Calls for the acceleration of
translational research initially focused on the“valley of
death” between laboratory discoveries and clinical
innovation and the testing and application of prom-
ising findings in clinical trials. 1 The concept of trans-
lation was extended to include the concern that, too
often, promising interventions were successfully
tested in clinical trials, but that this transfer from
bench to bedside only resulted in a transfer from
“bedside to the academic bookshelf