The Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC CTSI) has expanded its philanthropic reach with a new group for individuals or entities who support the Institute. Called “Friends of the SC CTSI,” this group is composed of supporters of the Institute and was established to honor a founding gift to the Healthcare Delivery Science (HDS) Center, co-sponsored by the University of Southern California (USC) and the SC CTSI. 

The Healthcare Delivery Science Center, which started as a program in the SC CTSI, has funded clinical effectiveness research at the Los Angeles Department of Health Services since 2018. Founding Director Amytis Towfighi, MD, developed a multi-stakeholder engagement model to solicit priorities from patients and health system leaders and build interdisciplinary teams that test evidence-based interventions in real-world healthcare settings. The founding gift will go toward advancing improvements in healthcare access, quality, efficiency, and patient-centered care.  

The Friends of SC CTSI group supports a variety of areas, such as innovative translational research projects in high-need diseases and populations, incubation of projects that increase the speed and efficiency of research, and high-quality workforce development programs to train early-career researchers, community liaisons, and members of the research community. Clinical and Translational Science Awarded sites like the SC CTSI receive funding from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, a specialized research center within the National Institutes of Health. But some sites also explore outside funding sources to fund more projects and drive short and long-term impact.

“We are deeply grateful for this foundational gift, which opens the door for a broader community of supporters to champion our mission,” said SC CTSI Executive Director Allison Orechwa, PhD, MBA. “Diversifying our funding streams through private philanthropy is essential to sustaining SC CTSI's momentum and driving the next generation of health discoveries.”

For individuals or entities who would like to become “Friends of SC CTSI” and contribute to our mission of translating science into solutions for better health, please click here.