Abstract
Translational medicine has yet to deliver on its vast potential. Obstacles, or “blocks,” to translation at three phases of research have impeded the application of research findings to clinical needs and, subsequently, the implementation of newly developed interventions in patient care. Recent federal support for comparative effectiveness research focuses attention on the clinical relevance of already-developed diagnostic and therapeutic interventions and on translating interventions found to be effective into new population-level strategies for improving health—thereby overcoming blocks at one end of the translational continuum. At the other end, while there is a preponderance of federal funding underwriting basic science research, further improvement is warranted in translating results of basic research into clinical applications and in integrating the basic sciences into the translational continuum. With its focus on the human and interactional aspects of health, medical practice, and healthcare delivery systems, behavioral medicine, itself a component of translational medicine, can inform this process.
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Implications
Practice: Practitioners of behavioral medicine have the opportunity not only to introduce behavioral medicine topics onto the translational medicine research agenda, but also to guide development of a healthcare system in which the results of basic and clinical research are effectively translated into change in practice at the individual and population level.
Policy: To best advance translational medicine, investment in health information technology development should include development of methods, measures, and instruments relevant to behavioral medicine, and should be informed by expertise in this field.
Research: Behavioral medicine needs to position itself at all points along the continuum of research, from basic science to clinical studies, and to ensure that results are pushed forward into implementation.
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Abernethy, A.P., Wheeler, J.L. True translational research: bridging the three phases of translation through data and behavior. Behav. Med. Pract. Policy Res. 1, 26–30 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-010-0013-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-010-0013-z