The University of Florida (UF) has an exceptionally rich environment of colleges, state of the art laboratory and clinical research facilities, multidisciplinary research centers and institutes and a distinguished faculty. These resources uniquely position UF at the forefront of institutions to train the next generation of clinical and translational investigators and leaders of multidisciplinary research teams. UF has already made considerable investments dedicated exclusively to accomplish this goal. Furthermore, in direct response to the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Roadmap initiative, it is committed to providing substantial new space, personnel and curricula and plans to undertake significant restructuring of its traditional reporting, research and training operations to create a trans-institutional Center for Integrated Health Sciences (CIHS). This Center would provide the new intellectual home for clinical and translational research and training at UF, integrating and synergizing the scientific and educational activities of 11 colleges, 5 institutes, 19 centers, 11 hospitals, numerous outpatient clinics and the 67counties in the State of Florida. ? ? Accordingly, this Planning Grant proposal sets forth the following specific aims to be accomplished in the design of an Institutional CTSA program: ? ? Specific Aim 1: Create a planning structure through which individuals from diverse disciplines can interact, needed research resources, services and technologies can be identified and developed and local and regional barriers to collaborative research can be addressed. ? ? Specific Aim 2: Increase trainee participation in educational and research activities across the preclinical-community practice continuum. ? ? Specific Aim 3: Establish the principal scientific and training strengths on which a successful CTSA application will be built and define the innovative and transforming elements to be derived from an established CIHS. ? ? ?
