Turning innovations into practical solutions for healthcare needs is an imperative – and one that can only become more urgent as demands on health systems increase. Our key focus in this series is the ‘downstream’ phases of translational health sciences – the human, organisational and societal issues that impact on the adoption, dissemination and mainstreaming of research discoveries. Talks are taken from the Oxford Translational Health Sciences Programme and delivered by leaders in the field of Translational Health Care. CB