Duke receives $60 million NIH grant to push translation of research into health benefits

Duke's Clinical and Translational Science Institute will soon receive a windfall of funding. 

Thanks to a five-year grant totaling more than $60 million via the Clinical and Translational Science Awards program from the National Institutes of Health, Duke CTSI will continue its mission to bridge the gap between basic and clinical research. 

“With the NIH’s support, Duke CTSA will continue to lead in translating research discoveries into health benefits,”  said A. Eugene Washington, chancellor for health affairs and president and CEO of Duke University Health System, in a press release Monday. “And we are gratified that the many distinguished achievements and significant contributions of our faculty, staff and trainees are recognized through this renewed investment.” 

This is the third such grant Duke has received, with the previous two coming in 2006 and 2013. The 2013 renewal totaled $47 million. Past funding from the award has already helped to train more than 30 individuals in translational science and resulted in 200 peer-reviewed publications.

The new grant will be used to fund collaborations between Duke's CTSI and and North Carolina Central University. The two schools started a five-year partnership in September 2017 that will focus on community engagement, translational research development and workforce development. The funding will also help bring laboratory discoveries to the early clinical trial phase, in addition to applying biostatistical and informatics tools to research.

“Moving forward, we will also develop new tools for faculty, staff and students to help them identify training and career advancement opportunities, to access data at Duke and to improve their connectivity to numerous research opportunities across Duke,” said L. Ebony Boulware, vice dean of translational sciences and one of three principal investigators of the grant, in the release.