Network Capacity Program (NC)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Clinical trials are essential for translating scientific discoveries into effective treatments. The Network Capacity (NC) component of the UCLA CTSI, working closely with the Biomedical Informatics Program (BIP), provides the infrastructure for participation in national collaborations while contributing to the transformation of the conduct of multisite clinical trials. We are participating in the Trial Innovation Network (TIN), the Trial Innovation Centers (TICs) and the Recruitment Innovation Center (RIC). We match investigator expertise with trial opportunities and refer Hub researchers to TIN network services and consultations. Our team guides proposal submission through the TIN website. We participate in NIH initiatives to improve both study activation and enrollment.
We are supporting the transformation of local Hub infrastructure to promote efficiency. We adopted the Federal Demonstration Partnership Clinical Trials Subaward Agreement (FDP-CTA), the standard agreement system for network trial and study contracting. The collective impact of our participation in these national programs is transformative.
Our overall goal is to build on our infrastructure and prior accomplishments and to strengthen our collaborations with the TIN and the National Center for Data to Health (CD2H). Together with other CTSAs, we will continue to engage with new data sharing networks such as the recently organized National COVID-19 Cohort Collaborative (N3C). During this global crisis, we will address important questions together, and leverage shared resources such as data, unparalleled analytic expertise, medical insights from expert clinicians, support and funding from NCATS. Our efforts are organized around two specific aims, furthering new strategies to optimize clinical trial implementation.
PROGRAM AIMS
Aim 1. Develop and optimize the infrastructure to provide continued support to TIN studies
- Promote awareness and active participation with the TIN.
- Leverage the regulatory infrastructure of the UCLA CTSI and the University of California Biomedical Research Acceleration, Integration and Development (UC BRAID), the consortium of five UC CTSAs.
- Utilize the CTSI’s integrated clinical research infrastructure to accelerate study activation.
- Develop innovative approaches to recruitment and retention.
Aim 2. Collaborate with NCATS’ National Data to Health Center (CD2H)
- Engage with CD2H to identify expertise and services, make resources FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) including implementation of Leaf and cross-linking of common data models.
- Work with CD2H to identify solutions to common informatics challenges and disseminate UCLA CTSI Hub developments.
