Integrating Clinical and Translational Research Networks-Building Team Medicine

Medical centers are widely recognized as vital components of the healthcare system. However academic medical centers are differentiated from their community counterparts by their mission which typically focuses on clinical care education and research. Nonetheless community clinics/hospitals fill a critical need and play a complementary role serving as the primary sites for health care in most communities. Furthermore it is now increasingly recognized that in addition to physicians physician-scientists and other healthcare-related professionals basic research scientists also contribute significantly to the emerging inter- and cross-disciplinary team-oriented culture of translational science. Therefore approaches that combine the knowledge skills experience expertise and visions of clinicians in academic medical centers and their affiliated community centers and hospitals together with basic research scientists are critical in shaping the emerging culture of translational research so that patients from the urban as well as suburban settings can avail the benefits of the latest developments in science and medicine. Integrating Clinical and Translational Research Networks-Building Team Medicine is an embodiment of this ethos at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte California. It includes a series of papers authored by teams of leading clinicians basic research scientists and translational researchers. The authors discuss how engaging and collaborating with community-based practices where the majority of older patients with cancer receive their care can ensure that these patients receive the highest-quality evidence-based care. Based on our collective experience at City of Hope we would like to stress that the success of academic-community collaborative programs not only depends on the goodwill and vision of the participants but also on the medical administration academic leadership and policymakers who define the principles and rules by which cooperation within the health care industry occurs. We trust that our experience embodied in this singular compendium will serve as a Rosetta Stone for other institutions and practitioners.