CLEVELAND - Case Western Reserve University and its primary affiliate, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, recently announced that they will establish a Global Advanced Imaging Innovation Center in partnership with Philips Healthcare. The Center, to be based at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, is funded in part by a $5 million Ohio Third Frontier Commission grant to Case Western Reserve University. Philips Healthcare will invest an additional $33.4 million in the Center. The Center will further establish Northeast Ohio as a worldwide hub for imaging technology, bringing together radiologic experts to coordinate clinical research, education, development and commercialization of advanced imaging technologies. “Case Western Reserve possesses a proud history of leadership in imaging research and innovation,” President Barbara R. Snyder said. “The award to us from The Third Frontier, and the partnership it enables, gives us a great opportunity to build on our existing strengths in this field.” The Center is viewed as an extension of the newly designated Cleveland Health and Technology Corridor, which was recently announced by Governor Ted Strickland and Ohio Department of Development Director Lisa Patt-McDaniel. Cleveland’s “Hub of Opportunity and Innovation" is an urban revitalization partnership that will catalyze the city and region’s world-class health care and biomedical device technology assets to drive sustainable growth for the community. “The collaboration between our various organizations will create a pipeline to move innovative technologies more quickly into patient care,” said Thomas F. Zenty III, CEO of University Hospitals. “We are pleased to have this Center based at University Hospitals Case Medical Center and our new Cancer Hospital, knowing that it will lead to patients receiving better imaging for more accurate diagnoses of their cancer, heart disease and neurologic conditions.” The Center will provide the latest imaging technologies and treatments to patients with cancer, neurologic conditions and heart disease while providing Philips Healthcare and scientists and physicians from Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Case Medical Center the opportunity to create synergy and move innovative technologies more quickly into patient care. The latest Philips Healthcare imaging equipment will be brought to Cleveland for development, validation of clinical efficacy and product release. As a result, the Center will become an international hub for education in these cutting edge medical technologies. “We are very excited to launch the Center in association with our partners, University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University,” said Jay Mazelsky, senior vice president and general manager for Computed Tomography and Nuclear Medicine at Philips Healthcare. “Our company aspires to assist clinicians by providing breakthrough imaging technologies that today are not yet possible. This Advanced Imaging Innovation Center will help us realize these objectives and in the process, help improve the healthcare of patients in Ohio and throughout the world.” Five full time positions will be created for Philips to support the Center in the immediate term, with the intent of creating additional positions once the Center is fully established. In addition to the direct positions created by the Center, the Center will provide exposure and opportunities for students and fellows to develop skills, and will provide an opportunity for Philips researchers from other areas of the world to work in the Cleveland facility for extended periods of time. The Department of Radiology at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Case Medical Center, led by Pable Ros, MD, Professor and Chairman, is home to a number of the nation’s leaders in radiology who will partner with Philips, which has its North American headquarters in Cleveland. The Center will house the latest generation of Philips equipment, a full range of imaging modalities, including: • One of the world’s first PET/MRI machines; this hybrid scanner is in a new class of diagnostic imaging that captures both functional and anatomical information. The PET/MRI brings together the complementary capabilities of MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scanning to potentially improve patient care by increasing understanding of the causes, effects, and development of disease processes to better diagnose and treat the condition. This technology will be located in the new UH Cancer Hospital, scheduled to open in spring 2011 on the UH Case Medical Center campus. • A new generation of PET/CT that will improve the dual function of this technology and increase diagnostic imaging capabilities, specifically with cancer. PET detects metabolic signals in the body while CT (Computed Tomography) provides a detailed picture of the internal anatomy. The combined image provides more complete information on cancer location and metabolism and key applications in heart disorders. • A new powerful diagnostic PET scanner that helps in the diagnosis and treatment of certain disease, such as cancer and Alzheimer’s. This new PET imaging system can reveal metabolic changes in the body not currently detectable with previous technology. • A CT, which combines X-rays with advanced computer processing technology to create an accurate, detailed, anatomic image of internal structures and organs, while markedly reducing the radiation dose from current standards.
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.