Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at Penn State College of Medicine recently received a seven-year, $28.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The funding will help the institute pioneer scalable models to solve health challenges in rural areas and turn medical discoveries into real-world treatments.
This project aims to develop innovative programming that will reach communities with limited access to healthcare and research opportunities. The project goals also include applying artificial intelligence (AI) and biomedical data sciences to integrate clinical and research data to better serve the needs of rural communities and to better represent rural communities in clinical trials.
A primary goal of this new funding is to strengthen the Rural Clinical Research Network — an expansive, collaborative infrastructure designed to reduce barriers to multi-site clinical trials and improve rural engagement in research. Within this structure, the CTSI will establish a novel Learning Community Health Network (LCHN). Grounded in the principles of a continuous learning health system, the LCHN will bring partner organizations together to collectively identify obstacles to research participation and co-create, implement, and disseminate research projects that advance rural health.