# Veterans Affairs - Translational Education and Mentoring (VA-TEAM) Center

> **NIH VA I50** · LOUIS STOKES CLEVELAND VA MEDICAL CENTER · 2021 · —

## Abstract

Agencies that fund medical research are under increasing pressure to translate funded research
projects to commercial entities. These commercial entities can obtain the necessary external capital
needed to advance the technology to a point where it will change health care. The VA is no different in
encountering these problems as a funding agency, and the problems are compounded by the VA's
unique mission to address the health care needs of Veterans. But this translational research process is
long, complicated, and expensive. Further, translational researchers are not trained in the skills
needed to identify and address these challenges. Finally, these problems are typically faced only after
significant research progress has been made, meaning that any required changes require costly delays
for revisions or new studies. The VA has made tangible progress in advancing translational research,
but now needs a way to embed the knowledge required for efficient technology transfer in the culture of
VA researchers to increase efficiency, improve quality, and have a greater effect on the health care of
Veterans. To accomplish this, the VA Translational Education and Mentoring (VA-TEAM) Center
proposes a two-phase approach to educate VA's translational research community and identify VA's
most promising translational research projects for experienced project management, advising, and
mentoring. The long-term objective is to create a lasting culture of translational focus for the VA
research network. When investigators are taught about the translational pathway from beginning to
end, it changes how they think about their research and their role in the translational ecosystem. With
this knowledge, they change how they approach all aspects of the research endeavor, from funding
sources, grant writing, hiring students and staff, approaching mentors, and even the conferences where
they choose to present their work. Underlying these changes is an understanding of the fundamental
necessity of all successful translational work: developing a valuable solution to a robust clinical need.
The immediate objective is to identify the VA's most promising research technologies across all four
research services, and provide them with focused expertise to identify the critical work remaining to
make their projects attractive for investment. To realize these objectives, VA-TEAM brings two things
to the VA: first, a soup-to-nuts online curriculum through a series of existing modules and workshops.
These modules walk research teams through the fundamentals of translational research from finding
product-market fit to financing, all within the context of their own research projects, and with special
emphasis on Veteran health and VA's strategic priorities. The second piece is an advanced, more
intensive program designed to drive selected late-stage translational research to the point where it is
attractive for outside investment. This is done through active project management and ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10231804
- **Project number:** 1I50BX005578-01
- **Recipient organization:** LOUIS STOKES CLEVELAND VA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** ROBERT A. BONOMO
- **Activity code:** I50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-01-01 → 2025-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10231804

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10231804, Veterans Affairs - Translational Education and Mentoring (VA-TEAM) Center (1I50BX005578-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10231804. Licensed CC0.

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