The CTSA Consortium's Catalog of Assets for Translational and Clinical Health Research (CATCHR)

Abstract

The 61 CTSA Consortium sites are home to valuable programs and infrastructure supporting translational science and all are charged with ensuring that such investments translate quickly to improved clinical care. CATCHR (Catalog of Assets for Translational and Clinical Health Research) is the Consortium’s effort to collect and make available information on programs and resources to maximize efficiency and facilitate collaborations. By capturing information on a broad range of assets supporting the entire clinical and translational research spectrum, CATCHR aims to provide the necessary infrastructure and processes to establish and maintain an open-access, searchable database of consortium resources to support multi-site clinical and translational research studies. Data is collected using rigorous, defined methods, with the resulting information made visible through an integrated, searchable web-based tool. Additional easy to use web tools assist resource owners in validating and updating resource information over time. In this article, we discuss the design and scope of the project, data collection methods, current results, and future plans for development and sustainability. With increasing pressure on research programs to avoid redundancy, CATCHR aims to make available information on programs and core facilities to maximize efficient use of resources.

Scope, Influence, and Interdisciplinary Collaboration: The Publication Portfolio of the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program From 2006 Through 2017

“…A total of 3,505 articles (5% of the portfolio) acknowledged support from multiple hub grants, ranging from 2 to 44 hubs cited (average of 3 hubs per multihub article). Some of these articles address activities specific to the CTSA consortium, such as a catalog of CTSA assets for translational and clinical health research (Shirey-Rice et al, 2014) and a review of accrual and recruitment practices at CTSA institutions (Kost et al, 2014), but many articles address other types of multisite research, for example, the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) (Drawz et al, 2017). Multihub articles appeared in 723 journals, covering 115 WoSRAs and all 6 GIPP categories.…”

Leading by Success: Impact of a Clinical and Translational Research Infrastructure Program to Address Health Inequities

“…For many clinical and translational research infrastructure programs in the US, a similar theme purveys to benefit the populations they serve or with whom they engage in their activities 4, 6, 7, 16–18, 20, 23, 26, 28 . While the long-term goal of promoting and improving health equity across all stages of life for the most disparate populations (by contributing to improving the health of all people in Hawaii) is an ambitious undertaking and not quickly attainable in a short period of time (3 years), the RMATRIX has put in place a valuable infrastructure for academic and community investigators to work together on approaches for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases to improve health and reduce health disparities.…”

“…With the large number of clinical and translational research infrastructure awards in existence 7, 12, 14, 16, 17, 24, 26, 29, 30 , RMATRIX is likely not unique in its impact or importance to the institution, state, or communities. Other successful infrastructure programs have Pilot Project mechanisms to jumpstart research careers of faculty 28, 30 , however, because of the uniqueness of its size, location, and modest landscape in clinical and translational research at the UH, the magnitude of its impact may be more pronounced.…”

“…Contributing to the culture of health disparities has partly been a function of the imbalance of biomedical research funding from government agencies, private foundations, industry and other sources 4–7 . Innovative concepts and bold initiatives to increase collaborations and partnerships were established through government, industry and foundations to increase translation of research into practice to accelerate medical research 6–10 .…”

“…Recognizing that building capacity to engage in clinical translational research at institutions across the USA requires collaborations and partnerships, the CTSA mechanism was launched to support programs and infrastructures for translational science 7, 19 . The success of the CTSA programs impacted geographical regions based at the institutions involved with their respective CTSA programs 21–25 .…”