Mike's Blog

By: Audie Atienza, Ph.D., NCATS Program Officer; Sanae ElShourbagy Ferreira, Ph.D., NCATS Health Specialist; and Michael G. Kurilla, M.D., Ph.D., NCATS Director of the Division of Clinical Innovation While SARS-CoV-2 has demonstrated remarkable tenacity in terms of successfully navigating pharmaceutical as well as non-pharmaceutical interventions with waves of new variants throughout this pandemic

First a bit on COVID, then a small request. COVID will surely provide a wealth of material for future Monday morning armchair quarterbacking. One aspect (among many) of the overall public health response that has received harsh and severe criticism has been the approach, style, and substance of communications with the general public. From the WHO’s early tagline of ‘we have no evidence’ to the

A publication in Science Translational Medicine from last month, ‘Undiagnosed SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States’ is noteworthy for several highlights. Beyond the science of the article itself, the fact that this work represents the efforts of two CTSAs (University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for Clinical and Translational Science

Public health now has a 3rd arrow in its quiver in the form of another COVID vaccine. The J&J vaccine is the first to offer a single dose with refrigeration requirements suitable for a wider array of health care settings. All that said, vaccine hesitancy remains an obstacle to an effective public health response. In this regard, CTSAs are playing a critical role in addressing public concerns about

The CTSA Program strives to deliver scientific and system changes that solve the many outstanding problems limiting the efficiency, effectiveness, and reach of clinical translational research, and thus get more treatments to more patients more quickly across the country. As the largest clinical translational science network and as an exemplar to team science, NCATS envisions the CTSA Program

We have arrived in 2021, hopeful for scientific advances to curb this pandemic once and for all. Our preparedness and readiness have been crucial in the development and implementation of several clinical trials leading the way in identifying safe and effective therapies and diagnostics for COVID-19. During this process we have witnessed incredible levels of innovation and adaptation, from the N3C

We have now completed a full cycle of virtual CTSA Program meetings where we had the opportunity to share each other’s presence – from a healthy and safe distance. Remarkably, during such a challenging year, we have managed to remain engaged and maintain quality and participation in our meetings under these “new normal” virtual gatherings. Summarizing a meeting with so many highlights is no easy

As COVID-19 continues as a top priority at all levels of our research enterprise, finding strategies to contain the spread of the virus and better treat the disease and its complications remains paramount. RADx-UP is an NIH initiative to support the development of community-engaged projects across the United States to assess and expand COVID-19 testing for underserved and/or vulnerable populations

As fall begins and with multiple promising treatment approaches to improve outcomes in COVID-19 coming to light, it is of critical need to rapidly implement trials to further study and confirm (or reject) these preliminary findings through well-designed randomized controlled clinical trials. As such, the resources, infrastructure and expertise throughout the CTSA consortium – including our Trial

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rampage across the globe and now some nations previously lauded for their infection control practice are seeing a resurgence, along with emerging science suggesting not only a very low infectious dose, but also efficient asymptomatic transmission, the focus on COVID interventions both treatment and prevention is heating up. Across the United States, several

During the past several months (there are times when the weeks feel like days and then others when the days feel like months), we have been working to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic by creating a centralized, secure, cloud-based clinical data portal. To this end, NCATS recently launched the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) to build a centralized national data resource that focuses

Spring has come and gone, and we find ourselves at the official start of Summer in a just few days. With the relativity of time now having been tested for several months by our distancing measures as well as our circadian rhythms being completely discombobulated (how many others long to be re-combobulated?) due to continuous and consistent telework, our CTSA Fall Program meeting is suddenly on the

Our CTSA Consortium resources, capabilities, expertise, and innovative thinking are critical in responding to the worst pandemic since HIV. The fast-evolving nature of this crisis requires readily available and deployable capabilities throughout the country. As such, our Consortium stands strong and ready to work collaboratively in identifying resources, expertise and promising scientific advances

There is a wise adage that: “what gets measured can be improved”. The process of translating science to improve health is full of inefficiencies including areas where slight improvements could have a large effect in helping expedite the discovery, development, demonstration and dissemination of scientific advances. Accrual in clinical trials is an area that has been recognized by NIH and other