The primary goal of this Planning Grant application is to bring together The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, the University of Houston, Texas Southern University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Texas Woman's University, Prairie View A&M School of Nursing, and the Comprehensive Health Center of Houston as a group of six carefully selected partner organizations to develop and implement a transformational focus on education and research in the science of clinical and translational research. This constellation of educational, research, and patient care organizations that has been assembled to collaboratively develop a plan for the Houston Center for Clinical and Translational Science Award offers the prospect of a novel, transformed, and unambiguously committed environment for interdisciplinary clinical and translational research. A major advantage for our planning grant application is that the applicant group is not dominated by a single organization, medical school, or past history. ? ? The specific aims for this Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Planning Grant are: ? (1) To forge an effective working collaboration among the participating institutions that will result in a highly integrated program for education, training, and research in the science of clinical and translational research. ? (2) To create an intellectual home for clinical and translational science that is respected and appreciated by the parent institutions and others for its academic content and success, its governance and administrative capability, its objective self-evaluation and continuous improvement, and its role in and contributions to a developing national CTSA Consortium. ? (3) To prepare for submission of a competitive CTSA application at an appropriate point in the course of the planning process, including the development and submission (as a component of the U54 proposal) of a multi-institutional application for a K12 Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Program Award. We will implement a process to identify and inventory the resources and experiences of the participating institutions in clinical and translational research, education, and career development. Special attention will be paid to identifying collective weaknesses and designing and executing remedies. ? ? Our strongest intent is that the collaborating institutions will act as one in clinical and translational science. Achievement of the three Specific Aims and, thus, completion of the planning grant process will result in a grant application for a CTSA that includes all of the agreements and structures required to make it an operating entity if an award is received. ? ? ?
