Dear Colleagues-Friends,
Earlier today, with the support of Governor Northam, we announced the $21.5 M federal grant to VCU for our Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA).
Many of you have contributed to this major institutional achievement. Thank you for all your effort and support. We owe particular thanks to Dr. Gerry Moeller, Principal Investigator for our CTSA (called the Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research; CCTR) for his visionary leadership and patience during the lengthy review process. We are also most grateful to Mr. Kenneth Wright, whose kind support endowed the CCTR and thus created a public-private partnership that will endure through the CCTR.
To put the significance of this award in context, there are over 50 institutions nationally with CTSAs and of those, there are only some 20 public institutions like ours that have both a CTSA and a NCI-designated Cancer Center… and we are currently the only CTSA in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
This award will enable us to support early career investigators in their efforts to pursue translational research. It will also enable and encourage us further in our collaborations with research intensive universities and healthcare systems in Virginia and beyond. This collaborative work will advance discoveries and knowledge so as to improve human health and wellbeing. The opportunities that the CTSA provides will also make our institution even more attractive for talented people who are considering joining us.
Later this afternoon, at 4:30 pm in the Learning Theater of McGlothlin Medical Education Center, we have a General Faculty meeting. Please join us to hear Dr. Moeller talk more about the impact of this prestigious new federal grant. Please also share this excellent news at relevant medical student, resident, and staff meetings… it’s a big deal!
Thanks for your leadership.
With every good wish,
Peter F. Buckley, M.D.
Dean, VCU School of Medicine
Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, VCU Health System