Goal Two: Research

Saint Louis University School of Medicine will be the home of research excellence in clinical, translational and basic sciences, creating transformative knowledge that will strengthen our academic mission and positively impact the health and well-being of the population.

Objectives

1. Increase basic, translational and clinical research.
2. Significantly grow external National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding within five years.
3. Double clinical trials within five years.
4. Improve the environment for research, including policies, research infrastructure and core facilities.
5. Decrease approval time for research proposals.
6. Improve IT platforms that support research to enable greater efficiency and interoperability.
7. Foster research collaboration across departments.
8. Create clinical research units to provide support for all clinical research.
9. Engage SSM in our research and become a clinical trial partner of SSM.
10. Ensure mentoring and education for researchers.
11. Enable research-protected time for clinical faculty.
12. Increase the number and range of research faculty.
13. Strengthen and standardize investigator training.
14. Support engagement in innovation.

Strategies

1. Improve Infrastructure and Operations
   1. Redesign clinical trials office workflows. 
   2. Refine study feasibility assessment guidelines
   3. Collaborate with IRB for process improvement.
   4. Create clinical research units with the staffing to propose and execute externally funded research.
   5. Create a clinical trials website and registry.
   6. Assess and ensure sufficient research personnel staffing. 
   7. Provide training and career advancement for research personnel.
   8. Develop policies and procedures for equipment acquisition, use and maintenance.
   9. Collaborate with SLU Research Computing to improve computing infrastructure.
   10. Enable research dashboards for grant tracking.
   11. Improve websites across departments to showcase research.
2. Increase Research Faculty
   1. Plan and support strategic hiring and startups within departments.
   2. Increase the number of funded basic science researchers.
   3. Increase the number of funded clinical researchers.
   4. Grow the AHEAD Institute, the Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation, IVSP and Neuroscience Institute.
   5. Recruit faculty who obtain external funding in centers of excellence (neuroscience, vaccine and metabolic).
   6. Prioritize investment in areas of greatest impact.
3. Support Investigators
   1. Create an investigator mentoring program. 
   2. Provide scientific writing and editing services for faculty.
   3. Establish a policy for protected time for clinical researchers.
   4. Update the research compensation plan for basic and clinical researchers.
4. Collaborations and Innovation
   1. Renegotiate the research services agreement with SSM. (Completed May 1, 2024)
   2. Fully utilize Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS) for support of junior investigators.
   3. Develop geospatial health proposal.
   4. Increase use of pilot funding mechanisms including ICTS.
   5. Implement education and training in new technology and intellectual property protection.
   6. Streamline and support commercialization process.
   7. Develop and expand innovative cores.
5. Education
   1. Increase and support graduate students (see education goal). 
   2. Establish a clinical research seminar series.
   3. Provide and ensure study conduct training for investigators.
   4. Design and implement student research training program.