In the final edition of this series focused on providing examples of translational research at the Department of Medicine, I will highlight the activities of Dr. Mark Ormiston and some of my own research. Both of our research programs endeavour to span the gap between the patient and the basic science research laboratory. Although there are many other faculty who run excellent translational research programs, I hope that the examples in this series of three blogs, provides the reader with some sense of translational research in practice.