Clinical and Translational Science Research Program
Clinical and Translational Science Research Program
How is this funding program different than the Clinical and Translational Science Pilot Program (CTSP)?
The institutions making up the NIH-funded network of CTSAs share a mission to turn observations into interventions to improve public health. Recently, the focus of the CTSAs has turned increasingly from translational research (TR) to translational science (TS). A study was done to explore the utility of a set of TS principles set forth by NCATS for distinguishing between TR and TS.
The CTSI is accepting applications for the 2025 Clinical and Translational Science Research Program Award, funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program. The goal of this award is to fund a highly meritorious interdisciplinary clinical and translational science (CTS) project that develops AI tools that advance health for all.
Successful translational science studies can emphasize specific clinical and translational research area, but must be designed to develop or test a translational science-directed hypothesis with potential for broader application that addresses a barrier to the progression of turning observations in the laboratory, clinic and community into interventions that improve the health of individuals or the population health. Through employing one or more translational science principles, a translational science-directed hypothesis should generate a scientific, operational, financial or administrative innovation that addresses longstanding challenges along the translational research pipeline, transforming the way that research is done, making it faster, more efficient and more impactful.
Funding per Award
Up to $125,000 annually for two years direct costs
Invited Full Application Due Date
November 19, 2025
Proposals must develop new concepts, methods, technologies or research practices that drive translational science, and should clearly identify the translational science challenges or barriers that their proposal addresses.
Proposed work must be innovative, equitable and generalizable.
Proposed work must be completed within two years. The NIH does not allow no cost extensions on these funds. Feasibility for completing the work within 24 months will be an important review criterion.
A successful translational science study:
- Is designed to develop or test a translational science-directed hypothesis that employs one or more translational science principles to generate a scientific, operational, financial or administrative innovation that addresses longstanding challenges in the translational research pipeline to make research faster, more efficient and more impactful.
- Addresses a barrier to turning observations in the laboratory, clinic and community into interventions that improve the health of individuals or the population health.
- Can emphasize specific clinical and translational research area but must have the potential for broader application
2025 Funded Projects
Project 1
AI-guided information retrieval and recommendation for clinical decision support. (MPI: Drs. Xia Ning and Courtney Hebert, Department of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine)
Project 2
Unleashing the Potential of Large Language Models for Clinical and Translational Science: Application to Addressing Unmet Social Needs of Patients (MPI: Drs. Macarius Donneyong, Huan Sun, and Yu Su, College of Pharmacy and College of Engineering)
Primary Contacts
Lang Li
Program Co-Director of the Clinical and Translational Science Research Program, Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics
Tanya Berger Wolf
Program Co-Director of the Clinical and Translational Science Research Program, Director of the Translational Data Analytics Institute and Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology
Jenny Grabmeier
Program Manager of the Clinical and Translational Science Research Program, Director of Research Strategy at the Translational Data Analytics Institute