Recent news
July 2011
NIH director lays out vision for new center
July 8, 2011 -- In a new commentary piece in the journal Science Translational Medicine, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins provides a detailed description of the scientific goals and functions of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). NCATS is a proposed new entity of the NIH that will aim to reengineer the process of developing drugs, diagnostics, and devices.
According to Collins, NCATS’ mission is to “catalyze the generation of innovative methods and technologies that will enhance the development, testing, and implementation of diagnostics and therapeutics across a wide range of diseases and conditions. The new center’s activities will complement, and not compete with, translational research being carried out at NIH and elsewhere in the public and private sectors.” He writes that NCATS will help speed the process of translational science by addressing bottlenecks, challenging the status quo, and promoting new ways of scientific thinking. See the link below for more details.
