Penn State Inter-Campus Health and Medicine Research Program spurs collaboration

HERSHEY, Pa. — Penn State Harrisburg and Penn State College of Medicine have announced a new initiative to support interdisciplinary research projects in health and medicine.

The Penn State Inter-Campus Health and Medicine Research Program aims to enhance research capabilities across multiple locations, leverage diverse expertise and resources, and promote the translation of research findings into clinical practice and community health. 

“We are pleased to partner with the College of Medicine on this excellent initiative, which leverages the extensive resources of Penn State in the greater Harrisburg-Hershey region,” said Sharareh “Sherri” Kermanshachi, Penn State Harrisburg associate vice chancellor for research and outreach. “Ultimately, the broader community will benefit from research gains when we combine the diverse expertise of faculty across the region.” 

Supported by Penn State College of Medicine’s Center for Medical Innovation, Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), and Penn State Harrisburg, the program offers new planning and seed grants to support competitive projects. The main goals for the program are to foster collaboration among researchers from different disciplines and campuses and to enhance research capacity and competitiveness.

“By working with our communities, partners and key stakeholders to integrate research with practice, we can be sure that our findings are most relevant and have the greatest impact,” said Jennifer Kraschnewski, director of Penn State CTSI. “It’s important to understand current challenges and to create partnerships amongst our academic researchers, staff, and trainees so we can work towards collaborative solutions.”

To help foster interaction among faculty from the two locations, the program hosted a Faculty Connect event on Jan. 18 at the College of Medicine in Hershey. “The Faculty Connect event brought clinicians and researchers from various disciplines together to share challenges, research expertise, and ideas to spark collaborations,” said Erika Swift, director of the Center for Medical Innovation. The event also featured many research support services available at Penn State.

“We are excited to work with Penn State Harrisburg on this endeavor,” said Yuval Silberman, associate dean for interdisciplinary research at Penn State College of Medicine. “By creating synergies between the diverse talents of faculty from both campuses, we set the stage to take further steps to enhance the academic environment for our students, develop programs that will contribute to the public good, and provide innovation for the broader community.”