CCTS CCET Funding Opportunity Announcement: Community-Initiated Pilot Program

CCTS CCET Funding Opportunity Announcement: Community-Initiated Pilot Program CTSI Peer Grant Review Program Open to Accept Research Proposals

Application Due Date: August 31st by 5:0 pm MST

The Community-initiated Translational Research Pilot Program focuses on community-identified health-related needs and involves collaborations between community organizations and CTSI-affiliated researchers (see eligibility requirements above for affiliated institutions). Please visit https://ctsi.utah.edu/ for updates and releases on funding opportunities.

“Translation is the process of turning observations in the laboratory, clinic and community into interventions that improve the health of individuals and the public – from diagnostics and therapeutics to medical procedures and behavioral changes.” (https://ncats.nih.gov/files/translation-factsheet.pdf)

Broadly, there are five types of translational research that span the “bench to bedside” and “bedside-to-community” continuum. Four types of translational research will be funded through this opportunity

• T1 research translates the discoveries made by basic science research (T0) to initial studies in humans. These studies identify new methods of diagnosing illness, new treatments, or new methods of preventing illness and improving health*. For new drugs, these studies determine if the drug can safely be used in humans and the safe dose. This stage includes Phase 1 clinical trials and other pilot studies.
• T2 research translates the results from T1 studies to larger groups of people, carefully studying how well or under what conditions a particular treatment (for example, drug or medical device) or approach (for example, behavior change program) works. Researchers use data from these studies to design and test improvements. This stage includes Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials, and can include randomized control trials, carefully matched comparison studies and other methods for testing the effectiveness of a new approach.
• T3 research translates findings from T2 studies to broader groups of people, including communities and health care practices. This research evaluates the supports and barriers to wide-spread adoption of the new approach. This stage includes Phase 4 clinical trials and outcomes research.
• T4 research translates the findings from T3 studies to studying health outcomes of entire communities and populations. Studies seek to determine the effectiveness of efforts to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases as well as the multiple factors that impact health (such as social determinants of health). The findings provide guidance for improving programs or developing new ones.

*By “health” we mean the Seven Domains of Health – physical, social, emotional, intellectual, environmental, financial, and spiritual. For the Pilot Program, projects can also address developing the biomedical workforce from early ages through career preparation.

Identification of Community Health Needs

The proposed project must address a documented health-related need(s) identified by a community organization. The community organization may have previously conducted a needs assessment or the need(s) may have been identified in data collected by another entity (see Community Health Needs Assessment Resources at the end of this document). Given the number of needs assessments that are available, the Pilot Program will not fund additional needs assessments unless a strong case can be made for why this is needed. However, the Pilot Program will fund research on community-identified ways to best address a particular health need.

Link to Complete Announcement

If you have additional questions that the included guidance checklist does not answer, please contact breanne.johnson@hsc.utah.edu.