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, according to Jennifer Kraschnewski, who directs CTSI.
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.
“This award shows our commitment to making sure the latest medical breakthroughs and clinical trials reach everyone, especially people in rural areas who are often left out of research,” said Kraschnewski, who is also the vice dean for research, clinical and translational science at the College of Medicine. “It allows us to accelerate the missions we’ve always been so passionate about: deepening community partnerships, harnessing emerging technologies, expanding implementation science and advancing discoveries into practice. This work would not be possible without an outstanding team, and I am grateful for the efforts of our CTSI staff, faculty and collaborating partners, as well as the support from the University, including the College of Medicine and the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research.”
The new award builds upon a highly successful period of growth and innovation for the institute. Over the past five years, the CTSI supported more than 150 pilot research projects, which generated over $254 million in follow-on funding — a 15.7-to-1 return on investment. The institute also played a vital role in developing the next generation of translational leaders by training dozens of mentored career development award (KL2) scholars and translational research (TL1) trainees and supporting over $25.6 million in funded implementation science grants.
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.
The work described above is supported by the NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences through award number UM1TR006339. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.