EXCEED THE SPACE PROVIDED. This application is the first competing renewal for the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC). The Oklahoma Health Center is the state's only major center of academic medicine with 22 different health-affiliated institutions and seven colleges of health scientists and professionals. The GCRC is primarily an outpatient facility (with scatter beds in affiliate hospitals), and occupies 11,000 square feet of newly renovated space. Since opening in May 2002, the 60 principal investigators making use of GCRC resources represent 19 departments from seven colleges of the University of Oklahoma and four programs of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF). The 38 College of Medicine investigators come from nine departments. Notably, the current combined NIH funding of OUHSC and OMRF is steadily increasing, reaching $60,600,000 in FY 2003. The GCRC helps to sustain this collaboration, offering dedicated physical and human research resources to support clinical research. This is exemplified by the work of clinical scientists highlighted in this application as presented protocols. Startling new findings using GCRC resources include the discovery of early seroconversion among military personnel followed for up to 9.4 years before the clinical diagnosis of lupus erythematosus. This follows a predictable pattern of appearance of antibodies, first antinuclear, then anti-double-stranded DNA, and finally anti-nuclear ribonucleoprotein. Other studies address disease associations of exercise, nutrition, and body composition in Native Americans and vascular disease. Early GCRC logistical successes include 1) a unique Special Populations Unit assuring mutually beneficial participation in clinical research by and for the many Native Americans and other minorities of Oklahoma; 2) aggressive training and awareness-building to achieve a culture of clinical research with optimum standards of patient safety, ethical conduct, and data integrity; and 3) the establishment of effective Biostatistics and Informatics cores. Planned future development will require increases in nursing, bionutrition and biostatistical staff and the establishment of an Applied Physiology and Human
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