Welcome to Spectrum!

In this issue of Stanford Spectrum News, we are pleased to introduce two more of our cores, Community and Collaboration, and Hub Research Capacity. 

Spectrum, Stanford’s Center for Clinical and Translational Research and Education, provides researchers, scientists, and doctors from the School of Medicine and across the entire University with services that support, sustain, and enhance their work. Organized into 10 interconnected cores, these services are sponsored by the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).

“Our goal is to make the Spectrum CTSA as effective and efficient as possible at discovering and implementing data- and metrics-driven strategies to serve Stanford’s research community, as well as the health needs of individuals and populations,” explains Senior Associate Dean of Research Dr. Ruth O’Hara, Spectrum’s Principal Investigator and Director.

Community and Collaboration Core

Effective translation of discoveries into the population demands a broad-based connection between our communities and the Spectrum clinical and translational research (CTR) enterprise. The Community and Collaboration Core aims to further build CTR capacity among community partners and our researchers by developing and evaluating novel ways to conduct such bidirectional research.

Within this core, the Community Engagement Program aims to ensure that patients, communities, and other stakeholders are partners in our translational research activities—effectively translating discoveries into the population by focusing on the broad-based connection between our communities and our CTR enterprise.

In addition, the Collaboration and Multidisciplinary Team Science program uses evidence-based, shared resources and services to 1) promote productive team dynamics on and off campus, and 2) make meaningful and actionable contributions to the science of Team Science. The program develops educational programs for our CTR workforce and offers consulting services for our investigators and their partners.

HUB Research Capacity

The Hub Research Capacity Core ensures that our conduct of clinical research is of the highest quality, while being compliant, ethical, sustainable, and efficient. This core coordinates approaches and consortia partners to integrate our research objectives into the healthcare needs of our many special populations. Those include children, children with chronic diseases who survive into adulthood, pregnant women, the elderly, the underserved, people with rare diseases, and those with health issues related to racial, economic, or ethnic factors specific to rural or urban lifestyles.

Please visit the Cores and Programs section of the Spectrum website for more information. Read about additional cores in our in our next issue!