PROGRAM SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The CTSA Predoctoral T32 Program at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is
the companion institutional training grant for predoctoral graduate students. This Translational Science Training
(TST) Program will provide predoctoral Trainees with innovative programing to help them develop those skills in
team science, innovation, and scientific rigor necessary for a successful career in Translational Science (TS).
Research training in TS and career development will develop a highly skilled workforce to efficiently advance
patient-focused research from preclinical and clinical settings to clinical implementation and population health.
Refined programmatic activities, including a required graduate-level TS Certificate, will ensure that Trainees
recognize the relationship between applied TS and contemporary biomedical research. Monthly TST Program
Meetings will reinforce TS concepts, community engagement, dissemination and implementation (D&I), diversity,
equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA), career development, mentoring, and wellness. Together with CTSA
K12 Scholars, TST Trainees will participate in a new Clinical and Translational Science (CTS) Roundtable that
integrates concepts in process innovation, systems thinking, and boundary crossing, along with team science
and cultural diversity; K12 Scholars will serve as near-peer mentors for TST Trainees to further enhance
interactions across the early career scientist workforce. Finally, community engagement, within the TS
Practicum, will increase training opportunities that offer insight to better leverage the strengths of local
populations, investigators, and resources. The TST Program Objectives are to:
• Provide robust TS training for predoctoral Trainees, in the context of diverse science and cultures
• Emphasize research with unique regional populations to address Hispanic and military/veteran health
concerns
• Enable didactic and experiential activities that contribute to team science knowledge and skills
• Expand the workforce of well-prepared TS investigators
• Evaluate programmatic components for continuous quality improvement