July 7, 2008 – Oakland, Calif. – Children's Hospital Oakland's research institute is ranked 5th in the nation for research grants from the National Institutes of Health to children's hospitals. In 2007, Children's research institute received more than $23 million in awards from the NIH. This feat was accomplished with only 41 grants, making the average value of the institute's grants second in the nation.
Children's research institute is internationally renowned, and considered one of the leading research enterprises in the San Francisco Bay Area. Institute funding from the NIH is being used to continue groundbreaking research, including research on new ways to treat cystic fibrosis lung infections, prevent cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and cure sickle cell disease. With 30 principal investigators supported by NIH grants, Children's Hospital Oakland hopes to attract biotech companies to Oakland.
"Because we're not a university, we can make decisions in a very short time," states Bertram Lubin, MD, Children's senior vice president of research. "That's attractive to companies, and it's attractive to the kinds of entrepreneurial scientists we bring to the research institute. There are no administrative constraints for a good idea and good opportunity, if funds are available."
Children's Hospital's research institute receives about $50 million each year from grants and is among the leading pediatric research institutions in the world. It has worldwide interests with a goal of treating locally and healing globally.
Research at Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland
Research efforts at Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland are coordinated through Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute. Children's Hospital Oakland is Northern California's only freestanding and independent children's hospital. The hospital's internationally renowned biomedical research facility brings together seven centers of excellence that are devoted to clinical and basic science research to treat and prevent disease. The research institute has approximately 300 staff members and an annual budget of more than $49 million. Primary research funding comes from the National Institutes of Health. The institute is a leader in translational research, bringing bench discoveries to bedside applications. These include providing cures for blood diseases, developing new vaccines for infectious diseases and discovering new treatment protocols for previously fatal or debilitating conditions such as cancers, sickle cell disease and thalassemia, diabetes, asthma, HIV/AIDS, pediatric obesity, nutritional deficiencies, birth defects, hemophilia and cystic fibrosis.