“The ITM is a champion of creative ideas and exploring ways to better improve human health,” said Julian Solway, MD, Founding Director of the ITM and Associate Dean for Clinical Science Research/Translational Medicine at the University of Chicago. “These awards fuel new ways of thinking and help foster relationships with the communities we serve.”
The spring 2024 finalists hail from UChicago, RUSH, Loyola University Chicago, Advocate Aurora Health, and the Illinois Institute of Technology. The top three awardees are from UChicago and RUSH. Their projects will tackle topics like how to keep the most common hospital disinfecting soap effective in protecting patients from infections, finding what parts of people’s daily lives and environments might cause a severe type of uterine cancer, and the best ways to give Chinese Americans cultural tools for caring for their loved ones with dementia.
“These projects have the potential to impact many lives and spark even deeper dives into understanding these health challenges,” said Joshua J. Jacobs, MD, ITM Director and Grainger Director of the RUSH Arthritis and Orthopaedics Institute.
The ITM has supported more than 45 creative research projects and provided more than $2 million to research teams through its Pilot Awards program since 2017. Previous pilot award winners and finalists have gone on to launch companies, secure millions of dollars in federal funding, build national programs, and more.
“Alumni of the ITM Pilot Program don’t stop here,” said David Meltzer, MD, PhD, ITM Director and UChicago Professor of Medicine. “They use this support to catapult them into more opportunities, and we can’t wait to see the impacts this latest group makes on the world.”
Each round applicants submit a one-page letter of intent, and up to 10 finalists are selected to move forward through a range of ITM resources – including one-on-one science communications coaching, a professional video of the project, study design, biostatistics, community feedback forums, and more – to create their proposals. All finalists leave with thousands of dollars in science communications training and content to advance their work and opportunities to connect with communities even if they are not selected in the top three for funding.
Boards of patients, community members, industry experts, and scientists review the proposals and watch the public-friendly pitch videos as part of the funding selection process.
“The community is directly involved in providing feedback to researchers about everything from study design to whether they think a project should be funded,” said Doriane Miller, MD, Vice-Dean, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Biological Sciences Division, University of Chicago and ITM Director of Health Equity Integration. “Inclusion is built into the program by ensuring the science is communicated in ways that non-scientists can understand. This empowers the public and communities we serve to join the conversation and literally sit at the table to make decisions with physicians and researchers.”
Learn more here about the ITM Pilot Awards here and sign up for the ITM newsletter to stay up to date on more unique ITM resources. Want to join the Pilot Program? A one-page letter of intent for the next round is due Sunday, Sept. 22.
“We’ve designed the ITM Pilot Award Program to give physicians and researchers more than just dollars to do a project,” said Eric Beyer, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics at UChicago and leader of the ITM Translational Endeavors Core that offers the awards. “All finalists win access to thousands of dollars in training, ITM resources, networking, all at no cost to them. It’s a personalized tour and access to all the ways the ITM can help them achieve their academic research goals.”
Keeping a Hospital Soap Effective at Protecting Patients
Rachel Medernach, MD, MSCI
Using the Sociome to Help Tackle an Aggressive Type of Uterine Cancer
Sarah Ackroyd, MD, MPH
Helping Chinese American Caregivers Navigate the U.S. Healthcare System
Chien-Ching Li, PhD, MPH
Could a tiny tumor-in-a-dish lead to big cancer discoveries?
Nan Sethakorn, MD, PhD
Can the microbiome help people recover from gun violence?
Andrew Benjamin, MD
Understanding Alzheimer's in Individuals with Down Syndrome
Hannah Graham, MD
Patching Broken Hearts: A New Era in Cardiac Care
Narutoshi Hibino, MD, PhD
Bridging Gaps in Diabetes Care for Black Chicagoans
Mudassir Rashid, PhD
Giving Patients
What They Value
Austin Wesevich, MD, MPH
About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)
ITM Contact: Sara Serritella, Director of ITM Communications, serritella@uchicago.edu
This project is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that supports the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) through Grant Number UL1TR002389.