This is an application from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine for continued participation in the Transfusion Medicine/Hemostasis Clinical Trial Network. This group includes the resources of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Penn- Jersey Division of the American Red Cross (PJ-ARC), and includes expertise in pediatric and adult hemostasis and transfusion medicine. Our site has been very active in the CTN including participating in standing committees and subcommittees, including being subcommittee chairs and contributing to CTN authored manuscripts. We have been actively involved in study development and are enrolling patients in the two active network studies (PLADO and SHIP), with plans for participation in the studies nearing enrollment. Dr. Konkle, P.I., will begin as Chair of the CTN in September 2006 and co-investigators Dr. Raffini and Vassallo, currently serve as co-chairs of the Inherited Bleeding Disorder and Platelet subcommittees, respectively. We plan to continue our active involvement in the CTN for the next 5 years, to achieve the Specific Aims to: 1) Maintain, and further enhance, as needed, a structure to support the development, implementation and conduct of clinical trials in the areas of transfusion medicine and hemostasis. This will be done in collaboration with the NERI as Data Coordinating Center, and program staff at NHLBI. 2) Utilizing this structure of working and study oversight subcommittees, complete ongoing trials and develop, refine and complete new trials proposed in this application. 3) Develop collaborative relationships and support training opportunities to facilitate the success of the proposed clinical trials and further the fields of transfusion medicine and hemostasis. 4) Disseminate results of the TMH CTN through presentations and publications of clinical trial results and other TMH CTN activities. The results of the clinical studies performed by the TMH CTN will greatly enhance the care of patients with disorders of hemostasis and the many patients receiving blood transfusions. We look forward to continuing to work in these efforts.
