A legacy of support: Highlighting Cain’s impact on the CTSI

In April, Michael E. Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, announced he will step down from both posts, effective this fall. (Read more from UBNow.) During his 15 years as dean of the Jacobs School and 10 years as vice president for health sciences, Cain oversaw the design and construction of the medical school building and the Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC), and was instrumental in UB being awarded its first Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) in 2015 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health.

As Cain prepares to step down, Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Director Timothy F. Murphy, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor, reflects on Cain’s impact both before and after the CTSA award, his support of clinical and translational research related to COVID-19, and how he helped build a strong foundation for the CTSI’s future.

The construction of the CTRC — a joint UB-Kaleida Health building — created a unique opportunity for faculty, researchers, clinicians and students to focus on research discoveries and their translation to patient care. Murphy noted that Cain, as the overall chair, engaged a number of committees that worked on each element of the building via a collaborative experience with architects and clinicians.

“One of the ways in which Dr. Cain excels is by bringing together people with different kinds of expertise in order to accomplish something important,” Murphy says. “In this case, what came out of it was the CTRC, which opened in 2012 and is a spectacular place to come to work every day.”

Conversations about applying for the first CTSA grant began even before the building of the CTRC. Murphy says that applying for and receiving a CTSA grant was one of Cain’s stated goals as dean of the medical school.

“In 2009, Dr. Cain and I met and we made the decision to apply for a CTSA grant to the University at Buffalo,” Murphy says. “We knew these grants were extremely competitive, and we knew it was going to be a big lift.”

Murphy explains that Cain was instrumental in identifying and bringing in individuals with the type of background that would “show reviewers that we deserved to be up there with the leading institutions. And as this was happening, Dr. Cain was also working closely with university leadership who were invested in the importance of the CTSA grant to UB’s whole clinical and translational research enterprise.”

Cain’s guidance and support continued, both in the time following the first grant award in 2015 and leading to the grant renewal in 2020.

“From the very beginning, Dr. Cain has been an advocate for the CTSI’s vision to perform research to improve health and reduce health disparities in our community,” Murphy says. “In doing that, he increased buy-in from faculty, so then when I spoke, people listened. He talked often to both university leadership and faculty about the significant work we were doing, about the skills of our core directors, and how we have all been able to work together to make great things happen in Western New York and beyond.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic began to impact the world, UB and the CTSI prioritized COVID research. Cain was among the principal figures who led the charge.

“Dr. Cain was a co-leader of the Western New York Vaccination Hub and a member of the WNY Control Room, and he helped oversee the rollout of the vaccine,” Murphy says. ”Even before that, he oversaw the university response to COVID. With his leadership, UB responded in very thoughtful, data-driven, and altruistic ways, committing tremendous resources to the county, the state, and the whole effort.”

From his support of the first grant application to the CTSI’s focus on COVID research, Cain has helped set the stage for the future of clinical and translational research at UB. To Murphy, Cain “was absolutely critical” in building the foundation for the CTSI.

“Now, there is a strong university commitment, we have a very successful CTSI supported by a CTSA, and we are in the second year of a five-year grant. We as a CTSI have become an instrumental part of how clinical and translational research is performed at the university, and that is a legacy that Dr. Cain has left behind.”

Over the years, Cain has often spoken of the importance of the CTSA grant for clinical and translational research at UB. Reflecting today, Cain comments on the impact of the CTSI on the Jacobs School and its students, UB in general, and the Buffalo community.

“Acquiring a CTSA enabled UB to develop the research infrastructure required to recruit and retain the best physician-scientists, to be more competitive for pioneering research programs, to network with other outstanding institutions, to engage community physicians in new educational and research programs, and to better train the next generation of clinical investigators,” Cain explains. “Since receiving the first CTSA grant in 2015, participation in clinical trials has risen dramatically, including among community members impacted by health disparities. The CTSI is positioned to continue those efforts and further boost Western New Yorkers’ access to the newest and best tests and treatments available. I look forward to watching this growth carry on in the years to come.”