WASHIINGTON - U.S. Senator Tom Udall, D-NM, today announced that the University of New Mexico Health Science Center has been named a federal Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC), a designation that comes with $21 million in awards over five years, establishes UNMHSC as a key national research center, and will create more than 100 stable, high-paying jobs in New Mexico.
This federal designation - the first regional CTSC in the southwest - will greatly enhance UNMHSC's ability to recruit and retain top faculty and researchers, both nationally and internationally. It will also increase their capacity to address existing health disparities prevalent in western border states.
"The UNM Health Science Center is a critical economic and research engine for the region, and I am very pleased that it has received this important recognition for its fine work," said Udall, who actively supported their application. "With this designation, New Mexico will join a national consortium of top researchers and I look forward to its exciting discoveries."
The vision for the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program is to improve human health and patient care by transforming the research and training environment to enhance the efficiency and quality of clinical and translational research.
Factors that helped UNMHSC win this award include the state's ethnic diversity, serious health disparities, medically underserved areas and the center's health innovations, including projects ECHO and HEROs.
The Clinical and Translational Science Awards are determined by the National Center for Research Resources. After five years UNMHSC will be eligible to reapply for the designation.
