About Us

Stanford University School of Medicine’s Clinical and Translational Research Unit (CTRU) is the institute’s research-focused, ambulatory care, and laboratory services group.

Our mission is to accelerate translational research with a patient-focused goal of better health and science.

The CTRU collaborates and engages with academia and industry sponsors to advance research and patient care while maintaining a positive, competent, and compassionate research unit to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and care.

The CTRU provides research support that accelerates development and validation of novel therapeutics, bedside diagnostics, and other medical applications by improving the way clinical and translational research is conducted.

On average, the center supports over 350 clinical research studies annually for more than 200 faculty members. The studies stretch across multiple medical disciplines, and many are first-in-human trials, with novel therapies that have been discovered and developed at Stanford.

The CTRU supports research services in multiple locations, with the primary research clinic on Welch Road which is near Stanford Medicine, Health Care, and Children’s Health. The phlebotomy and lab services are also collocated to maximize same-day clinical trial services, while more advanced cellular isolations and other novel methodologies for specimen processing are located offsite.

Additional Resources

Study Registration

Interested in starting a study? Learn more about the tools and resources available to help get your study registered and launched with the CTRU, including accessing our online portal and learning about our overall process.

Supported by NIH-NCATS-CTSA

The CTRU is supported by the Stanford CTSA Award from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS), a component of the National Institutes of Health. Please cite the NIH-NCATS-CTSA grant # 5UL1TR003142.