On Jul. 9, 2012, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced it had awarded a $65 million five year grant to University of Washington (UW) Institute of Translational Health Sciences to turn promising discoveries into patient care advances. The ITHS helps scientists accelerate the translation of research discoveries into practical applications to improve the health of the public. Researchers from all disciplines rely on ITHS for education, resources and services.

For the first time under ITHS, translational researchers from any domain could apply for small grants to collect pilot study data, call a research navigator for  help in finding clinical research resources, or engage expert services in biostatistics, biomedical informatics, and  preclinical research consulting. New research partnerships and networks have formed in the five-state Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho (WWAMI) region.

To help expose researchers to the latest practices in translational science, ITHS held a series of Lifelong Learning Seminars, many of which were webcast live to colleagues in the WWAMI region. The seminars have since been viewed by people from all over the world.  In five years, more than 5,000 people have obtained ITHS services, participated in its programs and received thousands of hours of expert consulting and support.

The next phase of ITHS development will also increase community engagement in translational research. In the WWAMI region, ITHS is starting research networks with clinical practices in rural areas, with tribal groups, and with Hispanic organizations that have shown an interest in research. Already some pilot projects have matched community members with a researcher.

The Institute of Translational Health Sciences was created in 2007 as part of the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards, a consortium aiming to transform the environment for translational research across the country. Locally, ITHS is a collaboration between the UW, Seattle Childrens Research Institute and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.