UB introduces Clinical and Translational Science Institute

The UB-led consortium that won a prestigious $15 million Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health in 2015 has adopted a new name and visual identity that better represent the work in which its members are engaged.

In an effort to more accurately reflect its collaborative and scientific missions, the new entity will be called the University at Buffalo Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI).  

Under this new name, the CTSI’s collaborative partners demonstrate their shared commitment to improving health and reducing health disparities in the Buffalo Niagara region by conducting and supporting research that leads to new, innovative medical therapies and technologies, and working to make them widely available to the community. The CTSI’s new logo features the UB logo and is consistent with the new brand and identity strategy launched by the university in 2016.

“The change in our name to the Clinical and Translational Science Institute is a better reflection of the innovative clinical and translational work we are engaged in,” says Timothy F. Murphy, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Medicine and senior associate dean for translational research in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. “It is intensely focused on groundbreaking research, new discoveries and providing patients with access to innovative, new treatments and therapies.”

The tagline for the CTSI is “Advancing research discoveries to improve health for all.”

“This statement fully reflects the CTSI mission,” Murphy says. “It emphasizes our commitment to improving disease prevention and treatment, to testing and implementing innovative approaches that will improve the health of our community, and to reducing disparities in community health and in patient access to new medical treatments.”

The CTSI includes individual researchers and institutions involved in:

• UB’s Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC) on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
• The Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), the NIH grant that funds and supports researchers, and is closely integrated with institutional resources of Buffalo Translational Consortium partners, including UB’s Clinical Research Office.
• The Buffalo Translational Consortium, the organization that formed in 2009 to foster innovative clinical and translational science research, and which consists of 17 Western New York health care, research and community organizations, including UB as the lead institution.

A key aspect of the CTSI, Murphy says, is its inclusive, collaborative culture that supports research across the entire translational spectrum, from translation of basic science discoveries into health care interventions to clinical trials that will bring those advances into real-world settings. The CTSI is committed to diversity in its workforce and research participants, and to engaging the community and health care providers in all phases of clinical research, he says.

Murphy notes that its research and education missions are inextricably linked, as the CTSI trains and mentors the next generation of clinical and translational scientists, physicians, nurses and health care professionals.

The new name and visual identity for the CSTI were developed through the work of several focus groups, which included members of the CTSA steering committee, researchers and UBMD clinicians; Buffalo Translational Consortium researchers; and community groups including leaders, as well as patients.

The members of the Buffalo Translational Consortium are:

• Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
• School of Nursing.
• School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
• School of Public Health and Health Professions.
• School of Dental Medicine.
• Research Institute on Addictions.
• Institute for Healthcare Informatics.
• UB’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences.
• UBMD.
• Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
• Great Lakes Health System of WNY.
• Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute.
• The P2 (Pursuing Perfection) Collaborative of WNY.
• Upstate New York Practice Based Research Network.
• New York State Area Health Education System.
• HealtheLink, a regional health information organization.
• Patient Voices Network.