New program to focus on applying medical research
Published: March 25, 2015
The University of Toronto will launch a new program this fall that trains students to put scientific discoveries and medical advances into practice.
The Master of Health Science in Translational Research is a two-year program run by the Institute of Medical Science (IMS). It will teach skills such as problem solving, design thinking, entrepreneurship and understanding intellectual property, and includes a “capstone” project in which students develop, prototype and evaluate a product or process to address a medical need.
“The program speaks to a global need, which is: how we can apply knowledge to solve practical problems in health care,” said Joseph Ferenbok, director of the program and an assistant professor in the department of surgery. “And it’s experiential — we want people to learn by doing. We see our students as co-constructors of their education and our faculty members as facilitators.”
Early in the program, students will learn the principles of translational research through course work. As they conceive their project ideas, they will consult with a pool of more than 30 program mentors — faculty members from hospitals and institutes with different clinical specialties and who have experience in research translation. Students will then execute their projects in small but diverse groups.
“The best translational teams are made up of people with varied backgrounds,” said Richard Foty, a teaching assistant in the program who is also a doctoral student at IMS and a trainee at The Hospital for Sick Children. Foty said the different skill sets and perspectives of a diverse group are critical when developing effective medical technologies, therapies and policies.
Foty is passionate about the impact translation can have on people — when innovators are focused on meeting unmet patient needs. “’Bench to bedside’ is a misleading term,” he said. “Innovation needs to start at the bedside — or wherever the person who will benefit from it may be — and answer the question, ‘What does the person need?’ Then there’s a feedback loop that informs how you develop the innovation.”
Clyde Matava is an assistant professor in the department of anesthesia and a staff anesthesiologist at SickKids. He has done some medical device development but has applied for the Translational Research Program because, he says, it will let him quickly gain the skills to build and lead translational research teams.
Matava wants to learn more about validation methods for medical advances, and how to use patent law and create a start-up company.
“Clinical settings are breeding grounds for innovation because we see problems daily,” he said. “But it’s important to identify which solutions and technologies are most likely to succeed, and I expect the program will help a lot with that.”
Michael Gritti recently graduated from McGill University with a bachelor of science in anatomy and cell biology. He’s a clinical researcher at SickKids and has work experience in basic science, epidemiology and patient outcomes research. He has applied to the Translational Research Program to learn the process of translation and to develop a tool for medical education — an area he is passionate about.
Gritti has used the tool in dissection presentations he’s given at Toronto high schools as the founder of HeartHeroesX, a non-profit service that teaches students about heart anatomy, function and repair. He’s working with the company that created the product and wants to develop it for medical schools and hospitals.
“This program is a great opportunity to study and develop something I care about, and that can fill a real gap. That’s exciting,” he said.
The Institute of Medical Science hosts an InfoXchange about the Translational Research Program March 25. The application deadline for a September 2015 start in the program is June 1, 2015. (Learn more about how to apply.)
