General Clinical Research Center

EXCEED THE SPACE PROVIDED. This proposal requests continuing support Vanderbilt University's General Clinical Research Center (GCRC ). The major goal of this unit is to foster research that will lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of human disease. The Vanderbilt GCRC supports interdisciplinary patient- oriented research of high quality in both children and adults. It is the only GCRC within a 200 mile radius of Nashville and hosts investigations from both the Vanderbilt and Meharry Medical Schools as well as the Vanderbilt Nursing School, Engineering School and College of Arts and Sciences. It is the only facilityin either of the two medical schools with inpatient beds dedicated to clinical investigation. The Vanderbilt GCRC provides local leadership in teaching medical students and young physicians and is the major site and motive force behind the training of patient-oriented investigators. Recently, Vanderbiltand Meharryhavelauncheda G CRC GeneticsResearch Initiative tobridge thegap between current clinicalresearch and the frontier of genetics, featuring botheducationaland service components at both Meharry and Vanderbilt. The Vanderbilt/Meharry GCRC is experiencing steady growth in numbers of projects and numbers of investigators. Its GCRC Advisory Committee, meeting every two weeks, averages approving six new protocols each month. Over the last three years, more than 140projects have been active at any given time. The GCRC and its component cores support ongoing investigations through provision of novel and, in some cases, unique facilities and functions. Institutional space devoted to medical research is currently undergoing massive growth at Vanderbilt. Our GCRC is essential for the conduct of many of our federally funded research programs. Its continuedpresence is crucial to the success ofthe biomedical research programs at Vanderbilt and Meharry.