MSHS in Clinical and Translational Research: Curriculum

Students develop the academic skill sets necessary to succeed in this program in the context of exploring scientific, clinical and regulatory concepts required in medicines development. Students demonstrate their critical analysis skills through literature research, analysis of information from various perspectives, and formulating their own opinions in choosing their ‘defendable positions’, rather than stating the “correct answers”.

Analysis and evaluation of study design strategies and current practices for major therapeutic areas of clinical research (e.g., vaccine development, cardiovascular disease, anti-infectives, CNS, etc.)

This class is designed for early independent investigators in Clinical and Translational Research as a capstone This course will allow students to apply the knowledge gained throughout the program through the completion of an independent, mentored research project (i.e., original research manuscript, review article, etc.)

Overview and analysis of the translational research principles and practice through the application of basic, clinical, community health and health services research concepts. Emphasis is on persuasive communication, conceptually based hypotheses and research methods and the grant application process, including communicating.

Writing grant proposals to fund clinical research, with an emphasis on translational research proposals. The development and submission of a transdisciplinary research proposal that responds to a Call for Proposals from an external sponsor, such as the National Institutes of Health.

The integration of competencies acquired throughout the program. The development and submission of a transdisciplinary research proposal that responds to a Call for Proposals from an external sponsor, such as the National Institutes of Health.

The integration of competencies acquired throughout the program Foundational and practical principles and their impact on collaborative and team science engagements. Restricted to PhD candidates in translational health sciences; permission of the instructor may be substituted.

Basic concepts and methods of biostatistics applied to translational research. Topics include distributions, populations and sample selection, variables, interaction and confounding, hypothesis formulation, correlation, t-tests, ANOVA, regression, and chi.

Students explore the basic concepts of epidemiology which includes various epidemiological study designs used to examine disease frequency, cause-effect relationships between risk factors and disease states, and effects of bias as examples. Students apply epidemiologic concepts in the context of translational research.

The principles and practice of leadership, professionalism, and teamwork as it relates to clinical and translational research focusing on collaboration, communication, and health equity.
Prerequisites: Students should have foundational knowledge related to research conducted by a clinical translational research (CTR) team and proficiency in the skills needed to conduct research.