About

Significance and Impact

CHAMP is a direct response to the paucity of child-health focused Clinical and Translational Research (CTR) and the Institute of Medicine guidance in its June 2013 report: “Clinical and translational research is urgently needed in the area of child health ... NCATS should encourage and promote collaborations among CTSAs for multisite studies.”

CHAMP is designed to both overcome the hurdles involved in child-health CTR (e.g. meeting sample size requirements; recruiting vulnerable populations; assessing risk of long-term toxicity in drug trials; addressing limited expertise in team science among child-health translational investigators) and to enhance investigator-initiated child-health focused CTR.

The current CHAMP initiative builds on a successful feasibility project in the University of California Biomedical Research Acceleration, Integration, and Development (UC BRAID) consortium, a partnership of the five University of California CTSA programs at Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.

Purpose and Goals

  • Provide early stage support for the development and effective functioning of multi-institutional research teams.
  • Consultative support to investigators and teams seeking assistance may include proposal development, project management, team facilitation and leadership expertise and development.
  • Develop resource materials for CHAMP investigators.

  • CHAMP Conference

  • Karen Allen, MA, CIP – Executive Director, Research Protections at the University of California, Irvine (UCI)

  • Daniel S. Stokols, PhD presented “Strategies to Build Teams” at the 2nd Annual Conference

  • William E. Smoyer, MD, VP for Clinical and Translational Research at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, spoke about Learning Health System: An Essential Tool for Child Health Discovery at the 2nd Annual Conference

  • Jeffrey W. Treem, PhD presented “Use of Social Media in CHAMP”

  • Maritza Salazar Campo, PhD provided insights about Team Science

CHAMP Timeline

  • CHAMP ConceptJuly 2014

    The CHAMP concept was selected for presentation at the CTSA Principal Investigators Meeting.

  • Initial Pilot Program2015

    The University of California Biomedical, Research, Acceleration, Integration & Development (UC BRAID) and the respective Departments of Pediatrics committed $50,000 to support 2 pilot CHAMP projects within the University of California system for 1 year.

  • Issued Call for ApplicationsMarch 2015

  • Applications submitted and reviewedJune-July 2015

    Two pilot programs were selected for funding:
    1. UC Braid: Kawasaki Disease Project
    2. CHAMP - UC Center for Pediatric Microbiome Research

  • Inaugural "Boot Camps"Fall 2015

  • CHAMP PODs were formed2016

    15 of the contributing CTSAs were divided into 3 PODs

  • CHAMP Proposal Applications Deadline31 March 2016

    Each POD submitted a proposed research that represented novel, relevant, and high-impact topics in child-health. Proposals were reviewed by three experienced translational investigators from three separate academic institutions and were scored on the following criteria (adopted from the NIH review categories): significance, investigators, innovation, approach, and environment.

  • Three proposals selectedJune 2016

    • POD 1: NMR metabolomics of cerebrospinal fluid and urine for accelerated diagnosis of pediatric encephalomyelitis ($50,000)
    • POD 2: Building capacity to deliver effective obesity management interventions within primary care settings ($50,000)
    • POD 3: The feasibility of common screening for adverse childhood experiences in the primary care setting ($40,000)

  • Inaugural National CHAMP Meeting24 January 2017

    Each of the PODs provided updated on the research plans. The agenda also included topics for Single IRB, Team Science, and tools for Dissemination and Knowledge Translation.

  • CHAMP 2.0 is launched1 July 2017

    12 CTSAs have agreed once again to commit to CHAMP and provide funding support.

  • 2nd Annual National CHAMP MeetingAugust 2018