March 6, 2003
General Clinical Research Center support renewed for five years
The UW General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) has received a five-year grant renewal for $36 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). UW Vice President for Medical Affairs and School of Medicine Dean Paul Ramsey is the GCRC principal investigator. Dr. John Brunzell, professor of medicine, is program director, and Karen Monteiro is the administrative director.
The GCRC, inaugurated in 1960, has a patient-care area located on the seventh floor south wing of UW Medical Center (UWMC) and a satellite research area at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center (CHRMC). There are currently 90 studies at the UWMC facility and 75 studies at CHRMC. These studies cover a wide spectrum of research from drug metabolism to gene and cell therapy. Proposed treatment protocols must pass UWMC/CHRMC and federal review before patient studies can begin.
More than 210 GCRC investigators are mostly from the School of Medicine, as well as from the Schools of Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy and Public Health. The majority of investigators have NIH grants. Some are also working with support from such organizations as the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the American Diabetes Association, or with grants from private industry.
Recent additions to the GCRC include a program for research subject advocates to protect and educate patients, a DEXA body composition/bone-density analysis machine, and facilities to conduct leukapheresis to isolate specific white blood cells. The GCRC plans to expand its gene and cell therapy protocols as well as optimize its operating expenses by remaining open during daytime hours on Saturdays and Sundays.
More information, including lists of personnel and an application for investigators who are interested in using some facilities, is available online at http://www.crc.washington.edu
