A new master’s program at the University of Toronto plans to lead graduate students across the so-called valley of death.
Beginning in September, the two-year program will teach students how to bridge the gap between scientific research being done in the lab and what’s needed to improve patient care. In other words, it will teach them to identify scientific findings that can be used to bolster public health and apply them.
“The health care system has a lot of challenges coming up,” says Joseph Ferenbok, director of the new Translational Research Program in Health Science at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine. “We have an aging population, expenses are skyrocketing, and there are inefficiencies that can be improved.”
“Our goal is to work with people and facilitate ideas that actually build on the science to impact health,” he says, adding he hopes students learn to “think critically about solutions to bigger problems.”
The Institute of Medical Science, which runs the program, isn’t alone in recognizing the need to bridge scientific knowledge with society’s needs — McMaster University and University Alberta have similar programs.
In 2008, the international journal Nature addressed the “chasm” between work done by biomedical researchers and patients’ needs, which some refer to as the “valley of death.” In the United States and Europe, hundreds of millions of dollars, have been dedicated to translation science, which is translating research into applications, practices and technologies that better public health. The U.S. National Institutes of Health funds more than 60 medical research centres — among them Harvard University, Yale University and the University of California — to work together and solve problems.
It may surprise some that applying science in ways that benefit public health isn’t always the end result of scientific research. In general, scientists are funded to do their research — and if a discovery is made they may not know how to apply it, nor have the money or interest in taking their findings any further. And, the funding models are such that academics are under constant pressure to publish their research in journals and move on to the next project.
Still, there’s a growing sense that it’s not enough to simply make a discovery — you need to actually do something with it, says Ferenbok.
“We need science, but we also need people who will think about moving the science forward, translating it into things that will impact society,” he explains during an interview at the university. “We have huge amounts of discoveries in research here. But what do you do with it?”
This program, he says, will be a departure from typical graduate studies in health science, in which students traditionally learn from mentors and then, hopefully, go on to work in their own lab.
Instead, students will identify needs and work in multidisciplinary teams on projects to solve those needs. Throughout, they’ll learn how to create new innovations, apply for grants, understand intellectual property and become entrepreneurial. And, they’ll have access to the university’s resources, networks, experts and will consult with more than 30 of the program’s mentors, comprised of professors with different specialties who work in hospitals and institutes. Ferenbok hopes to also partner with industry.
“Basic science is not necessarily driven by needs or market trends,” says Ferenbok. “We want to teach our students to find the need, then to find a solution from the backgrounds they bring ... What we’re looking for, really, are people who are passionate about making change and innovation to health.”
The key is attracting students from different backgrounds — the application deadline is June 1. Up to 20 students will be accepted and the minimum requirement is a bachelor’s degree. Ferenbok hopes to draw a mix of personalities, including bookworms, social butterflies, risk-takers, creative thinkers and those with entrepreneurial spirits. So far, he’s “amazed” by the range of applicants, which run the gamut of students finishing their undergraduate to assistant professors working in hospitals.
Dr. Clyde Matava, an assistant professor in the university’s Department of Anesthesia and an anesthesiologist at The Hospital for Sick Children, applied because he wants to do research geared toward creating and validating prototypes of medical applications.
A lot of those skills, he says, aren’t taught in medical school but acquired after years working in the field. If he’s accepted into the program, he suspects he’ll be able to accelerate the process of creating solutions for day-to-day bedside problems, which traditionally take years to decades.
“The need and scope of medicine is changing very rapidly year to year,” says Matava, adding one of the best ways to meet those needs is for physicians to use newer frameworks for creating and testing technologies that improve health care. If he’s selected into the program, he’d like to further explore how apps and devices can improve patient care, primarily for children but also adults.
Alexandra Panicucci, who’s graduating next month from U of T with a bachelor of science specializing in health and disease, has also applied. She wants to focus on improving patient care in the areas of psychiatry, addictions and mental health.
“I really like to learn by doing and I think (this program) will inspire people to go out and find the gaps (in heath care) versus just being taught them,” says the 21-year-old. “I honestly feel like the possibilities with this program are endless.”