February 2022

Letter From the JCTS Editor: Open For Business

Although the calendar clearly states February, which as we know may more commonly than not represent the pinnacle of winter, the weather is more typical of spring here in California. Every day is like the other, a sort of eternal groundhog-day with mild temperatures, sun and an increasing variety of spring flowers. It feels somewhat unreal to hear about the deep freezes and mountains of ice and snow in other parts of the country when a sweater may be a bit too much to wear for the daily walk. However, the bill is surely coming due at one point and the fire season will be upon us faster than we would like. Each year seems to bring new heat records and it is certainly not too early to prepare for the effects of climate challenge for health. Last week CLIC, the coordinating center for the CTSA program, organized an “un-meeting” titled “Climate change and Health through a Translational Science Lens.” The web meeting was well attended and several presenters brought interesting perspectives from various scientific fields illustrating the need for a coordinated effort. From the perspective of JCTS, we are very supportive of these efforts and are interested in receiving papers that present ongoing studies and projects addressing climate challenge from a translational perspective. Should there be sufficient interest, we would be delighted to devote a thematic issue to this area. 

I also want to highlight the opportunities to contribute to the three current JCTS thematic issues; Health and Social Drivers in the Criminal Justice System where the submission deadline is soon coming up on March 1, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Clinical and Translational Science (deadline April 30), and Adaptive Capacity and Preparedness (AC&P) in Clinical and Translational Science (deadline July 1). As always, we are open for suggestions in other areas and any interested colleagues should contact the JCTS office at jcts@cambridge.org. 

Recently, we published the first report from the 2021 Clinical Research Forum (CR Forum) Top Ten awards. In 2021, in addition to the three winners of the Top Ten clinical research papers, CR Forum honored Pfizer and Moderna with the Clinical Research Forum Award for Extraordinary Impact on Health. The first paper in this series was an interview with Dr. William Gruber, Senior Vice President of Clinical Research and Development from Pfizer, responsible for the global clinical development of vaccines. Dr. Gruber led the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine effort and reflects on this development as well as on his own pathway. We look forward to additional interviews in the coming months. We are also very much looking forward to the upcoming ACTS Translational Science 2022 meeting, scheduled in Chicago in April. At that time, the magic of spring may even have reached the windy city. The ACTS Planning Committee organizing the meeting has worked hard and brought together a very interesting agenda. As always, the poster sessions represent an opportunity to present a rich spectrum of projects from all over the translational spectrum and we look forward to publishing the abstracts in JCTS. The meeting is co-organized with AAMC, AFMR, CR Forum, and PhRMA and the winners of the CR Forum 2022 Top Ten awards will also be presented at the meeting. While Zoom meetings have worked surprisingly well and are likely to be a part of our everyday activity going forward, the opportunity to finally be able to meet in person is nevertheless very attractive and something to look forward to. See you all in Chicago.

Lars Berglund, M.D., Ph.D., FAHA

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Clinical and Translational Science (JCTS)

Translational Science 2022: Last Chance for Early Bird Rates

Translational Science: Transformational Translational Science: Opportunities for Success will return in person April 20-22, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois!

Whether you're looking for insights to kick start your next research project, resources to advance your career, or time to explore new opportunities for collaboration, we've got you covered. 

Register by Monday, February 28 to take advantage of early bird pricing.

News From the Hill: February 23, 2022

Congress and the administration made progress on several fronts before adjourning towards the end of February for the Presidents’ Day recess. Most notably, appropriators announced a bipartisan deal and framework to complete the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 spending bills. The House and Senate then passed a new Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government operating until March 11^th, as they draft the final FY 2022 spending bill(s). Specific details of the final spending measures remain unclear, but both parties and both chambers appear satisfied with the ongoing work. 

Read more on the ACTS Advocacy page.

Career Center

The ACTS Career Center is the premier resource for connecting those in the field of translational science with career opportunities. Visit today to find a wealth of resources to help achieve your career goals.

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Translational Science Today

Telehealth and therapeutic advances are focus of 2022...
The ninth annual Rare Disease Genomics Symposium will take place virtually March 4 from 12-4:30 p.m. The University of Alabama at Birmingham will present the ninth annual Rare Disease Genomics Symposium on March 4 virtually.

Read more
www.uab.edu