UIC Center for Clinical And Translational Science: Advancing Health for All - The University of Illinois Chicago’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) envisions a healthier Illinois for all people. We will achieve our vision through designing and fostering collaborative and innovative research that advances translational science and health for all. We aim to speed the development, translation, and uptake of evidence-based strategies into practice and into communities. As part of our vision, the CCTS aspires to ensure that research is translated in an accessible, relatable, actionable, and relevant manner to all people. We embrace the concept of a “rapid learning research system” in which we bring together researchers, implementers, patients, community representatives, and health system stakeholders to develop strategies and ensure we address relevant questions. Since its inception in 2008, the CCTS has sought to integrate transdisciplinary systems across disciplines to address health problems within biological, individual, and environmental factors. In this next phase, the CCTS aims to serve as the translational bridge between research and the end-user (i.e., the clinician, patient, or community) by a) incorporating principles that promote the opportunity for everyone to achieve good health, implementation science, and human-centered design; b) ethically integrating informatics and data science; and c) applying a health advancement lens across the translational spectrum to enhance the relevance, informativeness, and impact of research. By advancing clinical and translational science (CTS) with synergistic principles of action, we will seek to address roadblocks to translational advances and deliver innovations that further improve opportunities for everyone to achieve their highest level of health. Our strategic goals address key barriers to progress in CTS: 1) Accelerate and support innovative research that advances the translation of science and data into action and practice; 2) Advance careers and train a broad, multifunctional clinical translational workforce that can respond to dynamic and pressing health problems; 3) Work collaboratively with key stakeholders to allow us to effectively translate science into practice; and 4) Align data science to support health for all. These strategic goals will direct our course over the next seven years. As we develop, demonstrate, and disseminate innovative solutions and integrated efforts across our hub, across Chicago, and to the CTSA network, we hope to have an expanded positive impact on the science of clinical translational research and health outcomes.
