Stony Brook University Medical Center Participates In Partnership To Achieve Faster, Less Expensive Clinical Trials
PACeR collaborative group identifies major benefits for patients, hospitals, researchers
STONY BROOK, N.Y.
, June 2, 2011 – Stony Brook University Medical Center is participating in a unique collaborative
partnership to help make clinical trials faster and less expensive for patients. The group has just completed Phase 1 of it work, in which it has confirmed the feasibility of developing a sophisticated, statewide clinical data process for evidence-based research in New York State.
Called the Partnership to Advance Clinical electronic Research (PACeR), the collaborative group consists of 13 New York academic medical centers, clinical research firms, pharmaceutical companies, healthcare information technology firms and patient advocacy groups.
By identifying potential candidates for clinical trials more efficiently, and by enhancing data collection and the modeling of clinical protocols, testing can occur more quickly and therapies can be made available to patients faster, improving their quality of life, the group says.
The group also points to significant benefits for major healthcare stakeholders, including academic medical centers, researchers, health information technology companies, regulators, public and private initiatives and the State of New York.
The PACeR collaborative has published a white paper describing the results of its Phase 1 work, as well as its plans for Phase 2 of the project. It is available online at
www.pacerhealth.org.
Academic medical centers participating in the initiative include the three hospitals in the State University of New York (SUNY) system: Stony Brook University Medical Center (SBUMC), SUNY Upstate University Hospital and SUNY Downstate Medical Center.
SBUMC is serving in several key leadership roles for the collaborative, according to William H. Greene, M.D., Chief Quality Officer at Stony Brook University Medical Center and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, who serves on the Project Leadership Committee.
“The successful conclusion of Phase 1 was a substantial accomplishment that made specific the more general notion of collaboration across institutional barriers to achieve enhanced clinical research,” Dr. Greene said. “It laid the foundation for Phase 2, which will include actual application of the principles of PACeR to specific industry-sponsored protocols.”
“Stony Brook’s role in this collaborative underscores our commitment to research as a leading academic medical center, as well as our mission to provide advanced medical care and promising new treatments for our patients,” said Kenneth Kaushansky, M.D., M.A.C.P., Senior Vice President, Health Sciences, and Dean of the School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. “This unique initiative will achieve synergies across institutions and ultimately help bring vital new medicines to our patients.”
The PACeR collaborative is sponsored by the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS). The Hastings Center and Legal Action Center is participating as a patient advocacy group. Clinical research, pharmaceutical and health information technology firms participating in the initiative are Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, F. Hoffman-La Roche, Johnson and Johnson, Merck & Co., Oracle, Pfizer and Quintiles.
“The rapid change we see in the healthcare system is also occurring in medical research,” said Daniel Sisto, President of HANYS, “and the PACeR collaborative is at the forefront of revolutionizing how medical research is conducted and how the benefits of this research are shared. The PACeR collaborative has proven that bringing together diverse stakeholders is an effective approach to finding ways to improve clinical trials using electronic data.”
The group is encouraging other organizations to join the collaborative for Phase 2, including physician professional societies, community hospitals, device manufacturers, Electronic Medical Record (EMR) vendors, disease societies and others. Phase 2 will demonstrate the capability to provide modeling of clinical protocols across many institutions.
About Stony Brook University Medical Center:
Stony Brook University Medical Center is Long Island’s only university-based academic medical center. It serves as the region’s only tertiary care center and Level 1 Trauma Center, and is home to the Stony Brook University Heart Center, Cancer Center, the Stony Brook Long Island Children’s Hospital, the Institute for Advanced Neurosciences, and the Gastroenterology Program. Stony Brook provides Suffolk County’s only Level 4 Regional Perinatal Center, state-designated AIDS Center, state-designated Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, state-designated Burn Center, the Christopher Pendergast ALS Center of Excellence, and Kidney Transplant Center. It is home of the nation’s first Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center. To learn more, visit
www.stonybrookmedicalcenter.org.
