Director's Corner

Dear CCTSI research community,

At the CCTSI, we are serious about continuous quality improvement. Every year, we provide dozens of trainings, mock study sections, and short courses. If you participate in any of these offerings, we ask that you take a brief evaluative survey afterwards so we may understand your experience of taking the course. We also want to hear innovative ideas for improvement. This evaluative process is an important component of best practices and is also a requirement of the grant we receive from NCATS/NIH. So, the next time you receive a link or QR code for an evaluation survey, please complete it! We keep these surveys as short as possible. 

Along those lines, every year we send a customer satisfaction survey to users of our Clinical Translational Research Centers (CTRCs). Investigators and their clinical support staff use these CTRCs to conduct their research. Resources available within the CTRCs include nutrition, laboratory, nursing, cardiovascular bioimaging, exercise facilities, and so much more. If you use these clinical research units, you should have already received a link to the evaluation. Please complete the survey, which we use to allocate resources and equipment among the sites and services offered. Doing so will help make our CTRCs better for everyone who participates in and conducts clinical research there.

Last month, we held our 13th annual collaboration conference called the CU-CSU Summit which brings together faculty, trainees and staff from CU Anschutz, CU Boulder, CU Denver, Colorado State University and our partner hospitals. The topic was Chronic Disease Frontiers: Colorado Approach to Causes, Prevention, and Treatment. We held the event at the CSU Spur campus at the National Western Center in Denver, and the space was filled to capacity. Early-career faculty, senior researchers and professional research staff joined together from all CCTSI partner institutions to see the highlighted presentations from each campus, hear the lightning talks and peruse the poster session. If you were unable to attend, you will find more information on the event in our CCTSI newsroom.

As we launch into this new academic year, clinical translational scientists face numerous challenges. Nevertheless, I look ahead with a sense of optimism. At the CCTSI, we will continue in our mission to support you with the highest quality research infrastructure, facilities and services, pilot grants, and numerous educational trainings to help you perform research that will ultimately improve patient care and public health. My optimism for all of this is fueled by something I believe all researchers share: the joy of discovery and making an impact. 

All the best,
Ron