A nearly $28 million federal research grant will keep Howard University and Georgetown University's joint clinical research center running for another seven years, with new work in artificial intelligence and precision medicine that could directly affect patient care across the D.C. region.

The National Institutes of Health renewed the Clinical and Translational Science Award for the Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science, known as GHUCCTS, Howard University announced the week of Aug. 10. The partnership also includes MedStar Health, the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The money runs through approximately 2033.

GHUCCTS is one of roughly 65 CTSA-funded hubs nationwide. The NIH created the program in 2006 to speed laboratory discoveries into treatments patients can actually use.

The renewed funding expands the center's focus into data science, AI, precision medicine and community-engaged research. Among the center's priorities: using AI to identify risk factors for adverse events in pregnancy and postpartum, building on MedStar Health's Safe Babies, Safe Moms initiative, according to a Georgetown University Medical Center overview of the partnership. Through MedStar's network of more than 400 care sites in the mid-Atlantic, researchers can connect findings to patients quickly.

"We look forward to this new and exciting phase of GHUCCTS to transform further the translational science landscape in the D.C. region," said Marjorie C. Gondrée-Lewis, professor of neuroscience and associate dean for faculty development at Howard University College of Medicine, who serves as Howard's principal investigator for the center.

Gondrée-Lewis said the center has integrated new dissemination and implementation science capability and will develop AI models for intervention in clinical practice.

Jason G. Umans, associate professor of medicine and associate vice president for translational science at Georgetown University Medical Center, serves as Georgetown's principal investigator. He said the partnership's strength lies in bringing together scientists, clinicians, trainees and communities across institutions to tackle problems no single organization could solve alone.

The center first launched in 2010, making this renewal a continuation of a 16-year collaboration. Gondrée-Lewis took over as Howard's lead investigator three years ago, succeeding Thomas Mellman. Umans succeeds Joseph G. Verbalis, who led Georgetown's side through multiple funding cycles.

Howard is the only historically Black university with an R1 research designation. Howard University president emeritus Wayne A. I. Frederick said in the university's announcement that the NIH investment "reaffirms Howard University's standing as a Research One institution and recognizes the strength, rigor and growing impact of the research enterprise we have built."

The CTSA is complemented by continued NIH support for training programs, including career development grants and new initiatives to train clinical research professionals and advance research nursing. Through MedStar Health, GHUCCTS investigators have access to one of the nation's largest integrated health systems, with patients across more than 400 mid-Atlantic care sites serving as the bridge between bench research and bedside treatment.