ABOUT US
Our Mission
The C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research seeks to advance science and foster partnerships that accelerate translational research for the betterment of human health.
Our Vision
The C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research will catalyze a cultural transformation at VCU, evidenced by increased interdisciplinary research across the clinical and translational spectrum. The Wright Center facilitates collaboration among wide-ranging expertise within the university and throughout the communities we serve. Our efforts transform scientific discoveries into treatments for patients. By training a new generation of interdisciplinary clinical and translational scholars, the Wright Center will work to ensure our vision is sustained.
Our Story
Virginia Commonwealth University established the C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research 2007 to provide the commonwealth with infrastructure and resources that promote interdisciplinary human health research.
In 2010, the National Institutes of Health awarded VCU with a $20 million Clinical and Translational Science Award to integrate the Wright Center with a national consortium of more than 50 research institutions funded through the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. As the first academic health center in Virginia to receive a CTSA, VCU belongs to a national network of research institutions that are working to accelerate the transformation of laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients, engage communities in clinical research and train a new generation of clinical and translational scholars.
Longtime VCU benefactor C. Kenneth Wright made a $16 million gift to name the Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research in 2015. The gift established six Distinguished Chairs in Clinical and Translational Research and a physician-scientist scholars program. Wright's support enabled the university to recruit distinguished researchers from around the country and helped VCU prepare the best and brightest students for careers along the spectrum of translational science. In 2018, Wright renewed his support with a $5 million gift to help the Wright Center expand its biomedical informatics program.
Also in 2018, the NIH awarded VCU with a $21.5 million CTSA - the largest NIH grant in VCU's history - to further its groundbreaking research that saves lives and improves treatments for patients around the world.
And in December 2020, the C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Foundation gifted the Wright Center another $16 million gift to support collaborative science and health care research by VCU investigators.
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