September 27, 2012

VU Research Studio Program lauded at AAMC meeting

Vanderbilt University’s Clinical and Translational Research Studio program has won the Award with Distinction for Innovations in Research Training and Education from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Vanderbilt University’s Clinical and Translational Research Studio program has won the Award with Distinction for Innovations in Research Training and Education from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Studios are interactive roundtable discussions with relevant experts from diverse academic disciplines that help Vanderbilt researchers refine their research questions and hypotheses, develop better and more rigorous study designs, secure grant funding, improve study implementation and analysis, and facilitate translation of findings into publication, clinical practice and policy.

The lead innovator receiving the award was Robert Dittus, M.D., MPH, the Albert and Bernard Werthan Chair in Medicine and associate vice chancellor for Public Health and Health Care.

“The collaborative scientific culture at Vanderbilt allows this type of program to flourish and have great impact,” said Dittus, whose colleagues in the Studio program include Daniel Byrne, M.S., Italo Biaggioni, M.D., Gordon Bernard, M.D., Tara Helmer, MPH, Leslie Boone, MPH, Jill Pulley, MBA, and Terri Edwards, R.N.

The award was presented in Nashville last week during the joint annual meeting of the AAMC’s Groups on Research Advancement and Development and Graduate Research Education and Training.

At a poster session, leaders in research training and education from across the country praised the Studio concept and discussed establishing similar programs in their own institutions.

The Studio is a service of the Vanderbilt Institute of Clinical and Translational Research, which administers Vanderbilt’s NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award (grant number 2UL1TR000445).