Senior Associate Director, CRESP University of Delaware Newark, Delaware, United States
As the ACCEL Delaware Clinical and Translational Research (ACCEL-CTR) Program continued to evolve and grow over the last two CTR funding cycles, the tracking and evaluation team (TEVAL) has also transitioned priorities. The team has moved from formative evaluations focused on defining metrics and accounting for research productivity to a greater focus on summative evaluation, reflective of the maturity of the ACCEL-CTR. The summative evaluations utilize multilevel impact studies to assess the impact of the ACCEL-CTR. Initial work was informed by the Research Excellence Framework (REF) used in the United Kingdom to assess university research activities. Since then, the ACCEL-CTR TEVAL team has embraced the Translational Science and Benefits Model (TSBM) as one approach to evaluating the impact of the CTR. This paper outlines the steps taken by the TEVAL team to adopt the TSBM, and the data sources and methods used to operationalize the model at the individual, institutional, infrastructure, and community health levels. Results will focus on the meaning of potential clinical and medical, community and public health, economic, and policy and legislative benefits using illustrations from investigator, institutional, and infrastructure impact case studies. Lessons learned include challenges associated with training and adoption of the TSBM as well as the implications (and challenges) for tracking and monitoring potential benefits.
