Translational science has emerged as a critical discipline within the biomedical research enterprise, focused on generating scientific and operational innovations to overcome longstanding challenges in the journey from basic discovery to tangible health improvements. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), it is the field that produces innovations to make the research pipeline faster, more efficient, and more impactful. This field is dedicated to understanding the scientific and operational principles that underpin each step of the translational process itself.

It is essential to distinguish translational science from translational research. While translational research endeavors to move a specific discovery related to a particular target or disease through a step in the translational continuum, translational science adopts a "disease universal" or "disease-agnostic" approach. It addresses common scientific and operational bottlenecks that impede progress across a wide range of diseases and conditions. The fundamental distinction between these two concepts signifies a maturation of the biomedical field; the focus has expanded from solely advancing individual discoveries to systematically improving the entire ecosystem of discovery and application. This implies a strategic shift: by enhancing the process (translational science), all research projects (translational research) stand to benefit, representing a more efficient and scalable pathway to accelerate medical breakthroughs. The emphasis on "scientific and operational principles" suggests a move towards a more evidence-based, systematic investigation of the translation process itself, rather than relying on ad-hoc problem-solving for individual research endeavors.

The core objectives of translational science are multifaceted. They include identifying and overcoming critical roadblocks, such as incorrect predictions of drug toxicity or efficacy in humans, the lack of interoperability among data systems, challenges in data acquisition and analysis, and ineffective or inequitable recruitment and retention of participants in clinical trials. Furthermore, translational science aims to develop generalizable solutions and innovative methodologies that can be broadly applied, improve the diversity of research participants to ensure findings are relevant to all populations, address health disparities, and foster robust collaborations among academia, industry, government, and patient communities. The "disease-agnostic" nature of these solutions means that an innovation developed to address a bottleneck in one research area, for instance, a new method for clinical trial recruitment in oncology, could provide a valuable framework applicable to trials for cardiovascular or neurological disorders. This approach maximizes the return on investment in translational science, as solutions are not confined to specific disease silos but can have far-reaching benefits. The formal establishment and support of translational science as a distinct field indicates a high-level recognition that systemic improvements are paramount for accelerating the delivery of health benefits to the public, influencing funding priorities, training programs, and the very structure of research institutions.