Clinical Intervention Translation Core
IMPACT Pilot Awards
Nutrition and Obesity Research Center (NORC) Clinical Intervention and Translation (CIT) Core IMPACT:
Implementation Pilot Awards for Clinical Translation
The NORC Clinical Intervention and Translation (CIT) Core Dissemination & Implementation (D&I) Pilot Award aims to enhance NORC interventional research by adding expertise and outcomes in D&I science. Scientific discovery and its translation to the clinic and and the public increasingly require interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers with interventional and D&I expertise, as well as patient partners, to tailor interventions to the target audience and, thereby, maximize the uptake, effects, and sustainability of any intervention. This RFA seeks to support collaborations berween NORC members with ongoing or new intervention studies related to nutrition or obesity and experts in D&I science and the services offered by the Adult & Child Center for Outcomes Research & Delivery Science (ACCORDS) and CU Denver Evaluation Center.
Key Dates for applications that are accepted yearly:
Applications Due: 12/11/2025
Notification of Award: 2/20/2026
12-month funding period begins 3/1/2026
About the CIT Core
The CIT Core assists our research base with a wide range of clinical and translational research capacities including:
- The modification of body weight
- Diet and exercise interventions
- The evaluation of a range of physiological and behavioral outcomes
This core provides a clinical infrastructure and expertise for studies of weight loss, weight loss maintenance and behavioral interventions, which makes substantial contributions to the scientific underpinnings to the national agenda to address the problem of obesity.
The CIT Core partners with the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center (AHWC) to utilize their state of the art facilities including a human performance lab, metabolic research kitchen, fitness center, wellness clinic, and numerous educational and community outreach programs.
The Colorado Clinical Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) Nutrition Core is also an important collaborator to the CIT Core, providing Registered Dietitian (RD) and nutritionist expertise among many other services. Additionally, the CIT Core provides the isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) assays of doubly labeled water (DLW) for the measurement of energy expenditure in the free-living environment.
All services are provided on a fee for service basis.
NORC CIT Core Pricing
(pdf)
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Expertise in Health Behavior Change
- Can assist in the design of clinical studies involving behavioral interventions and strategies to increase adherence to behavioral interventions. Initial consultation/meeting is free, ongoing support with collaboration and funding
Contact Kevin Masters to make an appointment for further information.
Weight Loss and Weight Loss Maintenance Services
- Planning, resources, staff, and facilities for weight loss and weight loss maintenance interventions, including comprehensive behavioral support programs delivered by trained interventionalists
- Behavioral weight loss interventions can be delivered one-on-one or in group/cohort-based settings, with options for in person or virtual delivery
- Behavioral weight loss programs can be customized in regard to frequency of behavioral support and use of calorie-controlled diets and/or meal replacements to achieve weight loss targets of 5-15% over 8-26 weeks
- Specialized weight loss curriculum can be developed by registered dietitians to meet study needs
- Ongoing behavioral support for weight loss maintenance can also be provided
Services Provided in Conjunction with the CCTSI Nutrition Core
- Metabolic meal planning and design, individualized for participant energy needs, food preferences, and study macro- and/or micro-nutrient targets
- Metabolic meal preparation measurement, and dispensation
- Ad libitum feeding
- Design of specialty foods for targeted dietary interventions
- Dietary intake assessment – habitual and during protocol interventions
- Dietary intake can be assessed using traditional self-report tools, photographic food records, or novel passive capture devices
- Hunger and satiety assessment
- Assistance with measuring eating-related behaviors and appetite using validated tools and questionnaires
Visit the CCTSI website for more information on the CCTSI Nutrition Services.
Services Provided in Conjunction with AHWC
- Clinic and meeting rooms for delivery of study interventions and performance of outcome measures
- Phlebotomy
- Indirect Calorimetry
- EKG
Statistical Support
- Can provide statistical support for obesity, nutrition, and metabolism related studies, including initial consultation and power calculations for grant application (with developed specific aims) at no cost for NORC junior investigators
- Fee for service for other investigators
Contact Zhaoxing Pan to make an appointment for further information.
CIT Core Team
Janine Higgins PhD
Professor
Director, CLINICAL INTERVENTION AND TRANSLATION CORE
- Endocrinology (SOM)
Primary Phone:7207772955
Room 6149
Janine Higgins is a Professor of Pediatrics, Section of Endocrinology. She received her Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Sydney and completed post-Doctoral Fellowships at the University of Wollongong and the University of Colorado Denver. She has been the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) Nutrition Research Director for the past 15 years and CCTSI Director of Operations for four years. In 2018 alone, the CCTSI Nutrition Core dispensed 7,787 weighed research meals (6,230h of labor) plus an additional 85h of other services such as diet diary analysis, photographic food record analysis, dietary counseling, and administration of FFQs. Dr. Higgins has over 18 years’ experience in Nutrition research in rodent models, children, and adults. Her primary research interests center around diet and metabolism: investigating optimal treatment of Type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents (NIH multi-center TODAY study), development of novel methods for measurement of dietary intake, obesity treatment in adults, and ways to ameliorate weight regain following weight loss in rodent models. Dr. Higgins has extensive experience mentoring post-doctoral and clinical endocrinology, infectious disease, and gastroenterology Fellows and is a member of the selection committee and preceptor for the Children’s Hospital Colorado Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) Dietetic Internship Program. She serves as co-director of the CCTSI PreK program and an ad hoc reviewer for the K to R program.