Overview: FY12 Strategic Communications Plan Meredith Fisher Director, Administration and Communication

CTSI Mission CTSI aims to improve health and well-being by accelerating scientific discoveries into practice—from the scientist’s bench to the patient’s bedside.

CTSI Goals Create an academic home and an adaptive, sustainable infrastructure to support clinical translational science research at the University of Minnesota. Foster meaningful relationships and transparent interactions among the University of Minnesota and our communities. Train and reward interdisciplinary clinical translational science teams at the University of Minnesota and in our communities.

Key Ideas CTSI’s primary purpose is to help investigators conduct research with the potential to improve the health of our communities. CTSI is easily accessible through the Front Door. The CTSI model is flexible and financially sustainable. CTSI is collaborative.

Key Ideas CTSI works across schools, disciplines, and departments to build one team for clinical translational science research at UMN. Awarding of the CTSA grant acknowledges that UMN has both a strong existing foundation and even greater potential to support translation of scientific discoveries into new treatments.

Target Audiences Internal Audiences CTSI staff and faculty Current CTSI investigators and research staff UMN leadership and units (OIT, OVPR, etc.) AHC centers, schools, and departments Junior clinical translational science investigators Professional research staff across UMN

Target Audiences External Audiences Office of Community Engagement for Health (OCEH) council members and their home organizations Potential research participants / the public Community-based investigators State of Minnesota policy leaders and legislature Local media CTSA consortium member institutions

Strategic Communications Objectives 1. Create an environment where very CTSI staff member understands and actively pursue progress toward the CTSI mission and goals, and act as informed ambassadors for the institute. 2. Articulate the value and role of the Clinical and Translational Science Award in relation to CTSI, UMN, and the state of MN. 3.Develop a public website, which will be the online home and first information source for clinical translational science research at UMN.

Strategic Communications Objectives 4. Clearly and consistently brand CTSI using Driven to Discover and UMN brand standards. 5. Increase awareness and understanding of CTSI’s mission, goals, and key ideas among University of Minnesota leaders, faculty, and staff. 6. Demonstrate the success of CTSI’s business model and the value-added benefits of working with CTSI; promote specific success stories.

Strategic Communications Objectives 7. Actively engage and develop advocates for CTSI, including researchers at all levels, research staff, and community members. 8. Increase awareness and use of existing CTSI-BMI tools; coordinate the promotion of new tools at the time of implementation.

Key Strategies Share CTSI’s mission, vision, and goals with all CTSI staff members to facilitate discussion and open a “line of sight” to the mission for each individual staff member.

Key Strategies Create a membership structure for CTSI—build a network of advocates. Membership is available to all and classified by type: faculty, staff, student, community member, member from another CTSA institution, etc. Membership benefits may include: monthly newsletters, notification of/access to events, notification of training and funding opportunities.

Key Strategies Redesign and update CTSI’s public website to create a user-friendly, researcher-focused interface. Use Driven to Discover brand to strengthen our position. Deliver valuable content and functionality to the research community and potential research participants.

Key Strategies Redesign and update CTSI’s public website to create a user-friendly, researcher-focused interface. Use Driven to Discover brand and Because campaign. Current homepage Proposed homepage Proposed homepage

Key Strategies Redesign and update CTSI’s public website to create a user-friendly, researcher-focused interface. Use Driven to Discover brand and Because campaign. Current homepage Proposed homepage Proposed homepage

Key Strategies Create a CTSI News site using UMN “UThink” blog. Creates a place to share stories about CTSI – our people, our work, and our successes. Creates a central repository for news and events related to CTSI, rather than scattered throughout the site. Publicity for events and announcements on the news site will drive traffic to CTSI homepage.

Key Strategies

Publish a monthly newsletter for subscribers and CTSI members. Example: OVPR Research News Online Publish a monthly newsletter for CTSI staff members – CTSI Connect.

Key Strategies Develop and promote effective outreach and engagement events. Science Café Open House Conversations in Clinical Research State Fair shift – led by OCEH

Key Strategies Collect and analyze specific cases of cost savings for studies using research services. Obtain PI testimonials. Publish case studies and/or average cost savings on CTSI website and marketing materials.

Key Strategies Publicize innovative BMHI advances, new tools/systems, collaborative work, and success stories. Tell BMHI success stories: UMN outlets, CTSI News blog, external media. Develop and promote web-based, distance accessible training for BMI tools and CTSI systems, as needed. Create incentives to promote adoption of CTSI BMI tools.

Key Strategies Work with CTSI subject matter experts to develop communications strategies and tactics for specific functions, including OCEH, EdTRCD, and BMHI. For example, Andrea Leinberger-Jabari can work with communications staff to develop and implement specific OCEH plans.

Key Strategies Create a home on the CTSI website for information about the CTSA program to articulate: how the grant supports the work of CTSI; how CTSI/CTSA aligns with the mission of UMN; what the CTSA means for the state of MN; and how the UMN CTSA is contributing to the national consortium.

Evaluation Define goals and measures during planning process. Work with Evaluation and Monitoring Team to evaluate effectiveness and report progress.