Recently, the National Institute of Health launched the ‘‘Roadmap for Medical Research’’ initiative, which is geared to foster translational research (Zerhouni, 2005). The goal of this initiative is to translate the ‘‘remarkable scientific innovations we are witnessing into health gains for the nation’’ (p. 1621). Although this is a new approach in medicine, since 1998 communication scholars have advocated the need for translational practices. The decision of the JACR editor, Tim Sellnow, to publish a series of Commentaries provides an occasion to assess how our discipline has embraced the spirit of translational research 10 years after our first introduction to the concept. The four commentaries to be published in this series highlight the translational research advances made in our discipline. From the 1998 NCA pre-conference that introduced the concept of ‘‘translating research into practice,’’ the 1999 JACR special issue on translational research, the many programs found in the 2001 Western States Communication Association conference dedicated to the theme of research into practice, the 2002 WSCA presidential address, and invited essays in WJC in 1994 1997 on defining evidence, we have grown in our understanding and recognition of the critical nature translational research plays in our world today (Petronio, 1998, 1999, 2002). We have become more sophisticated in the way we think about research translation. We recognize that in order to address everyday problems we need to go beyond the knowledge discovery of the basic research enterprise to interpret and apply research outcomes in an effort to develop effective practices for the betterment of everyday life. Progressing from knowledge discovery to translating results through interpreting, decoding, and deciphering helps locate executable practices that reflect the best kind of knowledge utilization (Petronio, 1999). The most important aspect of translational research is that we yield more than application: we create ways in which to implement new systems, procedures, or routines predicated on research findings that are geared toward developing functional practices to improve our lives.