The translational science lifecycle combines disciplines, resources, expertise, and techniques to improve prevention, diagnostics, therapeutics, and ultimately health. To succeed in this transdisciplinary field requires distinctive skills, including a deep appreciation of multiple domains, a team science outlook, and an aptitude for cross-discipline communication.   

Our conceptual framework organizes the translational continuum into three Spheres of Translation Across the Research Spectrum (STARS): 

The T32 will create a community of scholars with commanding knowledge and experiences across all three translational spheres, and a deep commitment to transdisciplinary team science; thereby producing a new generation of scientists with strategic translational emphases whose breadth of knowledge and ability to communicate across the STARS will increase transdisciplinary cross-fertilization, accelerating healthcare advances.    

Our program faculty include leaders across each of these three areas and includes faculty from across health sciences campus.   

Trainees emerging from this program will carry with them a unique set of skills and the expertise to succeed in their chosen focus and achieve their career aspirations

The STARS T32 program is funded by T32 grants (T32TR004394 & T32TR004392) from the NIH's National Center for Advancing Translational Science.

1. Mentoring Team. The STARS Program uses the Matrix Mentoring Model (MMM) comprised of 5 mentor types: (1) Primary Scientific Mentor will set clear expectations of the research goals, laboratory activities, timelines, and milestones (e.g. PhD departmental expectations), and assist the trainee in their individual development plan (see below); (2) Secondary scientific mentor from another sphere will help the trainee appreciate the larger translational picture surrounding their research. This mentor will have expertise that goes beyond that provided by the dissertation/postdoctoral project mentors, to extend knowledge about how the trainees project could interact with or feed/benefit from related but separate domains. The secondary mentor can provide guidance on the STARS-bridge proposal (see below) and recommended to host the trainee in an immersion (see below); (3) Senior Mentor from the T32 leadership (Angie Fagerlin, Keke Fairfax, Daniel Leung) will be responsible for orienting the trainee to the program expectations and goals and helping make their STARS experience productive; (4) Near- Peer Mentor a mentor at a career stage closer to the scholar’s, is an innovative component of the MMM that we introduced in the current T32 program. For a postdoctoral scholar, a near-peer may be a scholar from the prestigious and competitive K12 or VPCAT Programs, or a former TL1 trainee (e.g., Dr. Lindsey Potter). Near-peer mentors can offer especially pertinent insight and advice for career planning; and (5) Self mentorship engaging in self-reflection to determine priorities and goals. This process includes contemplations of their strengths and weaknesses, the meaning they find in their work, their purpose in research, and their career aspirations to guide their research and career direction.

     a. The Mentoring team is expected to meet twice a year.

2. Individual Development Plan (IDP). Trainees are expected to complete and follow an IDP using a template that works for them and their mentors every appointed year.
3. Translational Research Trainee Symposium. Trainees from all components of the CTSI (Workforce development, VPCAT, K12 and T32) will be required to attend this yearly symposium that is held in November. Mentors are encouraged to attend to support their mentees. During first appointment year, trainees are required to participate in a poster session. Trainees appointed to a second year will be required to present and/or participate in 3MP/3MT sessions.
4. ACTS conference: The ACTS (Association for Clinical and Translational Science) conference is held every year in Spring. Trainees who are selected and invited by the ACTS committee to the 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) competition will be required to travel and attend. (Year 2 requirement)
5. Seminar Attendance. Trainees will be required to attend the ‘STARS Conference’ and ‘What is?’ Seminar. The STARS Conference is once-a-month for 1-hour. It combines research in progress seminars, immersion reports/discussions, STARS-bridge proposal talks, and chalk talks. Primary mentors are required to present at least once at ‘What is?’ during trainees’ appointment. The What is? Seminar is a once-a-month 1-hour seminar on diverse translational topics across the continuum. Program faculty from the T32, other experts across the UU campus, and visiting scholars will present an educational perspective of their research/expertise area.
6. Immersions (3 x 10-hour): These are experiential learning modules to add translational breadth. Trainees appointed for 2-years are required to undertake three immersions (10-hour minimum per immersion) and will undertake them from 5 types: clinic-based, laboratory- based (wet or dry), externships, entrepreneurial opportunities, and mentor-based experiences. We recommend one immersion be undertaken in the Secondary Scientific Mentor's lab. Immersions are opportunities for trainees to expand and explore skills and experiences to add on to their training or to explore skills that trainees do not possess. For example, immersions can be shadowing clinical research nurses or someone with IRB. Trainees are required to complete 2(two) immersions within the first year of appointment.
7. STARS-bridge Proposal. Working with primary, senior (program), and secondary scientific mentors, trainees will write a three-page report articulating a way in which their research program could connect to a secondary sphere in the future. Your Bridge proposal should describe research that is in a different sphere. For example, if you are in the discovery sphere, the research you propose in the Bridge proposal should be in the demonstration or dissemination sphere. You should think of the Bridge Proposal as a small grant. Provide some background, what your approach would be in this new study, and what the implications are. It is NOT a report of your current research or your immersion experience unless it is directly related to the proposed study. The goal of the STARS-bridge proposal is to provide example- based, hands-on exploration of the opportunities and specifics to bridging translational domains. This short report also provides concrete experience in team science within the mentoring model. Due the first week of January during year 2 appointment with the presentation requirement during February STARS training. Trainees will discuss this further with their Senior/program mentors (Drs. Fagerlin, Leung, or Fairfax)
8. Clinical and Community Outreach/Science Café (1 hour). As skilled communicators, scholars will present their research beyond their usual domain, at a clinical (e.g., grand rounds), community, or educational setting. The following are examples of activities which meet the Clinical and Community Outreach presentation requirement (Year 2 appointment): OUTREACH (SLCSE-BEES (Boosting Engagement through Experiences in Science)): contact Kellie Brown (kellie.e.brown@hsc.utah.edu); Natural History Museum of Utah: contact dcrowton@nhmu.utah.edu; STEMCAP: contact jennifer.mendivil@utah.edu; If trainees have questions, they can reach out and schedule a time to meet with our team by putting “(CTSI STARS T32)” in the subject line; Science on Tap Speaker: with the express intention of providing training and practice with public speaking for early career researchers. Contact Nathan Johnston (nathan.johnston@utah.edu).
9. Evaluations. Trainees will be required to fill out evaluation surveys each year to assess their progress and to help leadership continually improve the STARS program. Qualitative interviews will be conducted during the program by Dr. Dina Drits-Esser, CTSI Education Director. (Year 1, Year 2)

Coursework

1. Leadership and Career Development and Management (minimum 10 hours): Value identification; networking; knowing one’s message; relating well to peers, leaders, and staff; using skills/goal to have impact; self-mentorship, communication skills, negotiation, resilience, elevator pitch, career development/path, and/or project management. Various in-person and Zoom workshops, run through UU Faculty development, will be announced in advance for registration (Year 1 requirement). 
2. Responsible Conduct of Research: All trainees are required to complete NIH Responsible Conduct of Research requirement (Year 1 requirement) Predoctoral trainees who have not taken any research ethics courses are required to take the Case Studies and Research Ethics (MBIOL 7570 or PHIL7570, 1.0 CR) course during Year 1 appointment. If trainees have previously completed similar coursework within the last 4 years, they are required to provide the transcript and course syllabus to determine the equivalency by program directors. If the trainee completed the NIH requirement course work referenced above but is older than 4 years, they will have to take the Research Education Office certificate program that requires 5 courses to meet the requirement. Please find the information https://education.research.utah.edu/red_classes/index.php. Several courses require advanced registration and IN-PERSON attendance.
3. Grant-writing/scientific-writing course (e.g F32, K-award). Required for all trainees unless met through course work during graduate studies at the U or equivalent course work/workshop hours. Grant writing (MDCRC 6450 through MSCI) satisfies this requirement for predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees, which includes non-mentoring faculty providing review and feedback. Trainees are required to provide a copy of the transcript showing the completion of the course. If the course is outside of the U, please share the syllabus as well. Please email it to Lyalya Sultanova (lyalya.sultanova@hsc.utah.edu) (before the end of Year 1 appointment)