EXCEED THE SPACE PROVIDED. The General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) at Boston UniversitySchool ofMedicine is at the center of an effort toenhance clinical research at one of the premier medical centers in the country in clinical and basic research, clinical services and educational programs targeted to die innercity. The GCRC is located at Boston University Medical Center which includes the School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center Hospital and the Schools of Public Health and Dentistry. The Hospital and Medical Schooljoined with 16 communityhealth centers to form Boston Health Net whichprovides the GCRCwithan ethnically diversepopulation. In 1998, the Dean of the Medical School and President of the Hospital established the Office of Clinical Research with the charge to develop a high qualityacademic clinical research organization.The resultof this commitmentis a marked expansion of clinical research space; an expanded portfolioof clinical research, a fulltime research pharmacist, a contract lawyer,improved systems for the Institutional Review Board, a funded institutional clinical research training grant, and a renovated andexpanded GCRC. The Genera! ClinicalResearch Center is the heart of this new endeavor and the direct beneficiary. The GeneralClinical Research Center supports research services, specialized laboratories and a clinicalresearch-training program for physician!scientists in Medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry,Dentistry and PublicHealth. The facility providesinvestigators with the foUowing: 1)the abilityto conduct pharmacokinetic studies in a controlled environment in both adult andpediatric inpatients and outpatients; 2) the resources for timed collection of specimens and repetitive tests; (e.g. polysomnography, stress tests, bone density etc); 3}the expertise to conduct esoteric laboratory testing; 4) a new bioinformatics core with professionals to assist with statistical design, data management and analysis; 5) a private environmentto explore patterns of behavior and 6) the location for education of future scientists in patient oriented research. The Center serves nationally recognized researchers focusing on the health of the inner city by studying AIDS in childrenand adults, hypertension in African-Americans, inner city asthma, substance abuse, linkage to primary care, maternal andchild development and alcohol dependence. Translational research is being conducted in the Center on hemoglobinopathies, periodontitis, hormone replacement therapy, psoriasis, scleroderma and Epstein-Barr virus associated malignancies. The Office of Clinical Research assures a strong and responsive infrastructure for clinical research. The unique partnership of the Medical School, the Hospital and the Boston HealthNet provides a communitydriven urban health network that affords continued access to a patient population. The General Clinical Research Center isthe operational entity and the place forNIH funded researchers to do bench-to-bedside research and physician scientists to address the full spectrum of health issues facing individuals living in the ciiy.
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