The University of California Davis (UC Davis) in collaboration with the Veterans Affairs Northern California Health Care System (VANCHCS) proposes a General Clinical Research Center to provide a centralized infrastructure to support clinical/translational research and to expand clinical research training and career development programs. UC Davis is well positioned to undertake this ambitious proposal; major resources are already allocated to clinical research as part of a focused five-year plan to create a vibrant and dynamic clinical research community. UC Davis has recruited experienced clinical researchers from a multitude of universities, is currently recruiting a new Assistant Dean for Clinical Research, and the leadership of the school is fully committed to the success of the GCRC. A designated 7,500 square feet GCRC unit is a part of the newly constructed Sacramento VA Medical Center, and VANCHCS and UC Davis have provided resources to develop this facility. UC Davis and the VANCHCS have provided more than $3.5 million to create the GCRC. Of this amount, $2.5 million represent cost for construction of the GCRC facility, and $1 million represents support for the development phase. Thus, the infrastructure for the GCRC is already in place, and GCRC leaders have been identified. The rapid growth in sponsored research at UC Davis together with the strategic focus on clinical and translational research makes the proposed GCRC a necessary and essential component to achieve the ambitious goals of UC Davis and VANCHCS to create a cutting edge clinical research enterprise with a critical mass of investigators. The 63 submitted protocols use inpatient, outpatient, laboratory, biostatistical, nutrition, patient safety and informatics support for patient-oriented research. They represent a wide spectrum of investigators and research areas. Reflecting the scientific strengths at UC Davis, the majority of the protocols have been developed by investigators in four leading, broadly defined and inclusive focus areas; Infectious Disease, Cancer, Vascular Biology/Metabolism, and Neuroscience. These areas have been identified by the UC Davis Health System leadership as principal areas for future research growth. Beyond these areas, the GCRC has fostered campus-wide collaborations with investigators representing basic sciences, all the leading clinical centers, and areas outside the medical school such as nutrition and engineering. We will continue to facilitate and assist clinical researchers from all areas. Mentoring and education plans are a top priority of the GCRC, and will serve as a critical catalyst to expand and focus the many existing resources and initiatives already in place at UC Davis. We aspire to perform patient-oriented research with the highest standards of patient care, ethics, scientific rigor, safety and regulatory compliance, and the GCRC is an essential component to achieve these goals.
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