The Biomedical Data Translator Program: Conception, Culture, and Community

Challenges NCATS and Translator team members realized early in the project that communication can be challenging among team members who do not necessarily share the same vocabularies and languages, both literally and with respect to subtleties and nuances across biomedical fields. [...]the integration of diverse personalities and varying interpersonal sensitivities presents formidable challenges, especially as most teams did not know each other at the start of the program yet were required to coordinate efforts and work quickly and collectively toward the shared vision. [...]the program does not have a top‐down structure, which represents both a strength and a challenge by necessitating self‐organization among team members who are often more comfortable and familiar with hierarchically structured programs. Trust has been fostered, in part, by the fact that NCATS Translator staff themselves represent one of the six initial Translator teams. [...]while NCATS had expectations of certain teams and team members working together more closely than others, teams and team members were given the freedom to explore new collaborations within the confines of the larger Translator program and to allow collaborations to form organically. By strategically restricting the primary scientific focus of the feasibility assessment, Translator team members were able to maintain a singular focus on a common shared goal through targeted inquiries designed to advance understanding of the pathophysiology of disease and guide the design of the prototype Translator system. [...]the restricted focus on two use cases allowed team members to more rapidly overcome disciplinary language barriers and leverage the rich array of expertise, tools, and perspectives provided by team members from different disciplines, thereby gaining insights and identifying solutions to scientific and technical challenges that otherwise might not have been possible during the feasibility phase of the program.