Earlier this year, when the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Medical Center were awarded a $22 million Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) by the National Institutes of Health to create the Harold and Muriel Block Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at Einstein and Montefiore (ICTR), an overarching goal was established to collaboratively expedite the transfer of research discoveries to patient care. In conjunction with its goal, the ICTR sponsored a day-long symposium on Friday, November 14, at Einstein's Michael F. Price Center for Genetic and Translational Medicine/ Harold and Muriel Block Research Pavilion. Throughout the day, more than 150 people attended the symposium, highlighting the Einstein-Montefiore community's recognition of the importance of translational research.

Entitled Bridging the Translational Divides, the symposium focused on elucidating the bidirectional opportunities that exist for investigators in the Einstein community. With that in mind, Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., The Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean of Einstein, spent the day in active discussions with chairs of departments, center directors, and the ICTR leadership, addressing a trio of broad translational themes — Bench to Bedside and Back Again; Bridging Laboratory and Population Sciences; and Research in Patients, Practices, and Communities. These themes were central to keynote speeches delivered by invited national leaders within translational research, as well as select research presentations from some of Einstein's leading faculty. (Please see additional details on these presentations below.)

In addition, the work of students, postdocs, residents, fellows, and junior faculty representing many facets of research at Einstein and Montefiore were featured in a poster session attended by the College of Medicine's senior faculty and philanthropists who are members of Einstein's Men's Division. The event also included the ceremonial awarding of a white coat by Dr. Spiegel to U.S. Congressman, the Honorable Joseph Crowley, in recognition of his longstanding support of Einstein's research programs.

"The Symposium broke new ground for us," said Harry Shamoon, M.D., director of the Harold and Muriel Block Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at Einstein and Montefiore, as well as professor of medicine and associate dean for clinical and translational research at Einstein. "It was not an accident that a breathtaking range of people and scientific disciplines were invited to present and attend. The translational bridges that must be built between and among our investigators, our philanthropists, our community, and our public officials require mutual respect and authentic partnerships."

He added, "As Dean Spiegel stated in our Strategic Research Plan, 'Translational research poses a great challenge to institutions everywhere seeking closer integration between basic and clinical research. The public expects that just as research over the past decades has improved human health and led to such medical miracles as organ transplantation, so translational research in the genome era will fundamentally change the way medicine is practiced.'"

At Einstein and Montefiore, the mission of the ICTR is to enhance the discipline of clinical and translational research by promoting multidisciplinary collaboration, addressing obstacles to conducting translational research, providing infrastructure and collaborative support, and enhancing training, education, and career development, as part of the national CTSA consortium. The CTSA currently consists of 38 health institutions, which provides an academic "home" for clinical and translational science. Its members share a common vision to improve patient treatment by reducing the time it takes for laboratory discoveries to reach the public, and to engage our communities so that clinical research can improve health. Other leadership of the Einstein-Montefiore ICTR includes co-directors Brian Currie, M.D., MPH, assistant dean, and vice president of research at Montefiore Medical Center, and Paul Marantz M.D., MPH, associate dean for clinical research education at Einstein.

The symposium's keynote speakers included leaders from other prominent academic institutions that also are participants in the CTSA consortium. These included:

• William Crowley, Jr., M.D., professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of Clinical Research at Massachusetts General Hospital ("Changing Models of Biomedical Research")
• Nancy Bennett, M.D., M.S., professor of medicine and community preventive medicine; director of the Center for Community Health; and associate vice president at the University of Rochester Medical Center ("The Last Step: Translating Clinical Research to Community Health Improvement")
• Barry Coller, M.D., David Rockefeller Professor of Medicine and physician-in-chief at Rockefeller University Medical Center ("Forging a Cultural Identity for Clinical and Translational Sciences")
• Paloma Izquierdo-Hernandez, MPH, M.A., President and CEO, Urban Health Plan ("A Perspective from The Bronx Community")

Einstein and Montefiore's own research standouts that made presentations included:

• Vern Schramm Ph.D., professor and Ruth Merns Chair in Biochemistry ("Transition State Therapeutics: Cancer and Beyond")
• Teresa DiLorenzo Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology and immunology, and medicine ("Immunomodulating Type 1 Diabetes")
• Nir Barzilai, M.D., professor, of medicine and of genetics ("Genetic Determinants of Exceptional Longevity")
• Howard Strickler M.D., MPH, professor of epidemiology & population health ("The Insulin/IGF Axis in Health and Disease")
• Rohit Bhalla M.D., MPH, chief quality officer at Montefiore Medical Center; assistant professor of medicine ("T-3 Translational Research in a Complex Healthcare Organization")
• Daphne Hsu M.D., professor of pediatrics; division chief, pediatric cardiology of the Children's Hospital at Montefiore ("Clinical Translational Research in Pediatric Cardiology: Successes and Challenges")

Access to full-length podcasts of each of these outstanding and thought-provoking lectures will soon be available. For more information and to watch seminar videos visit at the ICTR website: www.aecom.yu.edu/ictr.

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