A cross-disciplinary team, which includes members of the Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences (ICTS), Bernard Becker Medical Library at Washington University School of Medicine, and the Center for Public Health Systems Science at the Brown School at Washington University, is pleased to announce the launch of a new website: translationalsciencebenefits.wustl.edu.
The Translational Science Benefits Model (TSBM) is a new framework for assessing the health and societal benefits of clinical and translational science. The development of TSBM was inspired by the desire to look beyond simple number counts of scientific productivity and visibility to identify broader measures of “real world” benefits in four distinct domains: clinical, community, economic and policy.
The team identified 30 tangible benefits—or indicators—that come from clinical and translational science research. Clinical benefits include new biomedical technologies and therapeutic procedures; community benefits include health education resources and improved access to health care; economic benefits include increased cost-effectiveness and new commercial entities; and policy benefits include legislation and organizational policies.
The new website includes:
- An explanation of the Translational Science Benefits Model framework, including an animated video and article
- Resources and guidance for each of the 30 indicators
- Case studies showing the path from research to real-world impact
- A checklist scientists can use to demonstrate the impact of their work
The TSBM team welcomes feedback to icts@wustl.edu on the website and model as well as recommendations for future case studies.