The West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute has successfully competed for renewal funding from the National Institutes of Health with a five-year $20 million grant to improve health outcomes in West Virginia. This grant provides five more years of funding, extending WVCTSI’s 2012 Institutional Development Award for Clinical and Translational Research through 2022.
“This funding will enable WVCTSI to reach a new level of statewide programming, supporting West Virginia investigators in academic medical centers and community clinics to find real solutions that will lead to better health for West Virginians,” said Sally Hodder, M.D., WVCTSI director and principal investigator.
“West Virginia University’s mission to serve the state can’t be met without strong links between our scientists, clinicians and the communities we serve. The biggest contributions that Dr. Hodder and all the partners in the Clinical and Translational Science Institute have made to our health are the thousands of connections they’ve created among researchers, doctors, nurses and health professionals in dozens of communities across West Virginia,” said Clay Marsh, M.D., vice president and executive dean for health sciences at WVU. “Together, they are changing how research is done and changing the lives of people for the better.”
With this new funding, WVCTSI will continue to offer funding and services to accelerate the creation and translation of new knowledge to impact health issues in rural communities. Additionally, WVCTSI has planned new programs and support, particularly for early career researchers starting their career in West Virginia. WVCTSI resources will be focused on five priority health areas including addiction and resulting emerging epidemics (such as hepatitis C), cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease, and neurologic diseases.
“I am incredibly proud of the WVCTSI’s success and excited by the potential for impact that their research can have within West Virginia and beyond,” said Fred King, Ph.D., vice president for research at WVU. “West Virginia University and the WVCTSI have been integral to developing our state’s capacity as a national contender in biomedical research. The WVCTSI is also central to our University’s success in achieving recognition as a Highest Research Activity University, R1, in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.”
Over the past five years WVCTSI has leveraged meaningful partnerships with academic and clinical institutions from across the state including WVU Medicine, the Charleston Area Medical Center, WVU (including regional campuses in Charleston and Martinsburg), and the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. WVCTSI is strengthened and enhanced by the addition of three new partners in the upcoming funding cycle including, Marshall University, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Together, these organizations have committed an additional $35.5 million to WVCTSI, for a total funding commitment of $55.5 million over the next five years.
“We are excited about being part of the WVCTSI and contributing to this statewide initiative to support clinical and translational research. This program will provide research and collaborative opportunities for our faculty that could ultimately lead to improvements in health for all West Virginians. With our expertise in genomics, strong interest in addiction research and capacity for conducting clinical trials, Marshall will provide added strength to already strong program,” said Gary Rankin, Ph.D., vice dean for basic sciences at Marshall University.
Over the past five years of funding, WVCTSI created the state’s first Practice-Based Research Network, a group of 74 mostly rural primary care clinics that has conducted 77 projects related to improving health in West Virginia. Many of these community projects have impacted the way rural healthcare providers treat patients.
“The PBRN with its many dedicated, talented healthcare providers, is truly one of the great achievements of the WVCTSI and is critical to improving health outcomes in West Virginia,” Hodder said. “Over the next five years the PBRN will continue to drive innovative and meaningful solutions to improve health in West Virginia.”
