Retreat Kicks Off Planning for 2016-2021

With a focus on developing ideas and proposals to help shape its next grant proposal, UCSF’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) held its 7^th Annual Retreat on July 29^th at the Mission Bay Campus.

More than 200 UCSF leaders, faculty and staff, as well as representatives from partner organizations, took part in group discussions and collaborative idea development involving The Big Tent: CTSI 2016 NIH Renewal Proposal Launchpad, a novel proposal development tool enlisted to solicit creative ideas.

“The retreat marked a stimulating beginning to the process of crafting CTSI’s next five-year proposal to the NIH,” said Mini Kahlon, PhD, CTSI’s Deputy Director and CIO. “It’s critical that the diversity of the UCSF community and our partners is represented in this process, and the high-impact ideas and inspiration that emerged from the retreat will definitely inform proposal development that begins in January 2014.”

The event included wide-ranging perspectives on a number of key themes, including the need to break down silos in academia, improving research networking to promote multi-disciplinary collaboration, and big thinking around the potential for CTSI to have an impact at UCSF and beyond, said Lisa Schoonerman, Senior Program Manager at CTSI and a lead organizer of the retreat.

CTSI Director Clay Johnston, MD, PhD, set the stage with a presentation (View video) focused on opportunities and challenges for CTSI. View social media comments

Johnston then moderated a candid discussion (View video) on how CTSI can leverage UCSF’s strengths and the national Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) consortium to radically transform research? Panelists included Tony Coles, MD, CEO of Onyx Pharmaceuticals; Gary Firestein, MD, Director of the UC San Diego CTSI; Regis Kelly, PhD, Director of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3); Sharon Terry, President and CEO of Genetic Alliance; and Keith Yamamoto, PhD, Vice Chancellor of Research at UCSF. View social media comments about this discussion

Activity then centered around small group discussions on ten proposals selected from among the 23 proposals submitted via The Big Tent. Groups made up of participants with diverse perspectives answered several key questions, including how existing infrastructure at UCSF could support individual proposals, and posted comments in real time to The Big Tent open proposal opportunity for public viewing.

The day came to a close with a compelling panel (View video) of UCSF leaders who explored how initiatives submitted via The Big Tent aligned with and complemented UCSF strategies. The group discussion included audience feedback in response to comments from Jeff Bluestone, PhD, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, and deans of the five UCSF schools – John Featherstone, PhD (Dentistry); Sam Hawgood, MBBS (Medicine); David Vlahov, RN, PhD, FAAN (Nursing); Joe Guglielmo, PharmD (Pharmacy); and Elizabeth Watkins, PhD (Graduate Division). View social media comments about this discussion

“The use of the UCSF Open Proposals platform was very effective in engaging the attendees around high-impact ideas,” said Sam Hawgood, MBBS, Dean of the UCSF School of Medicine. “On a broader level, the retreat served as a catalyst to increase the impact of our research, from basic science discoveries into the community.”

As a follow up to the retreat, CTSI recognized the most valuable comments resulting from the small group discussions with awards to participating group members:

• 1^st place - Open Data: Group members included Karen Butter, Denni Cawley, Anirvan Chatterjee, Deborah Grady, Kevin Grumbach, John Heldens, Jeff Newman, James Rouse, and Aria Yow. Proposal submitted by Kevin Grumbach. View comments
• 2^nd place - "Speed-Networking" to Drive Novel Translational Research Connections. Group members included Jeff Bluestone, Claire Brindis, Christine Des Jarlais, John Featherstone, Gail Fisher, Sally Mead, Cameron Murray, Renee Navarro, Sarah Paris, and Deanna Sheeley. Proposal submitted by Gail Fisher. View comments

Additionally, select proposals from The Big Tent open proposal process will be awarded small planning grants in September to support further development of ideas.

At the retreat, CTSI also announced that it has launched two new efforts to track its progress: a dashboard focused on the Institute's Aims & Metrics; and infographics highlighting program accomplishments, as well as how CTSI is enabling translational science and building innovative partnerships.

UCSF's CTSI is a member of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards network funded through the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (grant Number UL1 TR000004) at the National Institutes of Health. Under the banner of "Accelerating Research to Improve Health," CTSI provides a wide range of resources and services for researchers, and promotes online collaboration and networking tools such as UCSF Profiles.