Georgia CTSA Executive Center Administrator and TL1 Trainees Advocate on Hill Day 2023


Health professionals smiling for picture
Caption: Georgia CTSA Executive Center Administrator Andrew C. West, MBA, MHA, and Georgia CTSA TL1 Trainees Tarun Jain, MD, Cecilia Castellano, and Keziah Daniels on ‘Hill Day’ 2023

From April 17-20, 2023, Georgia CTSA leaders and trainees had the opportunity to network with colleagues, researchers, scholars, industry leaders, and NCATS program officers during the Association for Clinical and Translational Science 2023 Conference in Washington, DC. They attended invigorating and innovative sessions on topics related to Clinical and Translational Science and learned from experts in the field how to innovate translational science for research, explore research from a variety of fields of study, and build their professional community.

Alongside these sessions, Georgia CTSA TL1 Trainees took part in ‘Hill Day’ where they had the chance to advocate on Capitol Hill. As pictured above, Georgia CTSA Executive Center Administrator Andrew C. West, MBA, MHA, and Georgia CTSA TL1 Trainees Tarun Jain, MD, Cecilia Castellano, and Keziah Daniels met with Senate staffer Harper Melnick for Senator Warnock (D-GA).

During this meeting, they shared a flyer from the Coalition for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) to advocate for a budget increase of $3.5 billion to be allocated to the NIH during Fiscal Year 2024, including a line-item $35M increase for NCATS’ flagship CTSA program. The CTSA program is central to ongoing efforts to modernize and enhance the full spectrum of medical research at NIH.

The trainees also discussed several of the outstanding opportunities that the Georgia CTSA TL1 Program has provided them including support for didactic and mentored clinical and translational research (CTR) training for a career that encompasses CTR and/or clinical and translational science (CTS).

Georgia CTSA’s leaders and trainees returned with newfound knowledge and professional connections to continue efforts to advance the quality of clinical and translational research and transform research results to impact health in the state of Georgia and beyond.


About Georgia CTSA TL1 Program

Georgia CTSA's TL1 Program provides outstanding opportunities for clinical and translational research training for predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees. The program is focused on providing didactic and mentored research training for predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees interested in a career focused on clinical and/or translational research relevant to human health. The Georgia CTSA is dedicated to providing predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees with state-of-the-art scientific knowledge, tools, and methods to improve human health through rigorous clinical and translational research training. Through the TL1 Program, Georgia CTSA will increase the translational research workforce and enhance the career development of future leaders of the biomedical research workforce, a major mission of NCATS and NIH.