PROJECT SUMMARY/ ABSTRACT
Clinical and translational research (CTR) across Harvard is conducted at 17 independent and geographically
dispersed institutions, including Harvard Medical School (HMS), Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health,
and 15 HMS-affiliated academic health care centers. Each of these institutions is fiscally and operationally
independent with their own governance, faculty, IRB, and electronic health records. Harvard Catalyst (HC)
serves as the sole coordinating entity for CTR and has brought these institutions together as a federated CTR
network. Since 2008, HC has developed a substantial portfolio of educational and CTR resources to meet the
needs of the CTR workforce at Harvard and, when their value has been demonstrated at Harvard,
disseminated them to the CTSA consortium. Moving forward, HC’s overarching vision is to partner with our
CTR workforce, institutions, and communities to become a living clinical and translational science (CTS)
learning laboratory. The CTS learning laboratory will continuously assess and reassess the hub’s CTR
strengths and weaknesses, developing and implementing programmatic innovations to improve the efficiency,
quality, effectiveness, and impact of CTR. Using the principles and methodologies of CTS and guided by a
logic model, HC is committed to achieving these goals and overcoming translational roadblocks. Seven
translational roadblocks have been prioritized that can be mitigated or overcome: 1) educational resources are
not reaching all learners and have been focused on investigators, rather than investigational teams; 2)
extensive research resources are frequently invisible and difficult to access; 3) substantial structural and
regulatory barriers limit cross-institutional collaborations; 4) research and clinical data need to be connected
and their access democratized; 5) CTR workforce is not sufficiently diverse and must be grown in all domains;
6) there is limited access to and participation by diverse populations in research; and 7) insufficient
mechanisms exist to support implementation of CTR evidence into practice. HC will also focus on better
understanding and meeting the needs of early-stage and underrepresented in medicine investigators and their
teams, as well as diverse patient populations and communities, while working to diversify the workforce and
reduce health inequities. Multiple initiatives are proposed to address five specific aims: 1) train and diversify
the CTR workforce; 2) connect trainees and CTR teams with HC resources; 3) partner with community
stakeholders to improve research participation; 4) democratize health informatics; and 5) use CTS to overcome
significant CTR roadblocks. HC is eager to learn from other CTSA hubs and is committed to dissemination and
sharing across the CTSA consortium. The insights derived from employing CTS approaches will be used to
overcome translational roadblocks and advance the collective national goal of improving human health.