—Wayne State University has appointed Phillip Levy, a doctor and professor of emergency medicine, to head up its new Translational Science and Clinical Research Innovation program. Housed in WSU’s Integrative Biosciences Center, the Center for Translational Science and Clinical Research Innovation will become the hub of campus-wide clinical research aimed at improving healthcare in Detroit and southeast Michigan.

The center will also be a focal point for university faculty to work with funding agencies and industry partners to design and operate clinical research studies. The program’s ultimate goal is to work with community advisory boards to determine the direction of the university’s clinical research, helping to “ensure that studies and discoveries are applicable and available to community members,” the university said in a press release.

“We’re looking at a completely different vision: fully integrating a community and university to solve health care disparities and inequities,” Levy said in a statement. “We will have all oars rowing in the same direction. This includes our partner health care systems and the city of Detroit, with whom we are now collaborating on a number of initiatives.”