Public health emergency accelerated research response—the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin COVID-19 research initiative

IntroductionIn March 2020, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences—Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program issued an urgent “Call to Action,” requesting CTSA hubs to accelerate clinical and translational research (C&TR) in response to the COVID-19 public hea...

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Main Authors: Michael P. Anello, Doriel D. Ward, Orsolya M. Garrison, Amit Gode, Octavian C. Ioachimescu, David R. Friedland, Reza Shaker
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-05-01
Series:Frontiers in Public Health
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1529121/full
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author Michael P. Anello
Doriel D. Ward
Orsolya M. Garrison
Amit Gode
Octavian C. Ioachimescu
Octavian C. Ioachimescu
Octavian C. Ioachimescu
David R. Friedland
David R. Friedland
Reza Shaker
Reza Shaker
author_facet Michael P. Anello
Doriel D. Ward
Orsolya M. Garrison
Amit Gode
Octavian C. Ioachimescu
Octavian C. Ioachimescu
Octavian C. Ioachimescu
David R. Friedland
David R. Friedland
Reza Shaker
Reza Shaker
author_sort Michael P. Anello
collection DOAJ
description IntroductionIn March 2020, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences—Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program issued an urgent “Call to Action,” requesting CTSA hubs to accelerate clinical and translational research (C&TR) in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. The Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin (CTSI) quickly responded by launching a regional research initiative among its eight academic and healthcare partner institutions to nucleate teams around COVID-19 C&TR.MethodsA comprehensive search of COVID-19 funding opportunities, combined with suggestions from CTSI leadership and C&TR investigators, produced a list of 31 distinct C&TR questions that were used to nucleate investigators into teams. A survey was shared with the faculty of all eight partner institutions to solicit interest in joining the teams. Multidisciplinary team formation was based on a novel CTSI model, called the “Team Science-Guided Integrated Clinical and Research Ensemble (Ensemble).” In this model, teams are formed around an unmet patient medical need, based on the intentional recruitment of members from three domains: (1) the clinical and translational research enterprise, (2) the health care systems, and (3) the community of stakeholders. The teams were provided no funding, but received substantial CTSI research and administrative support.ResultsForty-one teams were formed, and 243 investigators participated during the first year of the initiative. Team efforts resulted in the submission of 21 grant proposals, totaling $32,528,297. Three grant proposals were funded, totaling $609,888. The research initiative generated eight publications and had a significant impact on patient health, involving a combined total of 456 research participants. The initiative led to several systemic improvements, by (1) exposing investigators to team science-guided C&TR (Ensembles), (2) increasing inter-institutional and inter-departmental collaborations, (3) creating new partnerships with community organizations, and (4) providing qualitative data on lessons learned.ConclusionThe COVID-19 regional research initiative provided a compelling model of how basic science, clinical/translational, and community researchers can be mobilized for accelerated C&TR to address a public health threat. The initiative demonstrated that the fundamentals of the novel CTSI Ensemble team concept can be leveraged to expedite the formation of highly efficient teams.
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spelling doaj-art-7257d561399e413cab706c4f48569e762025-08-20T03:53:07ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652025-05-011310.3389/fpubh.2025.15291211529121Public health emergency accelerated research response—the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin COVID-19 research initiativeMichael P. Anello0Doriel D. Ward1Orsolya M. Garrison2Amit Gode3Octavian C. Ioachimescu4Octavian C. Ioachimescu5Octavian C. Ioachimescu6David R. Friedland7David R. Friedland8Reza Shaker9Reza Shaker10Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin, The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United StatesClinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin, The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United StatesClinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin, The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United StatesClinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin, The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United StatesClinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin, The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United StatesClement J. Zablocki Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI, United StatesDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United StatesClinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin, The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United StatesDepartment of Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences, The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United StatesClinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin, The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United StatesDepartment of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United StatesIntroductionIn March 2020, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences—Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program issued an urgent “Call to Action,” requesting CTSA hubs to accelerate clinical and translational research (C&TR) in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. The Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin (CTSI) quickly responded by launching a regional research initiative among its eight academic and healthcare partner institutions to nucleate teams around COVID-19 C&TR.MethodsA comprehensive search of COVID-19 funding opportunities, combined with suggestions from CTSI leadership and C&TR investigators, produced a list of 31 distinct C&TR questions that were used to nucleate investigators into teams. A survey was shared with the faculty of all eight partner institutions to solicit interest in joining the teams. Multidisciplinary team formation was based on a novel CTSI model, called the “Team Science-Guided Integrated Clinical and Research Ensemble (Ensemble).” In this model, teams are formed around an unmet patient medical need, based on the intentional recruitment of members from three domains: (1) the clinical and translational research enterprise, (2) the health care systems, and (3) the community of stakeholders. The teams were provided no funding, but received substantial CTSI research and administrative support.ResultsForty-one teams were formed, and 243 investigators participated during the first year of the initiative. Team efforts resulted in the submission of 21 grant proposals, totaling $32,528,297. Three grant proposals were funded, totaling $609,888. The research initiative generated eight publications and had a significant impact on patient health, involving a combined total of 456 research participants. The initiative led to several systemic improvements, by (1) exposing investigators to team science-guided C&TR (Ensembles), (2) increasing inter-institutional and inter-departmental collaborations, (3) creating new partnerships with community organizations, and (4) providing qualitative data on lessons learned.ConclusionThe COVID-19 regional research initiative provided a compelling model of how basic science, clinical/translational, and community researchers can be mobilized for accelerated C&TR to address a public health threat. The initiative demonstrated that the fundamentals of the novel CTSI Ensemble team concept can be leveraged to expedite the formation of highly efficient teams.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1529121/fullclinical and translational science awarddisaster medicineensemblemultidisciplinary collaborationmulti-institutional partnershipsteam science and practice
spellingShingle Michael P. Anello
Doriel D. Ward
Orsolya M. Garrison
Amit Gode
Octavian C. Ioachimescu
Octavian C. Ioachimescu
Octavian C. Ioachimescu
David R. Friedland
David R. Friedland
Reza Shaker
Reza Shaker
Public health emergency accelerated research response—the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin COVID-19 research initiative
Frontiers in Public Health
clinical and translational science award
disaster medicine
ensemble
multidisciplinary collaboration
multi-institutional partnerships
team science and practice
title Public health emergency accelerated research response—the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin COVID-19 research initiative
title_full Public health emergency accelerated research response—the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin COVID-19 research initiative
title_fullStr Public health emergency accelerated research response—the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin COVID-19 research initiative
title_full_unstemmed Public health emergency accelerated research response—the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin COVID-19 research initiative
title_short Public health emergency accelerated research response—the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin COVID-19 research initiative
title_sort public health emergency accelerated research response the clinical and translational science institute of southeast wisconsin covid 19 research initiative
topic clinical and translational science award
disaster medicine
ensemble
multidisciplinary collaboration
multi-institutional partnerships
team science and practice
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1529121/full
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