OBJECTIVES/GOALS: - Illuminate processes and findings of a translational science case study of impactful research with incarcerated pregnant women and mothers; - Improve our understanding of the translational mechanisms by sharing translational challenges, facilitators, an METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Utilized the following evaluation methods and tools: - The Retrospective Translational Science Case Study protocol to examine translational path from innovation to policy and practice, barriers and facilitators for that translational movement. - Translational Science Benefits Model (TSBM) Checklist for translational/research impact analysis Triangulated diverse data sources: - Primary data: semi-structured interviews with research partners - Secondary data: researchers’ grant applications, reports, and publications; public stories/news related to their research; scientific publications; organizational/policy documents; and over 50 interviews with 30 stakeholders featured in published sources. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The research contributed to community and public health, policy/legislative, clinical/medical, and economic benefits, social/institutional change, health equity advocacy, catalyzing research (consequent research studies) and public awareness. Translational research challenges: cultural differences between research and prison system; politics of translating research to policy change; issues of capacity, power, privilege, and opportunity when doing community-engaged research; and science vs. social justice criticism. Facilitators of translation: CTSA support; stakeholder engagement; authentic collaboration; researchers as translation catalysts; and engagement in legislative activities. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The evaluation case study provides useful knowledge about translational impact, challenges, and facilitators of community-based research that moved along the translational continuum and contributed to transformational, systemic changes on the legal, clinical, organizational, and interpersonal levels.

This in-depth analysis illuminates a translational journey of a community-university research collaboration that examined health disparities among incarcerated pregnant women and spanned the translational spectrum, with the initial collaboration in 2011 paving the way for consequent research grants, publications, practices, programs, and legislation passed years later. The case study utilized data from interviews with research stakeholders, institutional and governmental sources, peer-reviewed publications, and news stories. Identified research and translational challenges included cultural differences between research and prison system; the prison system’s lack of transparency; politics of using and translating research to policy change; and issues of capacity, power, privilege, and opportunity when doing community-engaged research/science. Among the facilitators of translation were the Clinical and Translational Science Award and institutional support; engagement of key stakeholders and influencers; authentic collaboration and team science; researchers as translation catalysts; pragmatic scientific approach; and policies and legislative activities. The research contributed to a variety of community and public health, policy/legislative, clinical/medical, and economic benefits. The case study findings enhance our understanding of translational science principles and processes leading to improved wellbeing and serve as a call for advancing the research agenda addressing health disparities related to criminal and social justice issues.

Translational science is, by definition, groundbreaking; however, without an emphasis on quality and efficiency, some innovations in healthcare may translate into unnecessary risk, suboptimal solutions, and potentially loss of well-being and even lives. The COVID-19 pandemic and the Clinical and Translational Sciences Award Consortium’s response created an opportunity for quality and efficiency to be better defined, expediently and thoughtfully addressed, and further studied as central foundations in the translational science mission. This paper presents findings of an environmental scan of adaptive capacity and preparedness to illuminate the assets, institutional environment, knowledge, and forward-looking decision-making needed to optimize and sustain research quality and efficiency.

This paper is part of the Environmental Scan of Adaptive Capacity and Preparedness of Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) hubs, illuminating challenges, practices, and lessons learned related to CTSA hubs’ efforts of engaging community partners to reduce the spread of the virus, address barriers to COVID-19 testing, identify treatments to improve health outcomes, and advance community participation in research. CTSA researchers, staff, and community partners collaborated to develop evidence-based, inclusive, accessible, and culturally appropriate strategies and resources helping community members stay healthy, informed, and connected during the pandemic. CTSA institutions have used various mechanisms to advance co-learning and co-sharing of knowledge, resources, tools, and experiences between academic professionals, patients, community partners, and other stakeholders. Forward-looking and adaptive decision-making structures are those that prioritize sustained relationships, mutual trust and commitment, ongoing communication, proactive identification of community concerns and needs, shared goals and decision making, as well as ample appreciation of community members and their contributions to translational research. There is a strong need for further community-engaged research and workforce training on how to build our collective and individual adaptive capacity to sustain and improve processes and outcomes of engagement with and by communities—in all aspects of translational science.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated health disparities and rendered them acutely more visible. Special and underrepresented populations need to be fully integrated into the translational research process from the very beginning and all the way through. This article presents findings and rapid analysis mini-case studies from the Environmental Scan (E-Scan) of adaptive capacity and preparedness of Clinical and Translational Science Award hubs, specific to the goal of integrating special and vulnerable populations in different institutional research settings. In our discussion of the findings and case studies, we flexibly apply local adaptive capacity framework concepts and characteristics, and, whenever possible, we present ideas on how to enhance capacity in those areas, based on the challenges and practices identified through the E-Scan. Although the past year has recorded incredible achievements in vaccine development, clinical trials, diagnostics, and overall biomedical research, these successes continue to be hampered by our inability to turn them into achievements equally available and accessible to all populations.

COVID-19 reinforced the need for effective leadership and administration within Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program hubs in response to a public health crisis. The speed, scale, and persistent evolution of the pandemic forced CTSA hubs to act quickly and remain nimble. The switch to virtual environments paired with supporting program operations, while ensuring the safety and well-being of their team, highlight the critical support role provided by leadership and administration. The pandemic also illustrated the value of emergency planning in supporting organizations’ ability to quickly pivot and adapt. Lessons learned from the pandemic and from other cases of adaptive capacity and preparedness can aid program hubs in promoting and sustaining the overall capabilities of their organizations to prepare for future events.

As the USA and the rest of the world raced to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, years of investments from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences allowed for informatics services and resources at CTSA hubs to play a significant role in addressing the crisis. CTSA hubs partnered with local and regional partners to collect data on the pandemic, provide access to relevant patient data, and produce data dashboards to support decision-making. Coordinated efforts, like the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C), helped to aggregate and harmonize clinical data nationwide. Even with significant informatics investments, some CTSA hubs felt unprepared in their ability to respond to the fast-moving public health crisis. Many hubs were forced to quickly evolve to meet local needs. Informatics teams expanded critical support at their institutions which included an engagement platform for clinical research, COVID-19 awareness and education activities in the community, and COVID-19 data dashboards. Continued investments in informatics resources will aid in ensuring that tools, resources, practices, and policies are aligned to meet local and national public health needs.

The ability of research networks and individual institutions to effectively and efficiently prepare, respond, and adapt to emergent challenges is essential for the biomedical research enterprise. At the beginning of 2021, a special Working Group was formed by individuals in the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) consortium and approved by the CTSA Steering Committee to explore “Adaptive Capacity and Preparedness (AC&P) of CTSA Hubs.” The AC&P Working Group took a pragmatic Environmental Scan (E-Scan) approach of utilizing the diverse data that had been collected through existing mechanisms. The Local Adaptive Capacity framework was adapted to illustrate the interconnectedness of CTSA programs and services, while exposing how the demands of the pandemic forced them to quickly pivot and adapt. This paper presents a synopsis of the themes and lessons learned that emerged from individual sections of the E-Scan. Lessons learned from this study may improve our understanding of adaptive capacity and preparedness at different levels, as well as help strengthen the core service models, strategies, and foster innovation in clinical and translational science research.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Illuminate processes and findings of the Environmental Scan of Adaptive Capacity and Preparedness of CTSAs done by the CTSA Working Group. Share challenges, strategies, and lessons learned for CTSAs to build Capacity to address clinical and translational barriers while responding to emergencies. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: An Environmental Scan approach for searching, collecting, analyzing and using information from diverse sources regarding CTSA hubs experiences during emergency as related to research implementation, translation, support, adaptation, and preparedness: - Triangulating multiple data sources and mixed methods (e.g., literature review, document/RPPR analysis, and expert review); - Secondary analysis of the JCTS COVID-19 Survey of the CTSAs: challenges, lessons learned, and practices that work in various program components/areas; - Using feedback of CTSA professionals from multiple disciplines to enhance our knowledge of emergency preparedness and efficient adaptation to public health and other crises. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The E-scan approach helped identify challenges, successful practices, and evidence-based strategies for building adaptive capacity and preparedness of CTSAs across various scientific sectors of the translational science spectrum. Some of the findings include: - Roadmaps for the creation of new collaborative research resources (biobanks; data repositories, etc.); - Rapid clinical and research decision making during public health crises; - New community-based research strategies to facilitate communication, research dissemination, and participant recruitment based on existing trust-based networks; - Innovative resource allocation to guarantee continuity of training and research opportunities for trainees. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The Environmental Scan of the Adaptive Capacity of CTSA hubs provides useful knowledge and tools to diverse clinical research stakeholders for mitigating the impact of a disaster via adjusting programs, practices, and processes, and building capacity for effective, emergency-ready and responsive research, training, and community engagement.