Exploring team dynamics during the development of a multi-institutional cross-disciplinary translational team: Implications for potential best practices.

Introduction: A recent literature review revealed no studies that explored teams that used an explicit theoretical framework for multiteam systems in academic settings, such as the increasingly important multi-institutional cross-disciplinary translational team (MCTT) form. We conducted an exploratory 30-interview grounded theory study over two rounds to analyze participants' experiences from three universities who assembled an MCTT in order to pursue a complex grant proposal related to research on post-acute sequelae of COVID-19, also called "long COVID." This article considers activities beginning with preliminary discussions among principal investigators through grant writing and submission, and completion of reviews by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, which resulted in the proposal not being scored.

Developing future translational scientists through authentic learning and assessments.

The Interprofessional Research Design course uses authentic learning pedagogy to bring together students from different education tracks (PhD, MD, MD/PhD training) to engage in interprofessional collaborative skills toward completion of a capstone project, a National Health Institutes (NIH) R21-style grant proposal. The course, underpinned by principles of team science, begins with a leadership training workshop to introduce students to effective leadership and teamwork strategies for interprofessional team environments. We used several assessments during the course to monitor leadership and team dynamics.

Bootstrapping implementation research training: A successful approach for academic health centers.

Demand for building competencies in implementation research (IR) outstrips supply of training programs, calling for a paradigm shift. We used a bootstrap approach to leverage external resources and create IR capacity through a novel 2-day training for faculty scientists across the four Texas Clinical & Translational Science Awards (CTSAs). The Workshop combined internal and external expertise, targeted nationally established IR competencies, incorporated new National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute OpenAccess online resources, employed well-known adult education principles, and measured impact.

Implementing an evidence-based competency model for science team training and evaluation: TeamMAPPS.

Introduction: In response to a call issued by the National Research Council to investigate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of effective science teams, we designed a team training program for conducting science in collaborative contexts.

Methods: We reviewed the literature to develop an evidence-based competency model for effective science teams along with exemplary behaviors that can be used for founding team training and evaluation. We discuss the progress of teamwork and team development research that serves as a foundation for this work, as well as previous research involving team-based competencies.

Individual and team competencies in translational teams.

Translational scientists create, advance, and translate knowledge as a result of research, learning, and application. Translational teams are composed of dynamic and diverse interprofessional and cross-disciplinary members that generate new knowledge to address a shared translational objective. The objective involves advancing an interventional product, behavioral intervention, or evidence-based approach to improve human health.

Integration of leadership training for graduate and medical students engaged in translational biomedical research: Examining self-efficacy and self-insight.

Introduction: Formal training in team leadership is not taught in biomedical research graduate training programs or medical schools.

Methods: We piloted a Leadership Training Workshop for graduate biomedical and medical students enrolled in our Interprofessional Research Design Course.

Results: The Kane-Baltes self-efficacy survey demonstrated improved leadership skills (median scores pretraining and post-training were 71 and 76.

The innovation scorecard for continuous improvement applied to translational science.

Introduction: This paper reports on the baseline stage of a qualitative evaluation of the application of the Innovative Scorecard (ISC) to the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston. The ISC is adopted from the established Balanced Scorecard system for strategic planning and performance management. In formulating the evaluation, we focused on the organizational identity literature.

The Multidisciplinary Translational Team (MTT) Model for Training and Development of Translational Research Investigators.

Multiinstitutional research collaborations now form the most rapid and productive project execution structures in the health sciences. Effective adoption of a multidisciplinary team research approach is widely accepted as one mechanism enabling rapid translation of new discoveries into interventions in human health. Although the impact of successful team-based approaches facilitating innovation has been well-documented, its utility for training a new generation of scientists has not been thoroughly investigated.

Evolution of Multidisciplinary Translational Teams (MTTs): Insights for Accelerating Translational Innovations.

There is growing consensus about the factors critical for development and productivity of multidisciplinary teams, but few studies have evaluated their longitudinal changes. We present a longitudinal study of 10 multidisciplinary translational teams (MTTs), based on team process and outcome measures, evaluated before and after 3 years of CTSA collaboration. Using a mixed methods approach, an expert panel of five judges (familiar with the progress of the teams) independently rated team performance based on four process and four outcome measures, and achieved a rating consensus.

Translational Science Project Team Managers: Qualitative Insights and Implications from Current and Previous Postdoctoral Experiences.

The development of leadership and project management skills is increasingly important to the evolution of translational science and team-based endeavors. Team science is dependent upon individuals at various stages in their careers, inclusive of postdocs. Data from case histories, as well as from interviews with current and former postdocs, and those supervising postdocs, indicate six essential tasks required of project managers in multidisciplinary translational teams, along with eight skill-related themes critical to their success.

Assessing and evaluating multidisciplinary translational teams: a mixed methods approach.

A case report illustrates how multidisciplinary translational teams can be assessed using outcome, process, and developmental types of evaluation using a mixed-methods approach. Types of evaluation appropriate for teams are considered in relation to relevant research questions and assessment methods. Logic models are applied to scientific projects and team development to inform choices between methods within a mixed-methods design.

The Culture of Translational Science Research: Participants' Stories.

We apply a symbolic interactionist framework and a qualitative methodology to the examination of the everyday reality of translational science research (TSR). This is a growing scientific movement that aims to facilitate the efficient application of basic research to clinical service design and delivery. We describe the emerging culture of translational research at a mid-size medical center that received a Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health.

The CTSA as an exemplar framework for developing multidisciplinary translational teams.

Translational science requires that scientists from multiple disciplines work together to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of human disease. Although a literature exists on the design and management of multidisciplinary teams, little has been written on multidisciplinary translational teams (MTTs). MTTs are distinct hybrid entities, with goals taken from both industry and academic models.