Five Cleveland biomedical research and health care institutions have received a $1 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), one of the National Institutes of Health, to collaborate on developing the Cleveland Stroke Clinical Trials Regional Coordinating Center.
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine will administer the five year grant through its Clinical Translational Science Collaborative (CTSC), an initiative that has secured $128 million to accelerate the progress of medical breakthroughs from research labs to patient care.
Under the five-year grant, Case Western Reserve will work with its CTSC partner institutions which include primary affiliate University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth Medical Center, and Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, to improve prevention and treatment of strokes as well as rehabilitation for stroke patients.
"When we bring together talented and passionate people, incredible progress consistently follows," School of Medicine Dean Pamela B. Davis, MD, PhD, said. "We are delighted to see another strong partnership secure federal support to advance its outstanding work."
Principal investigator on the Cleveland project is Anthony J. Furlan, MD, Chairman and Professor of Neurology at CWRU School of Medicine and UH Case Medical Center. Co-principal investigator is Peter A. Rasmussen, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery at CWRU School of Medicine and Director of the Cerebrovascular Center at Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Furlan has extensive experience in the design and management of large stroke clinical trials. In the 1990s, he guided another collaborative stroke project in the city called Cleveland Operation Stroke, which piloted the American Stroke Association's Get with the Guidelines campaign and is now a national program that sets standards for hospital stroke care.
"Cleveland has internationally renowned stroke researchers and a rich history of cooperation among our hospital systems for stroke care," said Dr. Furlan. "With many hospital sites that have experience in stroke care and clinical research, we will be able to enroll large numbers of patients into a wide variety of clinical research trials."
The grant provides resources to advance collaboration among the four major centers as well as 14 individual hospitals within their respective systems.
For example, the grant will support a centralized institutional review board for research projects, a project manager and research coordinators, among other elements. The Regional Coordinating Center will develop, prioritize and implement stroke projects for the NINDS. Selected projects will be funded separately under a Master Agreement with the institute. The grant also includes funds for training a new generation of young stroke clinical investigators.
"Stroke is one of the top killers in the United States and the leading cause of long-term disability," said Dr. Rasmussen. "This partnership will help advance stroke research that will ultimately lead to better treatment and care for stroke patients."
Other key senior investigators with the project include John Chae, MD, and Joseph Hanna, MD, of MetroHealth Medical Center, Svetlana Pundik, MD, of the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA, Sophia Sundararajan, MD, and Cathy Sila, MD, of UH, and Ken Uchino, MD, of Cleveland Clinic. Physicians and researchers from neurosurgery, interventional neuroradiology, neurocritical care, pediatric neurology and the Cleveland Functional Electrical Stimulation Center also will participate.
About Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Founded in 1843, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is the largest medical research institution in Ohio and is among the nation's top medical schools for research funding from the National Institutes of Health. The School of Medicine is recognized throughout the international medical community for outstanding achievements in teaching. The School's innovative and pioneering Western Reserve2 curriculum interweaves four themes--research and scholarship, clinical mastery, leadership, and civic professionalism--to prepare students for the practice of evidence-based medicine in the rapidly changing health care environment of the 21st century. Nine Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the School of Medicine.
Annually, the School of Medicine trains more than 800 MD and MD/PhD students and ranks in the top 25 among U.S. research-oriented medical schools as designated by U.S. News & World Report's "Guide to Graduate Education."
The School of Medicine's primary affiliate is University Hospitals Case Medical Center and is additionally affiliated with MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic, with which it established the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in 2002. http://casemed.case.edu
About University Hospitals
University Hospitals, the second largest employer in Northeast Ohio, serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of hospitals, outpatient centers and primary care physicians in 16 counties. At the core of our health system is University Hospitals Case Medical Center. The primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, University Hospitals Case Medical Center is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research centers of excellence in the nation and the world, including cancer, pediatrics, women's health, orthopedics and spine, radiology and radiation oncology, neurosurgery and neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, organ transplantation and human genetics. Its main campus includes the internationally celebrated UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children's hospitals in the nation; UH MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University. University Hospitals CaseMedical Center is the 2012 recipient of the American Hospital Association – McKesson Quest for Quality Prize for its leadership and innovation in quality improvement and safety. University Hospitals Case Medical Center is one of only 18 hospitals in the country to have been named to U.S. News & World Report's most exclusive rankings list: the Best Hospitals 2013-14 Honor Roll. For more information, go to http://www.uhhospitals.org
About Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S.News & World Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation's best hospitals in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey. More than 3,000 full-time salaried physicians and researchers and 11,000 nurses represent 120 medical specialties and subspecialties. The Cleveland Clinic health system includes a main campus near downtown Cleveland, more than 75 Northern Ohio outpatient locations, including 16 full-service Family Health Centers, Cleveland Clinic Florida, the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and, currently under construction, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. In 2012, there were 5.1 million outpatient visits throughout the Cleveland Clinic health system and 157,000 hospital admissions. Patients came for treatment from every state and from more than 130 countries. Visit us at http://www.clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at http://www.twitter.com/ClevelandClinic.
About The MetroHealth System
The MetroHealth System is a comprehensive academic healthcare system which has served as the safety- net public hospital for Northeast Ohio for 176 years. MetroHealth has a nationally-renowned Level I trauma and burn center and an acclaimed critical-care transport program – Metro Life Flight. MetroHealth's network of 17 health centers incorporates a patient-centered medical home team care approach to optimize patient outcomes through chronic disease management. MetroHealth is in the top 4 percent of hospitals in the U.S. that have achieved Magnet® recognition for a second time. Magnet® is the nation's highest honor for nursing excellence. Founded in 1837, MetroHealth has been a major affiliate of Case Western Reserve University since 1914, and all MetroHealth active physician staff hold faculty appointments at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. In the past year, MetroHealth provided one million inpatient and outpatient visits – with overall revenue of nearly $750 million. For more information on The MetroHealth System, visit http://www.MetroHealth.org.
About the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center
Cleveland VAMC provides both inpatient and outpatient health care services at its facility located in Cleveland (Wade Park) as well as 13 Community Based Outpatient Clinics within Northeast Ohio. The Wade Park Campus is classified as a Level 1 (the most complex) type of medical facility because of the range of available services. It is a teaching hospital with full service patient care, as well as education & research centers.