Harvard University

The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center will alter the culture of clinical and translational research at Harvard by creating structured and effective methods to connect and support individual investigators and teams of investigators. The center will create managed approaches to focusing the skills of experts in diverse disciplines to find innovative solutions to challenging questions in clinical and translational research. It will deploy both new and old resources more effectively, lowering the barriers to the initiation and conduct of clinical and translational research within and across institutions. In parallel, the center will build a structure to encourage initiation of new clinical and translational research projects and provide mechanisms for bringing together interdisciplinary and cross-institutional teams, opening the doors of the clinical and translational research enterprise to researchers and engineers with diverse backgrounds, skills, and resources. The center will educate the broader Harvard research community on the opportunities, challenges, and goals of clinical and translational research. The overarching goals focus on the individual development of clinical and translational researchers and alignment of incentives with desired outcomes. Structured processes will be created that will enhance the ability of investigators to identify information, seek expertise, and access tools necessary to conceive and successfully complete clinical and translational experiments.