Clinical and Translational Science Institute
Advancing today’s discoveries to improve health for all.

CCTS Receives CHOIR Award

The Ohio State University Center for Clinical and Translational Science Recruitment and Retention program was granted the Catalyze and Harmonize Operational Innovation for Recruitment (CHOIR) award for $31,500. This 5-year grant from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) and from Vanderbilt University will allow us to continue supporting the Trial Innovation Network operating as the Recruitment Innovation Center.

CHOIR will allow us to harness and harmonize expertise from many expert stakeholder groups (e.g. community engagement, informatics, recruitment and retention, evaluation, health equity and many more) to create real-world solutions in support of rigorous, reproducible research designed to improve human health.

Mary Becker, Recruitment and Retention Program Manager, states that she is excited to get started on the new aims of this project by making efforts to connect with the community and share the message of the importance of participating in research. Dr. Michael Para, The Ohio State University’s CCTS Director of Regulatory and Recruitment, says that “Mary and her team work relentlessly to ensure that research teams here and from Nationwide Children’s Hospital, have the tools and resources they need to be successful in their recruitment efforts and this award will give them additional resources to continue that important work.”

If you are interested in participating in a clinical trial at Ohio State, visit StudySearch. If you want researchers to reach out to you, create an account at ResearchMatch and be matched with trials that you may be a good fit for!

If you recently received funding and don’t know where to start recruiting, reach out to our Recruitment and Retention team at Mary.Becker@osumc.edu  and Clara.Kalis@osumc.edu.

Julie Johnson, PharmD, is the Director and Principal Investigator at The Ohio State University Clinical and Translational Science Institute. 

CDME M4 Lab Collaborative

M4 Lab Collaborative (CDME)  is a core service available under the CCTS Voucher Program. Engineering and clinical experts work collaboratively to find innovative solutions for real-world needs in clinical medicine. 

M4 offers engineering services to assist clinicians in translating their needs into healthcare solutions. The team of biomedical, mechanical, materials, electrical, software and quality engineers support the design, testing and fabrication of medical products for user, animal and cadaver studies. M4 works with customers to advance their research tool, medical device, diagnostic, therapeutic and other medically based innovations to drive outcomes that change clinical practice, enhance patient care and improve patient health. They design with the regulatory pathway in mind and are familiar with the clinical trial process, thus leading to outcomes that take innovations from “bench-to-bedside” to improve health outcomes. M4 has a diverse portfolio of projects supporting clients with a wide spectrum of healthcare product types, including surgical tools, implantable electromechanical devices, wound care, diagnostic testing devices, therapeutic devices and surgical training/pre-planning tools. 

Visualization of a healthcare product design using applicable design tools for translation into a prototype is a key step in the product development cycle. Customers bring projects to M4 in various development stages (idea, sketch, non-functional prototype or unrefined alpha prototype) for the development and refinement of that design. M4 offers design tools such as artistic renderings, computer-aided-design (CAD) images, functional and non-functional prototypes via additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing) and other agile fabrication methods. Their additive manufacturing equipment can produce items using polymers, biomaterials, continuous fiber composite and metals and they have full machining capability to work with nearly any material required. 

The scope of CDME capabilities in medical product development includes:  

  • Translation of user requirements and proving feasibility with fabrication of demonstration units 
  • Design refinement for functionality, manufacturability and assembly 
  • Design of injection molded, machined and additive prototype units to prove out the design and manufacturing methods 
  • Prototype fabrication for user demonstrations or animal and cadaver studies 

New product and process functional prototyping is a core competency of M4. CDME houses or has access to resources required to create fully operational prototypes. In addition to design and fabrication, CDME houses several mechanical and electrical testing systems which are utilized in testing of client projects. They also have access to testing systems throughout the university to support prototype testing. 

More information on CDME

Julie Johnson, PharmD, is the Director and Principal Investigator at The Ohio State University Clinical and Translational Science Institute. 

Former KL2 Scholar Receives METAvivor Research Award

Mathew Cherian, MBBS, assistant professor of Internal Medicine and medical oncologist who specializes in the treatment of breast cancer, received a METAvivor Research Award to fund his research to help treat metastatic breast cancer. Dr. Cherian’s work aims to determine the potential of a new class of drugs called sulfatase 2 inhibitors to treat metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, prolong patient survival and improve their quality of life.

METAvivor's research mission is twofold: to increase awareness about the funding discrepancy that shortchanges metastatic research in the cancer world, and to directly fund the metastatic research. METAvivor awards grants for research projects that have the potential to shift metastatic breast cancer from a terminal disease to a chronic condition people can live with. Dr. Cherian’s grant from METAvivor will further propel his research around design of therapies to improve outcomes of those with metastatic breast cancer.

Dr. Cherian was a KL2 scholar at the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) from June 2019 to May 2022. The KL2 program supports the career development of investigators who have made a commitment to conduct either patient-oriented or translational research. To date, the CCTS has helped fund 40 investigators through the KL2 program since 2009 as they develop successful clinical and translational science careers.

Read Dr. Cherin’s abstract report of his research

Julie Johnson, PharmD, is the Director and Principal Investigator at The Ohio State University Clinical and Translational Science Institute. 

High Impact Specialized Innovation Programs in Clinical and Translational Science for UM1 CTSA Hub Awards (RC2 Clinical Trials Optional)

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) has the unique charge of examining the translational research ecosystem at a systems level to determine where common pitfalls exist in the translational process and develop innovative solutions that will ultimately benefit research across a range of diseases and conditions. This disease-agnostic approach to enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of all translational research is known as translational science, which focuses on building the evidence base for effective scientific and operational approaches in translational research. NCATS conducts and supports research in the science of translation to discover the scientific, mechanistic and operational principles of the intervention development and dissemination processes, thereby providing the scientific foundation for improvements in translational efficiency that will accelerate the realization of interventions that improve human health.

The purpose of the High Impact Specialized Innovation Programs (SIPs) is to support unique activities, resources, capabilities and/or expertise at awarded Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) UM1 hubs, such as The Ohio State University’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS), to help advance one or more of the NCATS CTSA Program goals. The SIPs initiative is envisioned as part of the current innovation ecosystem to support the generation of a research resource and/or foster discovery-based or hypothesis-generating science that can have a significant impact in Clinical and Translational Science (CTS).

This FOA seeks to support novel approaches in areas that address specific knowledge gaps, scientific opportunities, new technologies/platforms, data generation and/or analysis or novel research methods that will advance CTS and Clinical and Translational Research (CTR) at CTSA UM1 hubs. Resources, activities and expertise supported through the RC2 mechanism are expected to be available to enhance the development and demonstration activities or projects within a CTSA hub. These include utilization of resources, expertise, tools and platforms for pilot projects, research projects and other CTS activities within hubs.

Examples of SIPs areas in clinical and translational science include, but are not limited to, digital health, decentralized clinical trials, pragmatic trials, artificial intelligence/machine learning algorithms, point-of-care clinical decision support systems, data science and statistical methods, real-world data and real-world evidence, innovative clinical trial designs, genetics and genomics. In addition, novel strategies and/or approaches for dissemination and implementation, health for all, clinical informatics, biostatistics, community outreach and engagement, regulatory science, telehealth and other areas of need for specialized programs.

Contact Us

Please contact Tiffany Bernard with any questions regarding this internal competition.

Email

Tiffany.Bernard@osumc.edu

Access the submission application
Learn more about the RC2 mechanism

Julie Johnson, PharmD, is the Director and Principal Investigator at The Ohio State University Clinical and Translational Science Institute. 

Clinical and Translational Science Research Program (CTSR)

Clinical and Translational Science Research Program (CTSR)

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.

Funding per Award

Up to $125,000 annually for two years direct costs

Pre-Application Due Date

October 3, 2025

 

Award Period

August 1, 2026 - August 1, 2028

The CTSR Program funds a clinical and translational science (CTS) project that develops AI tools that advance health for all. 

View the full RFA

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​​.
Read More About Translational Science Principals

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)

How is this funding program different than the Clinical and Translational Science Pilot Program (CTSP)? 

The CTSR Program funds a clinical and translational science (CTS) project that develops AI tools that advance health for all. 

The CTSP Program funds research for the development of preliminary data to enable researchers to be competitive in applying for extramural funding that advances clinical and translational science.

Research project(s) funded through the CTSA should not only address a translational research question in a particular disease or intervention development/dissemination context, but also provide generalizable translational science (TS) innovations or insights that can be applied to other translational research projects and thereby increase the overall efficiency or effectiveness of translation. 

The project should generate innovation(s) that overcome challenges in the translational research pipeline making it faster, more efficient and more impactful. Research strategies in the proposed project should be characterized by the translational science principles.

Read the study here to help understand the difference between translational science and translational research

Primary Contacts

Lang Li

Program Co-Director of the Clinical and Translational Science Research Program, Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics

Email

Lang.Li@osumc.edu

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

Email

berger-wolf.1@osu.edu

Jenny Grabmeier

Program Manager of the Clinical and Translational Science Research Program, Director of Research Strategy at the Translational Data Analytics Institute

Email

grabmeier.3@osu.edu

Data Sources

woman shares data on a tv screen to a group of individuals sitting at a board room table

Data Sources

In collaboration with data core resources and services throughout The Ohio State University, CTSI provides investigators, trainees and research staff at the Ohio State and Nationwide Children’s Hospital opportunities to access various data sources, many of which are showcased here.

Not sure where to start?

Use this tool to self-assess your data needs and matching data sources.
Research Data Source Match
Woman working on computer in a lab

Administrative Databases

Administrative/Billing databases are large and complex databases which offer near limitless possibilities to study research questions. While they can have their shortcomings, the flexibility, size and scope make them ideal candidates for many study questions.

Medicare health insurance envelope

CMS Standard Analytic Files

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Standard Analytic Files (SAFs) contain inpatient, outpatient, skilled nursing facility and Hospice data for millions of publicly insured individuals across the United States.

Two people reviewing data

IBM MarketScan

IBM's MarketScan contains de-identified inpatient, outpatient, skilled nursing facility and drug billing data for millions of privately insured individuals across the United States.

Nurse using laptop and calculator

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) is a collection of healthcare databases that were developed through a Federal-State-Industry partnership and contain a large collection of longitudinal hospital care data

Electronic Health Record (EHR) Databases

EHR based databases extract data directly from electronic health records in medical institutions. 

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center EHR 

At Ohio State, the primary data source for EHR data is the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center EHR data housed in Epic databases. The clinical data for all patients of the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center from year 2011 onwards is extracted, transformed and loaded periodically to Epic Clarity and Caboodle Databases. This data, in addition to being operationally used, is available for research via Honest Brokers, with IRB and Honest Broker Committee approval. Researchers can submit an Honest Broker request using Data Request Form.

For any questions regarding this process, please contact Honest Broker Operations Committee (hboc_admin@osumc.edu)

Other EHR-Based Databases

The below resources can offer data to answer similar research questions with varying levels of accessibility, scope and flexibility.

Medical symbols over a laptop

Epic Cosmos

Limited data set of data provided by participating organizations (including Ohio State Wexner Medical Center) to EPIC that is continuously updated including electronic health records of hundreds of millions of patients. 

Man downloading files on computer

LifeScale

LifeScale is an Ohio State-specific, honest-broker mediated, coded-limited database developed through a partnership of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. LifeScale core data is based on the electronic medical record data from these institutions.

USA flag and Ohio flag

PCORnet CDM

The Ohio State University is part of Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) funded National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet) with ~75 academic medical centers and health systems that are grouped into eight Clinical Research Networks (CRNs) spread all over the United States. 

 

Cancer Databases

various cancer ribbons

National Cancer Database (NCDB)

The National Cancer Database is a clinical oncology database sourced from hospital registries in over 1500 accredited cancer facilities. As such it is a good resource for researchers looking to study a particular cancer population.

Young couple with woman that has cancer

Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)

Developed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) this program captures incidence of cancer and survival in the U.S., collects data from cancer registries representing about 48% of the population and contains demographic, clinical and treatment characteristics and survival outcomes.

Cancer database

Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN)

ORIEN is a unique alliance to integrate “big data” and data sharing for cancer research and care. ORIEN was founded by The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and Moffitt Cancer Center in May 2014 and now includes 19 member institutions.

Cancer Registries

The registries below facilitate research in various cancer study areas.

Hairy Cell Leukemia Patient Data Registry (HCL-PDR)

Hairy Cell Leukemia Patient Data Registry enables researchers to study hairy cell leukemia in ways not previously possible given the rarity of the disease. Through the registry, multiple institutions around the world collect clinical data from HCL patient medical records. The HCL-PDR helps researchers identify new trends in patient outcomes, discover previously unknown complications of the disease and design clinical trials for new therapies until a cure is discovered.

The Ohio State PCORnet CDM Tumor Table

The Ohio State PCORnet Tumor Table is directly populated from the data collected in the Ohio State Medical Comprehensive Cancer Center and formatted according to the standards developed by the North American Association of Certified Cancer Registrars (NAACCR). Each record in the table represents a single tumor. This limited subset of the Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center tumor registry is integrated into and can be requested from The Ohio State University PCORnet CDM.

Other Nationwide Data Sources

Map with pushpin in Ohio

Ohio State Federal Statistics Research Data

The Federal Statistics Research Data Center (FSRDC) is a collaboration with the U.S. Census Bureau to provide access to restricted individual and firm-level data from federal statistical agencies. The FSRDC provides access to many restricted-access datasets.

All of Us Research Program

All of Us

The NIH’s All of Us Research Program is one of the largest biomedical data resources with health data from a large group of participants from across the United States. 

Person typing at computer

National (Nationwide) Inpatient Sample (NIS)

As a member of the HCUP family of databases, National (Nationwide) Inpatient Sample (NIS) is the largest publicly available all-payer inpatient healthcare database in the United States providing national estimates of hospital inpatient stays. 

Person using search engine

Nationwide Readmissions Database (NRD)

As a member of the HCUP family of databases, Nationwide Readmission Database (NRD) is a powerful database designed to support different types of analyses involving national readmission rates for all payers and the uninsured.

Emergency Department

Nationwide Emergency Department Sample Database (NEDS)

Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) is a powerful database designed to support different types of analyses involving all-payer hospital-owned emergency department visits. NEDS is a part of the family of databases developed for HCUP.

Kid in the hospital

Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID)

Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID) is a database designed to support different types of analyses involving national hospital stays for patients younger than 21. This database contains pediatric discharges of all payers (covered by Medicaid or private insurance) as well as those who are uninsured. KID is a part of the family of databases developed for HCUP.

Kid in the hospital

Nationwide Ambulatory Surgery Sample (NASS)

Nationwide Ambulatory Surgery Sample, one of the databases developed as part of HCUP, contains clinical and resource-use information from hospitals about major ambulatory surgery encounters.

Need Data Support? Ask the Data Navigator.

The Ohio State University offers numerous data sources for researchers, but effectively navigating these resources can be daunting. To assist faculty and staff in this process our Data Navigator acts as the first point of contact. The Data Navigator provides a high-level explanation of regulatory and institutional processes regarding these databases, identifies potential collaborators and addresses initial data-related questions. The navigator helps clarify requests, coordinates efforts and links investigators with domain experts for different data sources.

Contact the Data Navigator

Join a Study

Join a Study

Scientists and researchers are looking for volunteers like you to participate in clinical trials.

Clinical trials are key to developing new methods to prevent, find and treat all types of diseases. It is through clinical trials that scientists can find out if new treatments are safe and effective and work better than current treatments.

Medical advances are only possible if people participate in research. By joining a clinical trial, you actively contribute to medical advancements and scientific progress that impacts the lives of many. 

Visit StudySearch to connect with a study that is right for you

Clinical Trial FAQ

Biomedical Informatics Department (BMI)

Blue Buffalo Veterinary Clinical Trials Office

Campus Chemical Instrument Center (CCIC) NMR Facility

Subscribe to