Congratulations to our eight CCTS Partner Network Multidisciplinary Pilot Program Awardees for 2018. Projects were selected on the basis of scientific merit and alignment with the CCTS mission to understand diseases that have known disparities (e.g., age, ethnicity, race, gender, socioeconomics, environment) and/or that disproportionately affect our regional populations in the Deep South. This year's awardees will address important questions in HIV, cardiovascular disease subsequent to pediatric kidney transplantation, lung cancer, metabolic profile among adults with spinal cord injury, the timing of food intake, platelet dysfunction after traumatic injury, the relationships between maternal body composition and labor course and neonatal outcomes, and changes in CVD risk factors after bariatric surgery.
Forty-two letters of intent were received from applicants representing eight partner institutions in response to the request for applications (RFA) launched in August 2017. Of these, 20 investigators were invited to submit full applications. During this phase, applicants met with a member of the CCTS Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design (BERD) group and other units (e.g., informatics, clinical services), as applicable, to ensure methodologic and scientific rigor in study design. Applicants also participated in a Panel Done Quickly, arranged by the CCTS Research Commons, which provides a team of peers with expertise tailored to the scientific content to further refine the scientific premise and to sharpen the presentation.
The CCTS supports a comprehensive process to assess the scientific aims and experimental design of pilot applications and to identify meritorious proposals, engaging reviewers internal to the Hub and our Partner Network. The program also utilizes external academic reviews enabled through the CTSA External Reviewer Exchange Consortium (CEREC) and a community-based review. The group of awardees represents five CCTS Partner Network institutions: UAB, Tulane, University of Mississippi Medical Center, University of South Alabama and Pennington Biomedical Research Center. This year’s funding cycle is April 1, 2018, through March 30, 2019.
“The goal of the CCTS Multidisciplinary Pilot Program is to develop the future research workforce in a spirit that fosters collaboration, team science, and innovative discovery,” said Dr. Stuart Frank, CCTS Co-Director. Projects must address scientific questions consistent with the CCTS mission at any stage of the translational spectrum, from the biological basis of health and disease to interventions that improve the health of individuals and the public.
To learn more about the CCTS Multidisciplinary Pilot Program, contact the CCTS Research Commons (