Clinical research plays a vital role in moving health care forward and answering important questions.
“Clinical research is an integral part of who we are as an academic health center,” said Chris Kratochvil, M.D., associate vice chancellor for research. “The mission of Nebraska Medicine and UNMC, in fact, expresses the expectation that innovative research is one of the vehicles through which we will ‘lead the world in transforming lives to create a healthy future for all individuals and communities.’ ”
Currently, UNMC has more than 80 study coordinators on campus conducting clinical research studies. But that only scratches the surface, said Dr. Kratochvil, who is also vice president of research for Nebraska Medicine.
In addition, there are many research assistants working on clinical research studies as well as staff in the Office of Human Protections, Sponsored Programs Administration and Accounting, UNeHealth, Finance, and the Vice Chancellor for Research Office.
“It is an amazing process that is set up to improve the lives of our patients,” said LuAnn Larson, nurse manager in the UNMC Clinical Research Center. “We want to thank our patients for participating in these trials to move medicine forward — without them we would not be able to move forward with new ideas and medicines.”
Larson noted that today is International Clinical Trials Day. She said the first known clinical trial was conducted by James Lind to study scurvy that was killing sailors on ships at sea. He discovered the answer to his question as to what was causing scurvy and saved lives by being curious, and scientifically and systematically testing his hypothesis.
“We want to spread the word about the many clinical trials going on at UNMC,” Larson said. “There are many different diseases being studied, and it’s critical that patients consider participating in these trials. It can truly make a difference.”
More information on clinical trials at UNMC can be found here.