Background: Transdisciplinary translational science applies interdisciplinary approaches to the generation of novel concepts, theories and methods involving collaborations among academic and non-academic partners, in order to advance the translation of science into broader community practice.

Objective: This paper introduces a special issue on transdisciplinary translational science for youth health and wellness. We provide an overview of relevant research paradigms, share the related goals of the Iowa State University Translational Research Network (U-TuRN), and introduce the specific papers in the issue.

Method: Authors were asked to submit empirical reports, programmatic reviews or policy-related papers that examined youth health issues from a transdisciplinary translational perspective.

Results: The papers included in this special issue each involve direct and fully-integrated community-university partnerships and collaborations between academic and non-academic partners in scholarship and research. Reports emphasize the value of the applied nature of the work with a research agenda driven primarily by real-world health and social needs.

Conclusions: There is growing acceptance of the need for transdisciplinary, community university collaborative research approaches as a means to meet both the requirements posed by real-world problems as well as goals of advancing scientific knowledge and innovation. In this issue, readers will find papers that show the promise of rethinking existing conceptual frameworks to incorporate transdisciplinary approaches as a catalyst to addressing translational science questions related to the field of children and youth care.