UF General Clinical Research Center wins $19 million renewal grant and outstanding ratings from National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a five-year, $19 million renewal grant to the University of Florida's General Clinical Research Center, a self-contained mini-hospital where common and rare diseases are studied in human volunteers. The unit is housed in the Shands at UF medical center and managed by UF medical faculty.
The renewal funding comes with high praise from program reviewers with NIH's National Center for Research Resources. The NIH has awarded a total of $66 million to the special center since 1996 - making it the largest single budget item at UF.
"We received outstanding citations for the entire gestalt of our center's operation, including institutional support, management, staffing, facilities, and the scientific merit of our research and educational programs," said Peter Stacpoole, M.D., Ph.D., who directs the General Clinical Research Center.
Although located in Shands, the General Clinical Research Center is a separately staffed unit where both inpatient and outpatient clinical studies are conducted. Most of them are focused on illness, while others are aimed at better understanding normal human physiology.
About 120 clinical investigations are now under way at the center, directed by UF faculty physicians and pharmacists, along with the center's own staff of research nurses, dietitians, biostatisticians, laboratory technicians and other support personnel.
'Our research center received its initial NIH support 40 years ago and is one of the oldest in the country,' said Stacpoole, who is a professor of medicine, biochemistry and molecular biology at UF's College of Medicine.
"About 8,000 outpatient visits and 800 to 900 inpatient days occur in the center every year, and about 2,000 volunteers sign up to participate in studies here every year," Stacpoole said. "Participants come from across the nation and several foreign countries."
Subjects of study range from diabetes, lupus, cystic fibrosis and high blood pressure, to genetic diseases such as Prader-Willi syndrome and Alpha- 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. Stacpoole himself directs a federally funded study of medications for patients with a rare metabolic disorder called congenital lactic acidosis.
In addition to evaluating new therapeutic drugs, faculty investigators also assess the potential value of special diets, behavioral or lifestyle modifications, and gene therapies in efforts to improve patient care, Stacpoole said.
Among the 80 NIH-supported General Clinical Research Centers nationwide, the UF/Shands unit received one of the top scores awarded last year by the grant reviewers. Highest praise was accorded the educational component of the Gainesville facility, where students enrolled in UF's medical school and in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program can plan and conduct clinical studies under the supervision of College of Medicine faculty.
He added that, just prior to the NIH site visit more than a year ago, the center was renovated extensively and nearly doubled in size, thanks to cost sharing by Shands at UF, the University of Florida and UF's College of Medicine.
Stacpoole's leadership with the program and in conducting NIH-supported clinical research has led to his appointment as president-elect of the nationwide General Clinical Research Centers Program Directors' Association. He also is a member of an NIH advisory group for these research centers. In both roles, he helps to develop and implement federal policies pertaining to NIH clinical research centers throughout the United States.