Defining Success for Translational Research Organizations

Translational research organizations (TROs) seek to enhance the clinical impact of scientific discoveries and play a multifaceted role characterized by multidisciplinary collaboration, outreach initiatives, and the provision of shared resources and facilities. Given this complexity, TROs require a flexible framework for performance assessment that tracks their progress, incentivizes fruitful activities, and aligns individuals throughout the organization. We suggest a framework that assesses TRO performance along seven main dimensions—funding, talent, creation, validation, dissemination, external uptake, and collaboration—and we encourage individual organizations to develop additional metrics as needed.