CLEVELAND – October 1, 2013 – Case Western Reserve University is among the major partners in a $10.2 million Ohio project designed to speed medical breakthroughs to patients – one of only three to win federal funding this year.
The Cleveland Clinic is leading the initiative, which includes Case Western Reserve, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, The Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati. Its goal is to accelerate the development and dissemination of discoveries that help prevent, treat and cure diseases involving the heart and lung, as well as disorders in sleep or the blood. The federal government estimates that in 2009 (the most recent year for which data is available) problems affecting these systems account for $424 billion – or nearly a quarter – of the cost of all ailments and injuries.
The federal government issued a call for proposals for the accelerator project last year, and announced winners late last month. The other recipients include a Boston consortium (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and President and Fellows of Harvard College) and another in California (University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Davis; University of California, Irvine; University of California, San Diego; and University of California, San Francisco).
The NIH Centers for Accelerated Innovations (NCAI) will provide an integrated, systematic and comprehensive approach to navigating the translation of early stage biomedical innovations from the research laboratory to commercial development and successful deployment to patients.
“This new center puts us in the company of two of the nation’s most preeminent centers for health innovation, and provides powerful testament to the caliber of the collaborative work that takes place here,” said Pamela Davis, MD, PhD, Dean of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. “In addition, it reflects the growing return of the cooperative spirit that has taken root and really flourished in Northeast Ohio.”
The award is the latest example of the School of Medicine's commitment to collaboration. In the past year, the school has partnered with other Ohio institutions to participate in the March of Dimes Prematurity Research – Ohio Collaborative; the Ohio Clinical Trials Collaborative; a new medical education building with the Cleveland Clinic; and the Clinical and Translational Science Collaboration headquartered at the School of Medicine.
“We are excited for this new partnership that brings together Ohio’s biomedical research powerhouses,” said Paul E. DiCorleto, PhD, Chairman of Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, who will serve as the project’s principal investigator. “Having one of three national centers based in Cleveland will attract innovators and bring new jobs to Ohio.”
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Founded in 1843, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is the largest medical research institution in Ohio and is among the nation's top medical schools for research funding from the National Institutes of Health. The School of Medicine is recognized throughout the international medical community for outstanding achievements in teaching. The School's innovative and pioneering Western Reserve2 curriculum interweaves four themes--research and scholarship, clinical mastery, leadership, and civic professionalism--to prepare students for the practice of evidence-based medicine in the rapidly changing health care environment of the 21st century. Nine Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the School of Medicine.
Annually, the School of Medicine trains more than 800 MD and MD/PhD students and ranks in the top 25 among U.S. research-oriented medical schools as designated by U.S. News & World Report's "Guide to Graduate Education."
The School of Medicine is affiliated with University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic, with which it established the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in 2002. case.edu/medicine.
Media Contact(s):
Amanda Petrak
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Amanda.Petrak@case.edu