Rapid advancements in translational research have produced innovative clinical discoveries and evidence-based interven­tions that are ready for uptake in real-world settings, creating vast opportunities and challenges for implementation science. However, there is an inadequate research workforce to study effective strategies and delivery of implementation to advance the field. Novel career development initiatives will build scholars for the next genera­tion of implementation science to bridge research to practice for diverse populations to advance health equity, specifically with a strategic focus on heart, lung, blood and sleep diseases and conditions. Along with traditional mentoring and curricula, research training includes state-of-the-art approaches using complex methods and multi-disci­plinary collaborations between researchers, practice settings, and diverse communities. Implementation science scholars strive not only to decrease the lag time between the discovery of evidence-based interven­tions and successful implementation but also how to advance health equity and to reduce disparities for underserved popula­tions that suffer disproportionally.Ethn Dis. 2019;29(Suppl 1):77-82; doi:10.18865/ed.29.S1.77.

Avilés-Santa et al. NIH Funding Hispanic/Latino Health poses opportunities to evaluate knowledge gained and their clinical application, explore new research questions, or to update some methods or instruments. The findings of the present study suggest opportunities to expand research in understudied mechanisms of disease that could explain differences in prevalence of conditions like diabetes and cancer among different heritage groups. In addition, our findings suggest that the impact of interventions or policies designed to reduce health disparities, innovative multi-level interventions, implementation and dissemination studies, the role of health information technology on health outcomes, and the intersectionality of individual, sociocultural, geographic, and other factors on health outcomes, among others, are understudied approaches, which could potentially advance research in Hispanic/Latino health and contribute to the achievement of better health outcomes in this diverse population.

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