PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Funded by NIH in 2008, 2013 and 2018, the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) at
the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) has transformed the clinical and translational research and
training enterprise in the Colorado region with the vision of accelerating the translation of discoveries into
improved, equitable patient care and public health for all. The CCTSI, headquartered at the CU Anschutz Medical
Campus, is a partnership of CU Denver, CU Boulder, Colorado State University (CSU), 5 hospital systems and
20 community organizations, which has advanced translational science by educating a diverse workforce,
creating a collaborative environment that supports local and multi-site research, engaging communities through
its unique community engagement program, creating methodologies that support research in special
populations, and greatly enhancing our informatics and data science capabilities. The CCTSI infrastructure
played a critical role in the Colorado response to the COVID pandemic and led to new innovations in research
processes and implementation, while recognizing the health inequities and disparities exposed by the pandemic
in rural, minority and underserved populations in Colorado. Despite the successes, there remain many
challenges to overcoming inefficiencies and roadblocks in clinical translational science (CTS) processes
locally and nationally and in reducing health disparities and inequities. This application maps our
collaborative path forward to meet these challenges. In the next grant cycle, we will enhance our efforts to
improve efficiency and coordination with Partners and across the CTSA Consortium, reinforce our extensive
community partnerships, develop innovative informatics and technology solutions to advance CTS, and develop
a diverse highly-skilled translational workforce for the future. This UM1 will be tightly coordinated with our other
6 CTSA grant applications, to accomplish the following 6 Overall Strategic Goals: Goal 1: Advance CTS by
developing, demonstrating, and disseminating innovative programs to improve the efficiency and impact of
translation across the entire T0.5 to T4 spectrum. Goal 2: Promote collaboration, team and data science, and
partnerships to accelerate CTS locally, regionally and nationally. Goal 3: Partner locally, regionally and nationally
with institutions, stakeholders and communities to develop innovative research programs that will address health
inequities and disparities. Goal 4: Further develop operational efficiencies to enhance the quality, safety,
efficiency, effectiveness and informativeness of clinical research. Goal 5: Promote a nimble research
environment that can rapidly respond to urgent public health needs. Goal 6: Develop and disseminate CTS
training programs that educate and sustain a resilient, diverse team of clinical research professionals and
investigators. Special efforts will be made to enhance diversity in our workforce. Progress will be monitored and
improved by our Evaluation Core and CQI program and we will make mid-course corrections as needed to
achieve these goals and ultimately improve the health of our state and the nation.