Yale is where chemotherapy was first used and where penicillin first saved a patient?s life. While medical advances like these may start with great ideas, they don?t get very far without an infrastructure to support them. This is Colleen Shaddox for the Yale Office of Public Affairs talking with Dr. Robert Sherwin about the ongoing construction of that infrastructure. He's director of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation.

Dr. Robert Sherwin talks about why it takes a decade or more for basic science discoveries to change medical treatment. He directs the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation, which works to support and streamline clinical research. This will get new treatments to patients more quickly while maintaining safety.

Dr. Margaret Grey, Dean of the Yale School of Nursing and a leading diabetes researcher, talks about the imperative to do research that makes a substantial difference in patient's lives. The School of Nursing has a long history of patient-centered research, and its capacity to do this work has been expanded by an NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award.

Dr. Eugene Shapiro talks about his work at the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation where he helps early career scientists build skills in clinical and translational research. This type of training will help them apply breakthroughs in basic science to patient care.

Yale's Institutional Review Board Chair Sandra Alfano talks about the protections for people who volunteer to be part of medical studies. Rigorous standards that are even higher for vulnerable groups such as children, safeguard the rights of these participants, without whom many medical advances would not be possible.

Yale's Investigative Medicine Program trains young physicians to conduct research. Its director, Dr. Joseph Craft, explains how having a clinical practice often drives these physician scholars to conduct research that can improve patient care.

Jeannette Ickovics, professor of public health, talks about Yale's CARE initiative to put research to work combatting smoking poor diet and physical inactivity in New Haven. These risk factors are associated with many chronic diseases more prevalent in the city than in surrounding communities. CARE works closely with community partners to ensure that researchers are responsive to New Haven residents.

Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars are young physicians learning to do research that will drive change in the health care system. At Yale, they partner with local non-profits to address problems like youth violence in the city.

When a breakthrough discovery is made in a laboratory, it's typically years before that advance helps an actual patient. Tesheia Johnson, Chief Operating Officer of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation, talks about how the university is helping clinical scientists to streamline the process and put knowledge to work for people.