The University of Virginia has a strong tradition of high quality clinical investigation and has had a long-standing highly productive GCRC. It also has a distinguished track record of training clinical, translational, and basic investigators. Through the efforts of our faculty and administration we have been highly successful in obtaining both pre-and postdoctoral training grants as well as individual training fellowships and career development awards from the NIH and private foundations. Our institution has not had an NIH K12 award or a roadmap T32, and we have not in the past offered a Ph.D. in clinical or translational research. This planning grant application outlines our approach to developing a CTSA application. In the spirit of the RFA we propose a structure for our CTSA that bridges multiple schools within the University and affords an opportunity to truly transform clinical/translational research. We are fortunate that our institution has committed significant resources to facilitate this transforming event. The University will support the establishment of the Virginia Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR). During the planning process we propose to address five specific games that will position VICTR and the University of Virginia to be strongly competitive for an NIH-supported CTSA. The five Aims are: 1) Establish within the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences a Ph.D. granting program in translational and clinical science. 2) Establish a training program in clinical investigation for post M.D.s or post Ph.D. trainees 3) Establish within VICTR educational programs for training medical students, graduate students, and residents in translational and clinical research and establish a University-wide educational program directed toward both junior and senior faculty covering pressing and emerging problems for human health. 4) Establish a Clinical/Translational Studies Center (CTSC) to include analytical chemistry, informatics, exercise, biostatistics, epidemiology, imaging and cognitive sciences. Establish and support both inpatient and outpatient clinical studies units. 5). Establish a Research Innovation and Technology Transfer Program that will facilitate and accelerate the development of new clinical/translational research resources and oversee their implementation within research programs as well as guide the development of intellectual property.
