Date Published:
28 February 2008 |
€11 million investment for a new clinical research facility in Cork (Eire)
The Health Research Board (HRB) and the Health Service Executive (HSE) announced
today that they will jointly fund a new Clinical Research Facility in Cork.
The aim of HRB/HSE Clinical Research Facility (CRF) is to provide the infrastructure – the
physical space, facilities and the experts - needed to support patient focused
research studies.
The investment by the HSE and the HRB will be of the order of €11m over
five years. The facility will be built at Cork University Hospital and it is
anticipated that it will be completed in 2010. When fully operational, it is
anticipated that the new facility will employ 15 people. The research programme
will be conducted in a partnership approach between researchers at University
College Cork, clinician scientists from Cork University Hospital as well as
clinician scientists from throughout the city and the region.
The new facility will concentrate on patient-focused research. Medical doctors
and nurses will work with other scientists to improve our understanding of
cancer, heart disease and bowel disease and nutrition. Researchers will develop
new tests and provide patients with access to the latest advances in treatments
to help tackle these diseases.
Commenting on the new initiative, Gerry O’Dwyer, HSE Network Manager
said:
" Establishing a HRB Clinical Research Facility in Cork is a
major boost for clinical research and patient care in the South of Ireland
and it
will provide a world-class environment for patient-focused research. The fact
that the University and hospital are working so closely together will help
to ensure that the latest research discoveries can be rapidly translated into
benefits for patients. The HSE is impressed by the determination and innovation
of the researchers in both the Hospital and in UCC who have worked so hard
to make this new facility a reality."
Dr Mairead O’Driscoll, Acting Director of Research Strategy and Funding
at the HRB said:
" This HRB/HSE Clinical Research Facility will provide
a way for clinicians, the health care industry and other key partners to test
innovative therapies, technologies and products and increase the speed at which
scientific discoveries and innovations can be translated into better patient
care. The CRF will also make a real contribution to postgraduate research and
training of health professionals. The HRB have a strong track record working
in partnership with Universities and Hospitals to support high quality research.
We are delighted to engage with the HSE to support this landmark development
in Cork," she concluded.
Professor Eamonn Quigley, Department of Medicine, UCC said:
" This award
of a CRF to Cork represents a critical step towards the development of a clinical
research environment in the region which will facilitate and promote clinical
research of an international standard; research which will benefit our patients
and provide research career opportunities to medical and other graduates. The
provision of a facility of this standard has become an essential component
of high quality clinical research programmes world-wide; the Cork CRF will
permit the translation of progress in laboratory research by Irish scientists
to the bed-side."
The new facility in Cork will become part of the Irish Clinical Research Infrastructure
Network (ICRIN), a network of all clinical research facilities across Ireland.
The HRB and HSE are funding ICRIN through Molecular Medicine Ireland. ICRIN
will coordinate activities and procedures at these facilities to help ensure
a greater number of patients can benefit from clinical research in the most
cost effective manner. Other partners in this network include the Wellcome
Trust/HRB Dublin Centre for Clinical Research, which includes the built of
a new CRF on the campus of St James’s Hospital, the new HRB CRF at the
University College Hospital Galway as well as existing facilities at three
other Dublin teaching hospitals.
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necessarily those of IvyRose Ltd.. Material in this news item was released
by
the Health Research Board (HRB), an agency in Ireland supporting
and funding health research. This information was released to the media on
28 February 2008 and may have been edited (e.g.
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