Mayo Clinic among first for new NIH research award

Friday, October 06, 2006

ROCHESTER, Minn. — The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has selected Mayo Clinic as one of the first recipients of the new Clinical and Translational Science Award. Mayo will receive approximately $72 million from this new clinical research funding program over four years and nine months. The award, announced today, will establish the new Mayo Clinic Center for Clinical and Translational Research. This new program is the approach NIH will now use to support premier institutional clinical and translational research around the country.

"The Mayo Clinic Center for Clinical and Translational Research will coordinate the efforts of our outstanding clinical research education and training programs, our world-class scientists and clinical research investigators, and the resources of Mayo Clinic to speed the process of turning our research discoveries into the medications and treatments our patients need and expect," says Robert Rizza, M.D., director of the new center based in Rochester, Minn. "By establishing this center, Mayo Clinic continues its leadership role in the medical and scientific community by focusing its considerable resources on translating today's discoveries into tomorrow's cures."

The award has an impact in Arizona in that it can potentially allow full access to career development resources and infrastructure to support clinical trials, according to Laurence Miller, M.D., Director for Research and Director of Mayo Clinic Cancer Center - Arizona. In addition, this provides potential for increased collaborations with other key Arizona partners.

The multi-million dollar award will be used to enhance several existing clinical research core laboratories and research education programs, as well as to create new resources, training programs and career development opportunities for Mayo Clinic faculty, investigators and allied health staff across the Mayo Foundation. With the additional funding, Mayo Graduate School will add a Ph.D. program in clinical and translational science, an emerging discipline that is strongly supported by NIH and other research sponsors. Plans also are under way to expand the capabilities of Mayo Clinic's highly regarded General Clinical Research Center, which provides facilities, high-tech resources, and nursing and dietetic staff for clinical researchers at Saint Marys Hospital in Rochester and Rochester Methodist Hospital.

The Mayo Clinic Center for Clinical and Translational Research will become a charter member of a national consortium of funded institutions that will shape the agenda for clinical/translational research and establish standards and best practices. Participation in the consortium "is a natural progression in Mayo Clinic's continuing role as a national leader in health care policy and patient advocacy," according to Denis Cortese, M.D., president and CEO of Mayo Clinic. "We look forward to sharing Mayo Clinic's unique perspective and capabilities while learning from our colleagues around the country and working with them to establish a framework for this new paradigm of clinical/translational research."

The Clinical and Translational Science Award program represents a growing trend in medical research funding toward focusing on improving patient care and clinical outcomes. Nearly two-thirds of NIH funding still goes to investigators who specialize in basic sciences such as molecular biology, biochemistry, physiology and various disease mechanisms. Recently, interest has increased toward funding more "clinical and translational" research — involving patients and other participants, clinical trials of treatments and drugs, and a focus on developing tools that doctors can use to predict, prevent and cure human disease.

"Basic science and clinical/translational science are two sides of the same coin," according to Dr. Rizza. "We can't treat diseases until we thoroughly understand the biology behind them and, at a deeper level, the complex functioning of the human body. At the same time, the end result of the tremendous effort poured into medical research must be to improve the length and quality of life for patients everywhere. Mayo Clinic embraces this approach in its stated mission to provide the best care to every patient, every day through integrated clinical practice, education and research. The Mayo Clinic Center for Clinical and Translational Research will play a pivotal role in accomplishing that mission in the coming years by integrating our educational and research resources and efforts in support of breakthroughs in clinical treatments."

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. As a leading academic medical center in the Southwest, Mayo Clinic focuses on providing specialty and surgical care in more than 65 disciplines at its outpatient facility in north Scottsdale and at Mayo Clinic Hospital. The 208-licensed bed hospital is located at 56th Street and Mayo Boulevard (north of Bell Road) in northeast Phoenix, and provides inpatient care to support the medical and surgical specialties of the clinic, which is located at 134th Street and Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale.

###

To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.