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The Michigan Clinical Research Collaboratory: Following the NIH Roadmap to the Community

Department of Family Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Thomas L. Schwenk, MD, Department of Family Medicine, 1500 E Medical Center Dr, L2003 Women’s, Box 0239, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0239, tschwenk{at}umich.edu

PURPOSE This case study describes a successful National Institutes of Health (NIH) Roadmap application that has created a new and innovative translational science partnership at the University of Michigan.

METHODS We describe the institution within which the grant application was developed, the role played by the Department of Family Medicine, the role of prior successes in translational and community-based research, the associated infrastructure development, the application development process, and some features of the final project.

RESULTS A partnership among 2 clinical and research centers of excellence at the University of Michigan, 3 practice-based research networks, and a clinical research center was created as the platform to support an NIH Roadmap. The result was a funded $3.3 million, 3-year project supporting the creation of the Michigan Clinical Research Collaboratory (MCRC), a research infrastructure that will support the design, conduct, and dissemination of community-based clinical translation research. The MCRC depends to a considerable degree on the experience, expertise, and infrastructure in community-based translational research of the Department of Family Medicine.

CONCLUSIONS The successful funding of the MCRC grant will support influential translational research programs of high impact and visibility that would not otherwise have occurred. The MCRC grant is an acknowledgment of the important research to be done in the community, the critical nature of infrastructure investment and prior work in competing successfully for such funding, and the personnel and information technology investments required for success. Collaboration between practice-based family medicine investigators and traditional clinical investigators at the University of Michigan has led to successful competition for an NIH Roadmap grant, which has led in turn to greater institutional recognition for the importance and legitimacy of community-based translational research.

Key Words: Translational research • practice-based research • NIH Roadmap • academic medical centers • collaboration • family medicine • primary care • community health care

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