The Reporter: June 1997, Vol.8, No.3
INNOVATION IN RESEARCH
Clinical Trials News

Advisory Committee Infrastructure Grants
The CPMC Office of Clinical Trials Advisory Committee has announced the four awardees of its infrastructure grants, designed to support projects and programs within the medical center that improve the office and lab space that supports clinical research. The advisory committee grants the awards twice yearly.

The awardees for the first half of 1997 are Dr. Melissa Pessin, P&S assistant professor of pathology; Dr. Xavier Amador, P&S associate professor of clinical psychiatry; Dr. Henry Ginsberg, director of the Irving Center for Clinical Research; and Dr. J.P. Mohr, the Sciarra Professor of Neurology.

Dr. Pessin requested funds for equipment and supplies on behalf of the Center for Advanced Laboratory Medicine. The Department of Pathology will provide matching funds to provide laboratory consultation services and a core clinical testing facility that will support clinical trials and clinical research. The center also will provide a sample bank for serum and DNA specimens with a data retrieval system and will assist in developing and evaluating new clinical laboratory testing equipment and methods.

Dr. Amador received support, on behalf of the Research Subject Recruitment Unit for Psychotic Disorders, to screen outpatients recruited for clinical trials.

An award that will support nine investigators at CPMC and St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center was granted to Dr. Ginsberg who requested funds to purchase a mass spectrometer. Mass spectrometry is used for measuring stable, non-radioactive isotopes commonly used in many clinical studies--from physiologic and mechanistic studies to pharmaceutical trials. At this time, there is no such working instrument at CPMC and use of the instrument will be available to investigators at both centers.

Dr. Mohr applied for a four-month grant to support the development and implementation of a software package to control a new thermal and pinch stimulator, as part of his ongoing research to predict and model the development of central post-stroke pain. Once the software is developed, multiple investigators plan to use it.

Pilot Award Winners
The CPMC Clinical Trials Pilot Awards were established to support young investigators in the formative phases of their careers. Through the program, awardees have been able to initiate research projects and gather preliminary data, which is most often followed by long-term funding from agencies that sustains the research.

This year's award winners were announced in May. They are Dr. Anissa Abi-Dargham, P&S assistant professor of clinical psychiatry; Dr. Olakunle O. Akinboboye, P&S assistant professor of clinical medicine; Dr. Jorge L. Armenteros, P&S assistant clinical professor of psychiatry; Dr. Daniel Bloomfield, Herbert Irving Assistant Professor of Medicine; Dr. Jeanine D'Armiento, postdoctoral clinical fellow in medicine; Dr. Pamela U. Freda, P&S assistant professor of clinical medicine; Dr. Daphne T. Hsu, P&S associate professor of clinical pediatrics; Dr. Stuart N. Seidman, associate research scientist and clinical research fellow in psychiatry; Dr. Amy D. Tiersten, P&S assistant professor of medicine; and Dr. Catherine H. Tuck, P&S instructor in clinical medicine.

Advisory Committee Retreat
The Office of Clinical Trials Advisory Committee and representatives from New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center held a one-day retreat in April. The purpose of the meeting, says Michael Leahey, director of CPMC's Office of Clinical Trials, was to review the first five years of the office's work and to consider options for future growth and expansion.

The retreat also included a number of invited speakers. Dr. William Speck, president and CEO of Presbyterian Hospital, and representatives from the pharmaceutical company Hoffman-LaRoche and several contract research organizations were in attendance.

Dr. David Bickers, chairman of dermatology and of the advisory committee, says the retreat was an important activity for the committee. "It afforded us the opportunity to hear feedback from representatives of both the pharmaceutical community and contract research organizations allowing us to do some creative thinking on how to move the program forward." Dr. Bickers also says the meeting let the group address how best to incorporate CPMC's affiliates into the clinical trials program. "By facing this new challenge and opportunity to expand our program, we will continue to be a leading center in clinical trials nationwide."