Cardiac researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have received a $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to pioneer studies in cardiovascular disease management and participate in a novel collaboration network to develop and implement research in this critically important field.
Penn is one of eight centers throughout the United States and Canada to be a named a Clinical Coordinating Center in the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI)-funded Clinical Research Network. This network will fund the creation of research and clinical trials that will answer questions in cardiothoracic surgery that have eluded researchers thus far.
The eight institutions that comprise the Cardiothoracic Surgical Network will collaborate over a five-year period to improve current technologies and create new ones to treat cardiovascular disease. “The establishment of this network will result in great benefit for patients. It also encourages leaders in cardiovascular surgery to share ideas, information, data and results,” said Michael Acker, M.D., Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and Principal Investigator for the grant.
“By enhancing the ability of research teams to evaluate new techniques, technologies and devices, the network promises to improve the scientific basis of care in cardiovascular disease,” said Elizabeth G. Nabel, M.D., Director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
As a clinical coordinating center, the Penn researchers will:
• Propose protocols and participate in protocol development
• Screen and recruit cardiac surgery for up to 5 randomized clinical studies in cardiac surgery
• Develop strategies to encourage referrals from other specialty areas
• Draft publications and distribute research findings
• Collaborate with other centers
The seven other heart centers participating in this landmark NIH study are: the Cleveland Clinic, Columbia University, Duke Medical Center, Emory University, Montefiore-Einstein Heart Center, University of Virginia and the Montreal Heart Institute.