Allan Brasier to lead Institute for Clinical and Translational Research
The University of Wisconsin–Madison has recruited a leading physician-scientist to direct its Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) after the founding leader retires.
Allan Brasier, MD, director of the Institutes for Translational Research and Translational Science at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, will serve as executive director of ICTR, as well as the senior associate dean for clinical and translational research at the School of Medicine and Public Health.
“Dr. Brasier is a highly productive scientist whose work spans and integrates the full continuum of basic, clinical, and translational research,” said Robert N. Golden, MD, dean of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. “He is also an outstanding leader with a passion for creating highly effective multi-disciplinary research teams.”
The Institute for Clinical and Translational Research was founded in 2007 by current executive director Marc Drezner, MD. It brings together scientists from the University of Wisconsin health sciences schools: medicine and public health, nursing, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine and the college of engineering, together with the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, to promote the translation of scientific discoveries into new approaches for promoting health and diagnosing and treating diseases.
It has received grant support from the National Institutes of Health “Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA)” program since 2007, and recently received a five-year grant renewal from the NIH totaling more than $40 million.
Brasier received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego, and his medical degree from the University of California at San Francisco. He completed residency and fellowship training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
He has served on the faculty of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston since 1991, where he is currently the director of the Institute for Translational Sciences, director of the Sealy Center for Molecular Medicine, and the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Distinguished Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine. He has received 10 patents to date, and his 240 publications have been cited more than 10,000 times.
The Institute for Clinical and Translational Research’s team-based research results in more innovations, producing usable products and devices, according to Brasier. This approach will help ICTR in its many missions to advance precision medicine, improve outcomes in partnership with our health system, and enhance community involvement through its deep ties throughout Wisconsin.
“I am honored to have been selected for this position and to continue and evolve the outstanding program that Dr. Drezner has established at UW-Madison,” Brasier said. “ICTR is a leading component of the national CTSA program and is well-poised to advance translational research in meaningful ways.”
Brasier will succeed Drezner July 1.