By Maria Iacobo
The University of Southern California (USC) has received a $56.8 million Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support and promote scientific discoveries and their application in direct patient care.
The award, to be distributed over five years, was given to the USC-based Los Angeles Basin Clinical and Translational Science Institute (LAB-CTSI), which was established in 2006 to connect basic scientists to clinical and community practitioners in an effort to accelerate the translation of laboratory discoveries into practice.
Alexander Capron, the Scott H. Bice Chair in Healthcare, Law and Ethics at USC Law, is director of CTSI’s Research Ethics Program and will work with researchers and community practitioners to ensure that new discoveries will be applicable to patients.
“Specifically, we will focus on the ethical issues that arise in ‘first-use-in-humans’ and on trying to ensure that community needs and realities influence the choice of areas to pursue as well as the design of research projects, so that in the end, the research translates into products and practices that are of value to the community,” said Prof. Capron. “This is especially important in Los Angeles County, where our population is so ethnically and economically varied.”
Faculty from eight USC schools and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles will partner with Kaiser Permanente Southern California, the Los Angeles County departments of Health Services and Mental Health, the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County, and more than 30 community health organizations to address the specific needs of the diverse, urban populations found in the county.
“The creation of the CTSI is a matter of ethical as well as practical importance,” says Capron. “Reconceptualizing clinical research to ensure that discoveries translate into real improvements in the lives of patients reflects the ethical premise that our collective scientific and financial resources should be used so as to maximize health benefit for everyone in our society. Beyond looking at the ethics of clinical trials, the research ethics program within the CTSI aims to promote our ethical commitment to health research that truly makes a difference in people’s lives.”
The Principal investigator for the LAB-CTSI is Thomas A. Buchanan,M.D., associate dean for clinical research at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
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