U. health institute awarded $47.5 million federal grant to advance NJ medical research

The Rutgers Institute for Translational Medicine and Science (RITMS) recently received a federal grant of $47.5 million from the New Jersey Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science (NJ ACTS) to research and bolster wellness across the state over the next seven years, according to a press release.

Alongside leaders at Rutgers, those working at academic institutions such as Princeton University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, as well as within health care providers and local governments play a prominent role in NJ ACTS research and discovery efforts. 

Reynold Panettieri currently serves as the director of RITMS, the vice chancellor of Translational Medicine and Science and an emeritus professor of Medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He said the grant supports a number of "cores." This year, there is a new core focused on modern genetics research.

The Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) is awarded to medical institutions seen as effective contributors to the translational science field. NJ ACTS is a coalition of statewide organizations with a mission to "advance translational science across the continuum by training the next generation of researchers and by understanding the heterogeneity of disease and of response to interventions in diverse individuals, communities and populations," as stated by the NJ ACTS website. 

According to the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, there are more than 60 institutions that currently receive CTSA funding throughout the nation. The grants promote work that studies health research discoveries, facilitates the timely creation of intervention methods based on their findings and encourages improved training for professionals in translational medicine.

Opioid research will also be a focal point of NJ ACTS activity over the next seven years, Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) said in the release. NJ ACTS will work in tandem with the Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences' (RBHS) OneRBHS efforts, which seek to unify the institution under set health missions.

In an event commemorating the grant on October 30, RITMS and NJ ACTS team members were joined by notable statewide figures, including Murphy, University President Jonathan Holloway and Mark Manigan, chief executive officer of RWJBarnabas Health.

"We want to promote health equity through inclusion of our stakeholders and community members in planning and executing our research," Panettieri said.