadership Group will then review the reports ? and develop a framework to direct the subcommittees in developing a full plan for the SCTM in their respective areas. These plans will then be integrated into an overarching strategy for the full development of the SCTM, developed and described in a full application to the CTSA program. This planning phase will form the strong foundation of a successful SoM effort resulting in greatly expanded efforts in the emerging field of Translational Medicine. ? ? ?
