EXCEED THE SPACEPROVIDED.This grant proposal seeks funding to continue support for the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) at the EmoryUniversity School of Medicine in Atlanta, including the main GCRC at Emory University Hospital (funded since 1960),and a satellite GCRC at Grady Memorial Hospital (open for 1.5 years). The Emory GCRC Program goals span theNCRR guidelines by providing: 1) an optimal setting for the study of human physiology and pathophysiology; 2) afacility for the investigation of the cause and natural history of human illness and the definition of disease progression,prevention, control, and cure; 3) the means for the rapid translation of advances in basic scientific knowledge intoparadigm-shifting methods for disease identification and patient care; and 4) institutional resources for training healthprofessionals from multiple disciplines in clinical investigation. This application summarizes clinical research carriedout since the previous submission, and presents the activities proposed for the next cycle. The Emory GCRC willoptimize opportunities for translational research based on its location on the Emory University campus, while the Gradysatellite GCRC will take advantage of its location at an inner-city hospital, and focus on the natural history,mechanisms, and management of disorders that are more prevalent in the population that Grady serves, such as blunthead trauma, sickle cell disease, HI-V/ADS, low birth weight, alcoholism, psychiatric conditions, and diabetes; thedisparities in health suffered by ethnic minorities are due in part to lack of representation in medical research studiesaimed at conditions which are particularly common in such populations, and the Grady satellite GCRC should help tosolve this problem. The number of protocols and principal investigators at both the Emory and the Grady satelliteGCRCs has increased steadily, reflecting a broad range of faculty research interests. The present application contains87 separate protocols, with involvement of faculty from the Schools of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing at Emory,and Morehouse School of Medicine as well. We attribute expanded use of our GCRC program to a combination ofpromotion of clinical research by GCRC staff and faculty, availability of the Grady satellite GCRC, recruitment offaculty clinical investigators, and the NIH commitment to clinical research career support exemplified by the individualand institutional 'K' series awards; Emory has both K12 and K30 programs, and many K12- and K23-supportedfaculty utilize the GCRCs. Emory's new Research Strategic Plan has a strong emphasis on translational and integrativemultidisiplinary research, and the Emory GCRC Program (with units in both university and urban hospital settings) isexpected to play a vital role in this endeavor - applying cutting edge, state of the art tools and methodologies to producethe critical new knowledge needed to advance human health.
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