New Clinical Research Facility Focusing on Environmental Health NEIHS

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(http://www.niehs.nih.gov/oc/news/home.htm) _National Institute of

Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)_ (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/)

FOR

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 05, 2006

NIEHS PR #06-14 NIEHS CONTACT:

_Robin Mackar_ (mailto:rmackar@...)

(919) 541-0073

New Clinical Research Facility Focusing on Environmental Health to Open at

NIEHS in Research Triangle Park, NC

The first outpatient clinical research facility is being established at the

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the

National Institutes of Health, to help bridge the gap between research and

patient care and to train future generations of physician-scientists.

Initially,

clinical studies in the new facility will have a strong focus on pulmonary

exposures and diseases such as asthma. The NIEHS expects to begin accepting

patients by summer 2007.

" Having a place on the NIEHS campus for physician-scientists to see patients

will allow us to focus our research on scientific questions that are

clinically relevant, " says NIEHS Director, A. Schwartz, M.D. " Not only is

it a

great opportunity for our in-house scientists, but it also allows us to give

something back to the community. "

The 11,500-square-foot facility will be located within a few hundred feet of

the main NIEHS building at Drive in Research Triangle Park, North

Carolina. It will operate as an outpatient facility and provide routine

evaluations, biological sample collection and processing, pulmonary function

testing and bronchial sampling capabilities. Construction of the facility is

estimated to cost $4.75 million.

The clinical research facility is part of the Institute's new effort to have

a stronger impact on human health and disease as articulated in its 2006

Strategic Plan, " _New Frontiers in Environmental Sciences and Human Health_

(http://www.niehs.nih.gov/external/plan2006/home.htm) " . It demonstrates the

NIEHS commitment to translational research by moving research results from the

NIEHS portfolio into clinical practice.

" The clinical unit will provide new opportunities for researchers from

different disciplines to work together to translate basic laboratory findings

to

patients, " said J. Blackshear, M.D., D.Phil., Director of Clinical

Research at NIEHS. " It will also be an excellent resource for training medical

students, and postdoctoral and clinical fellows, in clinical aspects of the

environmental health sciences. "

In addition to the several clinical investigators already on staff at NIEHS,

two more have recently been recruited to staff the new facility. Dr.

, a pulmonary physician, joined the NIEHS leadership team in March

2006 as Associate Director, NIEHS, and Director of Translational Research; and

Dr. Fessler, also a physician-researcher who specializes in pulmonary

and critical care medicine, recently joined NIEHS to serve as both a

Clinical Investigator and head of the New Host Defense Group in the Laboratory

of

Respiratory Biology. As an example of how the basic and clinical arenas will

merge to improve patient outcomes, Dr. Fessler says he will use a

disease-oriented translational approach to develop clinical applications out of

his

group's work on the pulmonary and immune systems. A staff clinician is also

being

recruited to oversee day-to-day operations and management of the facility.

" We are very excited about adding this clinical unit to our portfolio. We

will be better poised to translate laboratory discoveries into innovative

treatments, therapies and interventions to improve the nation's health, " said

Dr.

Schwartz.

____________________________________

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a component

of the National Institutes of Health, supports research to understand the

effects of the environment on human health. For more information on

environmental health topics, please visit our website at

_http://www.niehs.nih.gov/home.htm_ (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/home.htm) .

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) - The Nation's Medical Research

Agency - includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S.

Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for

conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research,

and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare

diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit

_http://www.nih.gov/_ (http://www.nih.gov/) .

____________________________________

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