Featured Institution - February 2010
UW-Madison Creates a CTRC Without Walls
The University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR), entering a new era of clinical research signaled by receipt of a CTSA from the NIH, has transformed its Clinical and Translational Research Core (CTRC, formerly the general clinical research center, or GCRC) into a CTRC Without Walls to broaden services and to support more investigators performing clinical and translational research throughout Wisconsin.
“Receiving our CTSA in 2007 was the catalyst to serve more than the traditional clinical researcher who could bring subjects to the hospital-based CTRC,” said Marc K. Drezner, M.D., ICTR director and senior associate dean for clinical and translational research in the School of Medicine and Public Health.
“Our solution was not to abandon the vital CTRC support for NIH and other studies, but to create a flexible model that combines the best of the CTRC, the UW Office of Clinical Trials, the Wisconsin Network for Health Research (WiNHR), the Wisconsin Research and Education Network (WREN) and our brand-new Mobile Research Team (MRT).”
The New Model
Today, the CTRC unit remains active in UW Hospital and offers free room and nursing services to all federal, foundation, pilot, and departmental studies that are complex enough to require the CTRC and have subjects who can present to the unit. In fact, the number of inpatient and outpatient visits is comparable to previous years, while use of the sleep unit and other resources is growing.
For investigators needing research support in other parts of UW Hospital or in other Madison hospitals or clinics, the CTRC Without Walls provides services from the UW Office of Clinical Trials, which offers coordinators and regulatory specialists and the option to purchase block hours at a discount.
The CTRC Without Walls includes the unique MRT, comprised of a separate team of nurses, nurse practitioners and coordinators. The MRT staff are indeed mobile, traveling to where the research is taking place and on-call 24/7 to serve studies that involve unpredictable admissions (such as heart attack or stroke) or after-hours research. The new model is thus available to previously underserved researchers, again through reasonably-priced, block-hour purchases.
Statewide Collaborations
The CTRC Without Walls model also extends across Wisconsin, integrating community and clinical research networks within the CTSA program: WiNHR (with CTSA partner Marshfield Clinic as well as clinics in La Crosse and Milwaukee) and WREN, which has agreements with 40 clinics and 130 primary care clinicians in 24 communities.
“The CTSA grant really jumpstarted this expansion to more places and researchers,” emphasized Drezner. “Our CTRC Without Walls model has also had great support from UW Hospital for the in-hospital CTRC and from our School of Medicine and Public Health. Building relationships over the last three years was instrumental in removing barriers and making this expanded research support possible.”