History and Philosophy of the Center
In 1897, the senior philanthropy advisor to John D. Rockefeller, the Reverend Frederick Gates, Jr., read Osler's Principles and Practice of Medicine and concluded that despite the limited success in understanding and treating diseases at the time, the recent advancements in microbiology opened the door to much more excellent opportunities to improve health through scientific inquiry. This concept led to the establishment of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in 1901 and The Rockefeller Hospital in 1910, the first hospital in the United States dedicated solely to medical research. In 1953, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) established the Clinical Center as a medical facility dedicated to medical research. In 1960, the NIH expanded its extramural program to support clinical facilities dedicated to medical research via the General Clinical Research Centers (GCRC) program.
In 2006, the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) of the NIH announced the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), a new program designed to transform the clinical research enterprise. In 2006, Rockefeller University was one of the first twelve CTSA institutions to be named. The Center for Clinical and Translational Science was established to provide an ideal opportunity for the faculty at Rockefeller to creatively build upon this rich tradition and its guiding principles, not only to meet the evolving regulatory requirements but also to spearhead novel initiatives to advance modern clinical investigation on a national scale. Combining new resources for increasingly essential functions with Rockefeller's adaptable administrative structure enables us to tailor our new initiatives to meet both Rockefeller's and the nation's requirements. Importantly, it encourages and provides resources for applying the scientific method to the study of the clinical research process itself, thereby ensuring future advancements in the design, organization, and conduct of clinical investigation.
The Center for Clinical and Translational Science provides the faculty at Rockefeller with the ideal opportunity to creatively build upon this rich tradition to meet the evolving regulatory requirements and spearhead novel initiatives to advance modern clinical investigation nationally.
For more information regarding the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, continue here.
