A keynote address on clinical research engagement and its impact on health outcomes, awards for accomplished Buffalo Translational Consortium (BTC) researchers, and an overview of the latest news from the University at Buffalo Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) are highlights of the 2026 CTSI Annual Forum on Thursday, April 16.

The forum will be held from 12 to 4:45 p.m. in the Murphy Family Seminar Room (5019 A&B) at the Clinical and Translational Research Center on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. See full agenda and register here. 

The 2026 forum is the first as CTSI Director for Sanjay Sethi, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Senior Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, who began serving in the role in October 2025. Among the event highlights, Sethi says, is the keynote from Tracy Yu-Ping Wang, MD, MHS, MSc, Chief Officer of Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research (CER) for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, PCORI.

“The Annual Forum is an important event on the CTSI calendar,” Sethi says. “It offers an opportunity for investigators and staff to come together, in person, to discuss new findings and to consider the role researchers play in impacting public health. It will be particularly illuminating this year to hear more about PCORI from Dr. Wang.”

PCORI funds comparative clinical effectiveness research guided by patients, their caregivers and the broader healthcare community, with an aim to improve healthcare delivery and health outcomes. As Sethi explained in a recent CTSI story, “Our CTSI works each day to improve health outcomes by engaging our community in all phases of research, and that aligns with the aims of PCORI. In addition, both the CTSI and PCORI stress the importance of dissemination and implementation science.”

The agenda for the forum includes the following:

• Recognition of 2025 BTC Clinical Research Achievement Awards recipients by Anne B. Curtis, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Chair, Clinical Research Achievement Awards Committee
• Presentations from Top Award recipient David Jacobs, PharmD, PhD, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Finalist Ekaterina Noyes, PhD, MPH, School of Public Health and Health Professions (read more about the awarded projects here)
• Post-awards reception honoring Jacobs and Noyes
• Introductory remarks from Sethi and Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, Vice President of Health Sciences and Dean, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
• “State of the CTSI” address from Sethi
• Wang’s keynote address, titled “Engaging Patients and Communities in Clinical Research to Improve Health Care and Outcomes” (read more about Wang and her work here)

Watch for a recap of the 2026 CTSI Annual Forum on the CTSI website and in an upcoming Translational Spotlight newsletter.