We propose to develop a plan for the content, governance, administration and evaluation of an Institutional Clinical and Translational Science Award in an Institute or Center of Clinical and Translational Sciences at the University of Southern California (USC) and two participating institutions, Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), and the City of Hope (COH) Medical Center. These institutions have a broad range of high-quality basic, translational, clinical and community research and training programs that, at present, are not integrated or coordinated to conduct efficient and effective bench to bedside or bedside to community research. A formal strategic planning process is underway in consultation with an academic consultant, AMC Strategies: (a) Phase I: Preliminary Research is nearly completed and will provide, through faculty members interviews, a retreat and an environmental assessment, a base of qualitative and quantitative information from which we can develop specific goals, strategies and tactics for development of a CTSA application, (b)Phase II: Global Directions - will result in a vision statement and clear and measurable goals for a CTSA application, (c) Phase III: Development of Strategies and Tactics - will be overseen by a Steering Committee, working with AMC Strategies, and conducted by four design teams structured to address major functional components of a CTSA. The design teams will make formal strategic and tactical recommendations, (d) Phase IV: Final Strategic Plan: The Design Team and AMC Strategies will create the final strategic plan, identify the resources that will be required to implement it, develop a detailed implementation plan, and communicate the plan to the key constituencies across the participating institutions, (e) Grant Writing: Based on the strategic plan and resource requirement, the Principal Investigator, Co-Is and Steering Committee will prepare an application to NIH for a CTSA (anticipated early 2007). This planning process has broad support among the leadership and faculty members of the participating institutions and promises to create a robust plan for an academic home for clinical and translational science at USC, CHLA and COH Medical Center. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]