The Harvard Medical School and two of its geographically juxtaposed affiliated hospitals, the Beth Israel and Brigham and Women's, have joined to establish a digestive disease center whose major emphasis is the more effective study of relationships between structure and function in the alimentary tract. This theme emerged very clearly and naturally from the findings of an in-depth analysis of the strengths of the component institutions during the period of an exploratory grant awarded for the purpose of planning an integrated digestive diseases center. Each of the three institutions not only has strong programs in morphology at the cellular and molecular level, but there are also a large group of investigators with active programs to study function in the alimentary tract whose research is strongly potentiated by collaboration with morphologists. Furthermore, it has become increasingly evident that a variety of areas in alimentary tract research have suffered seriously in recent years because of inadequate correlations between structure and function. Interaction and collaboration between clinicians (gastroenterologists, surgeons, pathologists) and basic scientists will be emphasized. Several core resources serve to enhance the activities of the investigators. These include an administrative core, and resources for morphology, electrophysiology, lipid analysis and radioimmunoassay. An extensive enrichment program including the availability of grants for pilot-feasibility studies, weekly combined research conferences, annual symposia, and opportunities to spend short periods of time in selected laboratories outside our own institutions is currently ongoing. The long-term objectives of this center are to enhance our understanding and knowledge of digestive diseases, and thereby improve the care of patients with these conditions. We believe that this can be accomplished by furthering the interaction and collaboration of basic and clinical scientists working to expand the scope of physiological research with morphologic correlates, and vice versa.
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