Role for CTSAs in leveraging a distributed research infrastructure to engage diverse stakeholders in emergent research policy development.

This paper is a case study of our regional Clinical Translational Science Award's (CTSA) development of a coordinated response to the advanced notice of proposed rulemaking on Human Subjects Research Protections during the fall of 2011. Our CTSA was well positioned to quickly activate and coordinate a response to this important and time sensitive issue because we had established infrastructure and resources both within our CTSA and through our partnering institutions, existing relationships with key individuals in the institutions, and credibility as a trusted source of information. Three town hall meetings were organized and a Website was created to collect online comments. Ultimately, comments were collected, prioritized, and organized into a single, coordinated response. This case study demonstrates the value of a distributed research infrastructure and the role CTSAs like our Institute of Translational Health Sciences can play to engage the regional research community about important developments in the research landscape and to respond to requests for feedback to policy makers.