The University of Florida Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) partners with Florida State University through a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) hub to speed research discoveries toward improved health for people in the nation’s third-largest state.
About the partnership
In 2009, UF became the state’s first recipient of a CTSA. In 2010, a combination of CTSA and state grant funding allowed the UF CTSI to team up with the FSU College of Medicine to develop new capabilities for community-based clinical research. This collaboration led to creation of the OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium in 2013, which includes the University of Miami and affiliated health care partners across the state. In 2015, UF received a second CTSA and added FSU as a partner to continue developing OneFlorida. To date, the OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium has facilitated more than 125 projects studying areas as diverse as obesity, cancer, hepatitis C, hypertension, and substance use.
Read the UF Health news release about the 2019 CTSA.
In 2019, the UF CTSI and FSU expanded their research partnership through a third CTSA. In the next five years, UF and FSU will apply and expand these tools, resources, and initiatives to improve health and speed research along the translational pathway. For example, the two institutions will deepen engagement with policy stakeholders, rural communities, and UF/ IFAS extension offices in all 67 counties in Florida. Further, the CTSI’s team training model and network methods will promote team science at other universities in Florida and beyond, and an expanded CTSI Precision Health Initiative will develop precision medicine and precision public health approaches that allow research teams to identify risks and tailor interventions at both individual and population levels.
UF: Launching initiatives, building resources
During its first decade, the UF CTSI launched initiatives and built tools and resources for researchers to use in translating discoveries into practice. The UF CTSI incubated and grew programs in genomic medicine, metabolomics, network analysis, biomedical informatics, community engagement, and health communication research.
The UF Health Precision Medicine Program launched, putting genomic medicine into practice for patients at UF Health. The UF Clinical Research Center served as a venue for numerous studies of national significance in diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, gene therapy, rare diseases, pain, and liver disease, among other areas.
In addition, the UF CTSI transformed UF’s translational science training environment to engage and support a multidisciplinary community of trainees, scholars, and mentors across colleges and satellite campuses, and developed a novel program model for training doctoral students in teams.
FSU: Expanding through campus, region
CTSI funding through the UF partnership helped FSU establish a Network for Clinical Research and Training, leading to new studies in Tallahassee and Orlando, where the FSU College of Medicine has regional campuses.
Over the last several years, FSU has invested in research centers and faculty conducting translational research in mental health, substance abuse, risky behaviors, and health conditions that have the potential to be treated with behavioral interventions. The research centers involve more than 100 investigators spanning several FSU departments and colleges, including medicine, human sciences, nursing, social work, social sciences and public policy, communication and information, as well as psychology.
As the partnership with the UF CTSI enters its next phase, FSU will continue to build on its investment in translational research centers; focus on patient-centered health care responsive to community needs – particularly involving underserved, minority, rural and elderly populations; and bring diverse expertise to translational research in areas identified by the CTSI as presenting the greatest health needs.
FSU Researchers
Access resources
Wondering how to access CTSA career development resources and research services from Florida State University? Start here.
UF and FSU leadership of the CTSA hub
Bottom row: Stephen Sugrue, PhD, UF College of Medicine, Senior Associate Dean for Research Affairs; David R. Nelson, MD, UF Senior Vice President for Health Affairs, President, UF Health, Director, UF CTSI; Jeffrey Joyce, PhD, FSU College of Medicine Senior Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs; Elizabeth Shenkman, PhD, Professor and Chair, UF Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, co-director, CTSI; Gary Ostrander, FSU Vice President for Research.