Clinical research, primary care the focus of Chancellor’s retreat

Advancing clinical research and primary care education, research and patient care will be the main focus areas of the Chancellor’s Strategic Planning Retreat on April 22.

The retreat, which is by the chancellor’s invitation, brings together attendees from UNMC, The Nebraska Medical Center and the community at the Marriott Hotel at 10220 Regency Circle in Omaha. It starts at 7:15 a.m.

Increasing UNMC’s clinical research and primary care capabilities will be among the discussion points at the Chancellor’s Strategic Planning Retreat on April 22.

“Clinical research and primary care are pressing issues in health care,” said UNMC Harold M. Maurer, M.D. “As the state’s academic health science center, it’s imperative that we lead by addressing these topics proactively. This retreat gives us the opportunity to develop new initiatives.”

Under the leadership of Jennifer Larsen, M.D., associate vice chancellor for clinical research, UNMC has formed the Center for Clinical and Translational Research and applied for a Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health.

This year, retreat attendees will look to identify and prioritize research strategies and resources to grow UNMC’s extramurally funded clinical and translational research, Dr. Larsen said.

At the retreat, John Feussner, M.D., chairman of internal medicine at Medical University of South Carolina, will discuss strategies for growing clinical research and national trends in clinical research funding.

Retreat Web site View an agenda and more information about the Chancellor’s Strategic Planning Retreat.

He will later join Dr. Larsen in a panel discussion about the resources, policies and/or processes needed to advance clinical and translational research at UNMC.

“Expanding clinical research has implications not only on the outcomes for individuals with specific identified diseases, but it also can help us identify the best or the most cost effective means to improve health,” she said.

Another retreat discussion will focus on the formation of a Center for Primary Care Education, Research and Patient Care.

With a shortage of primary care health care practitioners in many Nebraska counties, such a center would help UNMC confront this issue with an interprofessional approach, said John Benson, M.D., professor of internal medicine, who will moderate the panel discussion on primary care.

“We must expand programs that train the health care providers that are needed to meet the current and future demands for care,” Dr. Benson said.