Stanford University Background
The School of Medicine Background
GCRC Background
Information for Grant Applications
Stanford University
Stanford University was founded as a private, coeducational institution of higher learning in 1885, and has developed into one of the world's leading centers of research. The University enrolls (2001) 16,673 students, of whom 6,548 are undergraduates and 7,700 graduate students. Among the 1,671 faculty are 17 Nobel laureates, 126 members of the National Academy of Sciences and 21 winners of the National Medal of Science. Stanford professors and students have played major roles in the development of the computer and biotechnology industries on the San Francisco Peninsula and in the Santa Clara Valley.
The School of Medicine
The Stanford University School of Medicine traces its origin to the first medical school on the Pacific Coast, founded in San Francisco by Dr. Elias Samuel Cooper as the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific in 1858. Stanford University was founded in 1885. In 1908, the University's Board of Trustees adopted Cooper Medical College as the University's School of Medicine. The School moved from San Francisco to the Stanford University campus in 1959.
Faculty in the School of Medicine have made major contributions in biomedical research. Among these are the Nobel laureates Arthur Kornberg and Paul Berg in the Department of Biochemistry (DNA synthesis and recombination); Stanley Cohen in the Departments of Medicine and Genetics (recombinant DNA and genetic engineering); Robert Schimke of the Departments of Pharmacology and Biological Sciences (gene amplification and drug resistance); Henry Kaplan in Radiation Oncology (the development and clinical application of the linear accelerator); Hugh McDevitt in Immunology (the histocompatibility complex); Norman Shumway in Cardiovascular Surgery (cardiac transplantation); and Gerald Reaven in Medicine (diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance syndrome). The School is organized into 16 clinical and 10 basic science departments. These departments share contiguous space and activities, with extensive scholarly nteractions in both informal and formal contexts (the Beckman Center; the Program in Molecular Genetics and Medicine; numerous program project grants; joint course participation).
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History of the GCRC
The GCRC at Stanford was founded in 1962 and has been in continuous operation since then. Dr. John Farquhar was the initial director (1963-1973), followed by Dr. Keith Brodie (1973- 1974), Dr. Gerald Reaven (1974-1990), Dr. Eugene Bauer (1990-1993), and Dr. Branimir I. Sikic (1993- present). A separate GCRC for Premature Infants was opened in 1963, and in 1993 this unit was combined with the main GCRC. At that time, the Program Director of the Neonatal GCRC, Dr. David Stevenson, became the Associate Program Director of the Stanford GCRC. Important historical clinical research accomplishments supported by the GCRC include advances in the cure of Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (Henry Kaplan and Saul Rosenberg), cardiac transplantation (Norman Shumway), dyslipidemias and glucose homeostasis (John Farquhar and Gerald Reaven), therapeutic applications of monoclonal antibodies (Ronald Levy), noninvasive detection of bilirubin production (David Stevenson), and antiviral therapy (Ann Arvin and Charles Prober).
Resources in the GCRC
There are currently 1,061 faculty members in the School of Medicine. An additional 1,500 part-time and voluntary clinical faculty participate in the teaching programs of the school and are a major source of referrals of patients for clinical research protocols.
A total of 478 medical students are currently enrolled, including 75 in combined M.D., Ph.D. programs. In addition to these, there are 382 pre-doctoral students (Ph.D. candidates) and 955 postdoctoral trainees, of whom 370 are clinical (M.D. or M.D., Ph.D.). The clinical departments include 580 interns and residents in house staff training programs. These students and trainees are selected from outstanding applicant pools and contribute significantly to the scholarly atmosphere of the institution. Within this environment the Stanford General Clinical Research Center fulfills a crucial role, with a focus on bench-to-bedside research. It serves as a vital link between research programs in molecular and cell biology, such as the Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine, on the one hand, and clinical research on the other.
Patient Resources Available for Research:
The GCRC is physically located within Stanford University Hospital. The Pediatric Component of the GCRC utilizes scatter beds in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and other facilities of the Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford (LPCH).
Stanford University Medical Center includes the School of Medicine, the Stanford Hospital and Clinics, and the Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital and its associated clinics. Stanford Hospital and Clinics have 663 licensed patient beds (430 active beds). Modernization of the hospital and construction of a new wing was completed in 1994. Full-time faculty of the School of Medicine and community physicians comprise the hospital medical staff. Clinics include dermatology, gynecology and obstetrics, internal medicine and its divisions, neurology, ophthalmology, adult psychiatry, surgery and the surgical specialties, and urology. Stanford serves as a regional referral center and draws patients from throughout northern California and neighboring states. There are 565,000 patient clinic visits annually. Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital contains 240 licensed beds (190 active beds) and an Ambulatory Care Center consisting of a Primary Care Clinic and 27 pediatric, medical and surgical specialty clinics. Pediatric Intensive Care, Neonatal Intensive Care and Hematology-Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplantation Units are located in LPCH, as well as Labor and Delivery suites. Three pediatric general care inpatient units and a child psychiatry unit also are located at LPCH. There are 86,000 patient clinic visits annually.
Background information on the GCRC for Stanford clinical investigators to reference for their own grant applications.
Stanford GCRC background:
The General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) at Stanford was founded in 1962, as an NIH-funded core facility for the School of Medicine. The unit includes 10 inpatient beds and two outpatient suites, a dietary kitchen, laboratory, computer center, and office space totaling 5,573 square feet of space on the G1 and H1 floors of Stanford Hospital. This space was renovated for the GCRC at a cost of $1.7 million by the School of Medicine in 1992. A pediatric component supports research in the neonatal ICU and other satellite facilities within the Packard Children's Hospital.
The GCRC has a distinguished history in supporting clinical research at Stanford, including the development of cardiac transplantation, the cure of Hodgkin's disease, the introduction of monoclonal antibodies as therapies for cancers, and studies of insulin resistance in diabetes. These studies have played a major role in establishing Stanford's reputation for clinical excellence and innovation. The GCRC currently supports 108 active protocols studying new therapies for cancers, HIV infection, insulin resistance and its relationship to type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD), psychotic depression, and other diseases, as well as studies involving nutrition and therapeutic compliance. These protocols involve more than 100 faculty members from 12 academic departments.
The GCRC has received outstanding reviews from the NIH in its past two 5-year renewal cycles, in 1996 and 2001. The budget for the current year 41 of the grant (around $4.2 million) includes partial salaries for 12 faculty members, as well as nursing, dietary, bioinformatics, laboratory, and administrative personnel. The Principal Investigator of the GCRC grant is the dean, Dr. Philip Pizzo, and the Program Director is Dr. Branimir Sikic.
Because of steadily increasing numbers of investigators and protocols, the census for the past year was 1,256 inpatient days and 5,433 outpatient visits. The large majority (95%) of the research projects on the unit are funded by grants to the individual investigators from the NIH and non-profit foundations ("A" category protocols). The remainder, around 5%, are protocols funded by industry sponsored contracts ("D" category studies) which pay the GCRC for nursing and bed charges. These charges accrue to the grant as a credit, and other ancillary charges are passed on directly to the investigators' contracts.
The GCRC grant includes nominal support for ancillary costs related to "A" category studies, amounting to around $70 per inpatient day and $7 per outpatient visit, for central supplies, pharmacy costs, and laboratory charges not covered by other sources. Stanford negotiates a discounted rate with the Federal Government (HHS) for these charges, which currently is 29% for inpatient and 31% for outpatient ancillary items. For industry sponsored ("D" category) protocols on the GCRC, the ancillary pricing and billing are similar to other non-GCRC industry sponsored trials. The discounts for clinical research costs are those negotiated by the ACCESS program or the individual investigator.
For further information, click on: http://ClinicalResearch.Stanford.edu/
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