VCU C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research

Virginia Commonwealth University established the C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research 2007 to provide the commonwealth with infrastructure and resources that promote interdisciplinary human health research.

In 2010, the National Institutes of Health awarded VCU with a $20 million Clinical and Translational Science Award to integrate the Wright Center with a national consortium of more than 50 research institutions funded through the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. As the first academic health center in Virginia to receive a CTSA, VCU belongs to a national network of research institutions that are working to accelerate the transformation of laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients, engage communities in clinical research and train a new generation of clinical and translational scholars.

Longtime VCU benefactor C. Kenneth Wright made a $16 million gift to name the Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research in 2015. The gift established six Distinguished Chairs in Clinical and Translational Research and a physician-scientist scholars program. Wright’s support enabled the university to recruit distinguished researchers from around the country and helped VCU prepare the best and brightest students for careers along the spectrum of translational science.

In 2018, the NIH awarded VCU with a $21.5 million CTSA — the largest NIH grant in VCU’s history — to further its groundbreaking research that saves lives and improves treatments for patients around the world.