"This is an extraordinarily exciting time in the history of medicine," says UCSF Chancellor J. Michael Bishop, MD.
"There have been tremendous advances in understanding the molecular, genetic and cellular basis of numerous diseases.
"But the translation of this knowledge into therapies for patients has often been slow. UCSF has been working to develop the mechanisms necessary to address this gap for a number of years, and is committed to making itself into a leading center for translational research. The CTSI will galvanize this effort."
The Institute will be directed by Joseph "Mike" McCune, MD, PhD, UCSF professor of medicine, chief of the division of experimental medicine and the principal investigator of the grant. Co-directors of the Institute will be Deborah Grady, MD, MPH, UCSF professor of epidemiology and biostatistics and of medicine, vice chair of the Department of Epidemiology and director of the UCSF Women's Health Clinical Research Center; Dan Lowenstein, MD, UCSF professor of medicine, vice chair of the Department of Neurology and director of the UCSF Epilepsy Center and Director of Physician-Scientist Training Programs for the School of Medicine; and Joel Palefsky, MD, UCSF professor of medicine and program director of the UCSF General Clinical Research Center.
"Our goal is to find more efficient ways to move basic research findings into the clinic," says McCune. "We hope that the CTSI will serve to bring better health care to more people, more quickly."
The evidence suggests the will and spirit are there, he says.
"The proposal that we submitted to the NIH reflects substantive input from more than 200 faculty members at UCSF and at our partner institutes in the Bay Area. These are all people who are working in the area of clinical and translational research now, and who will serve as a nidus for the effort that the CTSI will nurture going forward."
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Contact: Jennifer O'Brien
jobrien@pubaff.ucsf.edu
415-476-2557
University of California - San Francisco
3-Oct-2006