New Haven, Conn.--As part of a major national initiative to speed research from the laboratory bench to patients in need, Yale School of Medicine Tuesday received a $57.3 million Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The funding includes $31.5 million in new resources that will greatly strengthen clinical research at Yale and $25.8 million to continue existing programs in education and the activities of the General Clinical Research Center at nearby Yale-New Haven Hospital, where medical school scientists have carried out clinical research since the 1960s. Key participants include the Yale School of Nursing, the Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and the Combined Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences.
The CTSA initiative is a new program instituted by NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, M.D., as part of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. The goal is to transform how biomedical researchers move laboratory discoveries into human studies, ultimately enabling faster and more efficient development of new therapies.
Eleven other academic medical centers across the nation also received CTSAs. When fully implemented in 2012, the initiative is expected to provide $500 million annually to 60 academic health centers working in concert.
"The development of this consortium represents the first systematic change in our approach to clinical research in 50 years," said Zerhouni. "Working together, these sites will serve as discovery engines that will improve medical care by applying new scientific advances to real-world practice. We expect to see new approaches reach underserved populations, local community organizations and health care providers to ensure that medical advances are reaching the people who need them."
According to Robert Alpern, M.D., dean of the medical school, Yale is ideally positioned to fulfill t
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Contact: Jacqueline Weaver
jacqueline.weaver@yale.edu
203-432-8555
Yale University
3-Oct-2006