$23.5 million award granted to University of Kentucky Center for Clinical and Translational Science
The National Institutes of Health awarded the Clinical and Translational Award to UK, marking the third time the university has received the grant, each time providing four years worth of funding for research in clinical care focused on Central Appalachia.
The University of Kentucky Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) recently received a $23.5 million grant from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health. The four-year award was given to the UK CCTS for the third time since 2011 for a grand total of $65.4 million for research. The CCTS funds research in multiple areas of healthcare, with its primary focus being on the communities of Central Appalachia.
A news release from UK provides greater detail on how the latest grant will help the CCTS with its future projects, and also explains what the center has been doing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reacting to the news of the NCATS award, UK President Eli Capilouto said, "For the past 15 years, CCTS has catalyzed clinical and translational discoveries through an integrated, transformative research environment aimed at improved health, with an emphasis on Central Appalachia. This continued funding is a testament to the incredible talent we have at this institution and our enduring promise to improve health outcomes in Kentucky."
CCTS was founded in 2006 and coordinates research projects covering all aspects of healthcare including career development, community engagement, and clinical trials, along with providing support for outside research projects and area infrastructure development. With the latest NCATS funding, CCTS will support research on the impact of climate change on health, expand its efforts in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and broaden partnerships with other research institutions.
CCTS Director Philip Kern, M.D. explained the role that the center played in the development of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to fight COVID-19. Phase-three clinical trials were conducted by CCTS, with vaccines being administered to almost 900 residents of Kentucky, many of whom were frontline workers. "With CCTS leadership, UK — with subsites at Baptist Health Lexington and Norton Healthcare in Louisville — became the top enrolling site in the world for the phase three trial whose data led to the EUA for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine," Kern stated. "The success of that first COVID vaccine trial at UK paved the way for four more vaccine studies at the institution, three adult studies which the CCTS fully implements and a pediatric vaccine study it provides support for."