The General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) at Boston University School of Medicine is at the center of an effort to enhance clinical research at one of the best medical centers in the country in terms of clinical and basic research, clinical services and education programs targeted to the inner city. The Center is located in the new Boston Medical Center which is a full asset merger of Boston City Hospital and Boston University Medical Center Hospital. In addition, the Hospital and the Medical School have joined together with eight community health centers to form Boston HealthNet. The General Clinical Research Center supports inpatient and outpatient research services, specialized laboratories and a clinical research training program for physician scientists in Medicine, Surgery and Pediatrics. The facility provides investigators with: 1) the ability to conduct pharmacokinetic studies in a controlled environment in both adult and pediatric subjects; 2) the resources for timed collections of specimens and repetitive tests (e.g. echocardiograms, stress tests, bone density etc.); 3) the expertise to conduct esoteric laboratory testing and evaluation; 4) professionals to assist with statistical design and data analysis; 5) a private environment to explore patterns of behavior and 6) the location of education for future clinicians in patient oriented research. In conjunction with the new Office of Clinical Research at the Medical School, the Center plans to expand services to investigators including pharmacist support, state of the art PCR assays, and data management. Efforts are underway to afford inner city high school and college studies, as well as MD and MD-PhD students, an opportunity to see and learn about the exciting role clinical research plays in human health and disease. The Medical School will cost share in this expansion. The Center serves national recognized researchers focusing on the health of the inner city by studying AIDS in children and adults, hypertension in blacks, diabetes in Caribbean Latinos, hemoglobinopathies, substance abuse, angina in the elderly and maternal and child development. Bench to bedside research is being conducted in the Center on EBV-associated malignancies, nociception in newborns. Interleukin 16 in asthma, second generation active vitamin D analogues in psoriasis and immunotoxins for treating leukemia and lymphomas. In a changing health delivery system, the unique partnership of the Medical School, the Hospital and the Boston HealthNet provides a community driven urban health network that affords continued access to a patient population. The General Clinical Research Center is the place for NIH funded researchers to do bench to bedside research and physician scientists to address the full spectrum of health issues facing individuals living in the city.
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