Bridging the gap between research, policy, and practice: Lessons learned from academic-public partnerships in the CTSA network

Amytis Towfighi; Allison Zumberge Orechwa; Tomás J Aragón; Marc Atkins; Arleen F Brown; Jen Brown; Olveen Carrasquillo; Savanna Carson; Paula Fleisher; Erika Gustafson; Deborah K Herman; Moira Inkelas; Wylie Liu; Daniella Meeker; Tara Mehta; Doriane C Miller; Rachelle Paul-Brutus; Michael B Potter; Sarah S Ritner; Brendaly Rodriguez; Dana Rusch; Anne Skinner; Hal F Yee Jr

doi:10.1017/cts.2020.23

Bridging the gap between research, policy, and practice: Lessons learned from academic-public partnerships in the CTSA network

J Clin Transl Sci. 2020 Mar 10;4(3):201-208. doi: 10.1017/cts.2020.23.

Authors

Amytis Towfighi^{1

2}, Allison Zumberge Orechwa¹, Tomás J Aragón³, Marc Atkins⁴, Arleen F Brown^{2

5}, Jen Brown⁶, Olveen Carrasquillo⁷, Savanna Carson⁵, Paula Fleisher⁸, Erika Gustafson⁴, Deborah K Herman⁵, Moira Inkelas⁵, Wylie Liu⁸, Daniella Meeker¹, Tara Mehta⁴, Doriane C Miller⁹, Rachelle Paul-Brutus¹⁰, Michael B Potter⁸, Sarah S Ritner¹¹, Brendaly Rodriguez⁷, Dana Rusch⁴, Anne Skinner⁵, Hal F Yee Jr²

Affiliations

¹ Southern California Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
² Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
³ San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁴ Center for Clinical Translational Science, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁵ University of California Los Angeles Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁶ Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁷ University of Miami Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, Miami, FL, USA.
⁸ University of California San Francisco Clinical and Translational Science Institute, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁹ Institute for Translational Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
¹⁰ Chicago Department of Public Health, Chicago, IL, USA.
¹¹ Alliance Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.

Abstract

A primary barrier to translation of clinical research discoveries into care delivery and population health is the lack of sustainable infrastructure bringing researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and communities together to reduce silos in knowledge and action. As National Institutes of Health's (NIH) mechanism to advance translational research, Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) awardees are uniquely positioned to bridge this gap. Delivering on this promise requires sustained collaboration and alignment between research institutions and public health and healthcare programs and services. We describe the collaboration of seven CTSA hubs with city, county, and state healthcare and public health organizations striving to realize this vision together. Partnership representatives convened monthly to identify key components, common and unique themes, and barriers in academic-public collaborations. All partnerships aligned the activities of the CTSA programs with the needs of the city/county/state partners, by sharing resources, responding to real-time policy questions and training needs, promoting best practices, and advancing community-engaged research, and dissemination and implementation science to narrow the knowledge-to-practice gap. Barriers included competing priorities, differing timelines, bureaucratic hurdles, and unstable funding. Academic-public health/health system partnerships represent a unique and underutilized model with potential to enhance community and population health.

Keywords: Translational research; community engagement; implementation science; policy-relevant research; public health.

Abstract

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