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Often, when people think of translational research, it is through the lens of Grand\u00a0Rounds, seminars, and conference presentations. It is usually clinical in nature and\u00a0comes directly from the researcher. There is another type of translational research \u2013\u00a0NIH calls it Type 2 translation.<\/p>\n
I am part of a Type 2 translational research team at a child injury research center. Our\u00a0team of five has a mission to educate and empower the vast audience of people who\u00a0care about kids and keeping them safe. We do this by sharing information on child\u00a0injury in a format that is accessible by meeting health literacy guidelines and\u00a0providing opportunities for prevention through realistic, actionable safety steps.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a pretty lofty goal but we are very good at what we do. When researchers from\u00a0our center publish papers, it is not unusual for their work to be picked up by media\u00a0around the world. In the last six months, we\u2019ve had two papers that had over one\u00a0billion impressions (estimates of potential audience size), and two others that have\u00a0had around one million impressions. It helps that our product is related to kids \u2013 it\u00a0makes people care. But there is more to it than that.<\/p>\n
In working with media, we strive to understand their needs and how to create value\u00a0for them to cover our work. This is not as simple as it sounds. We spend several days\u00a0working on a press release. Our hospital sees the value in the work we do and often\u00a0contributes resources for us to create supporting videos, including sound bites,\u00a0demonstrations, and B-roll.<\/p>\n
We pay attention to the ever-changing way the masses consume information, staying\u00a0up to date on the pulse of the public to meet them where they are. Gone are the early\u00a0days of technology where you could create a website, direct people there, and then\u00a0forget about it. Now, a website must stay fresh, providing new content frequently. It\u00a0must also stay current in the way it looks. If its appearance is outdated, no one will\u00a0look at your information because there will be the assumption (correct or not) that\u00a0what is on the site is also likely outdated. People may believe you and\/or your\u00a0organization are outdated, or worse yet, irrelevant. We constantly assess social media\u00a0platforms, analyze how we can best use them for maximum effect, and then develop\u00a0our marketing plans.<\/p>\n
We talk to doctors, administrators, researchers, and other public health professionals\u00a0about the findings of our research. We also train them to effectively communicate with\u00a0those who trust them and look to them for guidance. After that, we can\u2019t sit back and\u00a0rest on our laurels \u2013 we have to do it all over again, and then again. By doing all of this,\u00a0we increase the likelihood of and the speed with which our research can lead to\u00a0changes in policy, regulation, and behavior.<\/p>\n
In the realm of translational research, teams like ours are not the norm and our team\u00a0didn\u2019t become this successful overnight. When our manager began her quest to have a\u00a0team devoted to translational research, translation and dissemination were barely on\u00a0the radar. Beyond journal publication, dissemination typically just meant printing \u00a0copies of a paper and having it available upon request or presenting it at conferences.\u00a0Our manager had a vision of something bigger and better. She specializes in health\u00a0communication and has the passion and drive to push for what she believes in. Her\u00a0director supported her vision and was willing to take a chance on, and fund, something\u00a0that really hadn\u2019t been done.<\/p>\n
Slowly, she grew her team. What makes us effective and successful is that although we\u00a0each have our own projects to manage, we bring our complementary sets of skills and\u00a0experiences to the table, both literally and figuratively, collaborating on all of our\u00a0products. These products include press releases, multi-media releases, media\u00a0interviews, blog articles![\"cynthia-anderson-profile-picture\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/injury-prevention\/files\/2016\/09\/Cynthia-Anderson-profile-picture-169x300.jpg\")
, website development and management, social media\u00a0outreach, toolkits, photo shoots, conference planning, and network building. We hone\u00a0our work through brainstorming sessions, writes, edits, and re-writes. Our work is always better after it has been through the rounds of the team.<\/p>\n
Our manager began winning over colleagues one researcher at a time, as they saw the\u00a0reach and the impact of their work grow. It took 10 years for her to get her team to\u00a0where we are now \u2013 having a big impact and doing innovative work that can help keep\u00a0kids safer.<\/p>\n