Ensemble Program Overview
The team composition of Ensembles is multidisciplinary and includes non-traditional stakeholders that are important to designing solutions to unmet patient medical needs. To achieve true interdependence of all disciplines and stakeholders, it is vital that Ensembles learn and implement the principles of team science.
Purpose & Aim
The Ensemble Program aims to unite diverse stakeholders to address unmet clinical needs and translate research into practice. By including both traditional and non-traditional team members, the program seeks to democratize research participation. Teams collaborate to form Pre-Ensemble groups, attend meetings, share knowledge, and develop research questions and protocols to resolve specific patient medical needs. Additional expertise is recruited as necessary.
Products & Feedback
Ensemble outcomes are “products” that could be a device, process, medication, assay, biomarker, clinical trial, survey tool, questionnaire, extramural grant, scholarly publication, etc. The special nature of Ensemble composition allows for products to receive feedback from the community, clinic, or basic science lab.
Process
A Pre-Ensemble team consists of one or more investigators or a greater number of team members addressing an unmet medical need. Formed in response to funding opportunities or organically, these teams collaborate to submit an Ensemble proposal for review by CTSI committees. If approved for funding, they become "Ensembles."
A CTSI Project Manager supports each team during the "Pre-Ensemble" stage and throughout Ensemble formation, proposal development, and research. Successful proposals must: (a) highlight the unmet patient medical need, (b) identify a diverse team with various resources (e.g., patient cohorts, community partners), and (c) discuss potential research outcomes.
The research is backed by our Function/Partner integration strategy, involving contributions from various CTSI functions such as the Clinical Trials Office, Adult Translational Research Unit, Community Engagement Consultation Service, Integrating Special Populations, Clinical Research Data Warehouse, BERD, or the CTSI/MSOE Deep Learning Initiative.
Integrated Clinical and Research Ensemble Clusters
Ensemble RFAs are open to forming Pre-Ensembles for unmet patient medical needs. In September 2021, the Ensemble Function collaborated with the Department of Medicine's Cardiovascular Academic Initiative to issue an RFA for "Focused Ensembles" targeting cardiology-related needs. The approved Ensembles form an Integrated Clinical and Research Cluster, where each Ensemble addresses different issues within cardiology. These are supported by a senior investigator known as a "translationist," with Michael Widlansky, MD, MPH, serving as the director and translationist for this Ensemble Cluster.
Ensemble Teams
The Ensembles team is multidisciplinary, incorporating non-traditional stakeholders essential for addressing unmet patient medical needs. To foster interdependence among all disciplines, it is crucial for Ensembles to learn and apply team science principles.
The science of team science studies effective collaboration principles, such as co-equality, shared vision, and common vocabulary, despite its absence in typical academic curricula. Each Ensemble team has unique starting points but follows stages of formation, based on Bruce Tuckman's widely-known theory: (1) Forming, (2) Storming, (3) Norming, and (4) Performing. Tuckman’s fifth stage, "adjourning," applies when completing a specific Ensemble product.
Ensemble membership is not limited to only MCW faculty and staff, and participation from our partner institutions and other academic institutions is highly encouraged. While most active team members are associated with MCW, there are members from all 8 partner institutions and other academic and community organizations.
Cumulative Institutional Representation on Individual Teams
Through inter-institutional networking, the Ensemble Program, has cumulatively included representation from 38 institutions and 95 unique departments, among all those institutions. Team composition ranges from one to eight institutions per team with an average of two institutions represented on each team. Additionally, an average of 5 different departments are represented per team, ranging from one to 13 departments per team.
Our Partners
Collaborating Organizations
American Heart Association
Acension
Children's Hospital of Chicago
Children's National Hospital
Cleveland Clinic
Columbia University
Forge in Wisconsin
Hoag Hospital
Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc.
Islamic Society Milwaukee
Loyola
Chicago University
Mayo Clinic
MediCardiaHealth
MedSpeed
Mills-Peninsula Medical Center
Muslim Community Health Clinic
Pathways Counseling Center
Pennsylvania State University
Phoenix Children's Hospital
Project Bubaloo
Rosalind Franklin
Rush University
16th Street Community Health Clinic
State of Wisconsin
Taking Off Pounds Sensibly
University of Pittsburgh
University of Texas Medical Branch
Upstream Development LLC
Word of Hope Ministries