Below is my monthly message for the July 2020 edition of the MHRI newsletter, Focus. You can view Focus online at MedStarResearch.org/FOCUS.
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
‘Unprecedented’ has become a cliché because of the enormity of the national challenges. However, throughout the crises, positivity persists. On this holiday weekend made for fireworks and celebrations, let’s take a moment to recognize the positive things happening all around us.
When I look back at this summer as a father, what will I remember? I will remember the pride of my son graduating from high school (with a creative ‘drive-thru’ graduation event) and starting college (earlier than normal) in August.
As the president of the Research Institute, these last few months were truly ‘unprecedented’, not only because of our ability to keep more than 85% of research active during COVID19 but because we have had more new grants, contracts and federal submissions than ever in the history of MHRI! Here are just a few highlights:
- The largest philanthropic grant was awarded to MedStar Health from the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation ($27M over 5 years) to fight the high infant and maternal mortality in D.C. “Safe Babies and Safe Moms” is an integrated, multigenerational care delivery program, involving clinical leaders from MWHC and MGUH, along with a team from MHRI, to help leverage the results to create a national model. Learn more.
- The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) selected MHRI (again!) to be part of their ACTION IV network. As one of 14 organizations nationwide, this contract vehicle is worth up to $75M over 5 years and leverages our success with ACTION III with an expansion to areas we are particularly strong in, including learning health systems initiatives, advanced data-driven approaches to care, and testing health IT tools in the real world prior to dissemination.
- Our CTSA (Clinical and Translational Science Award), led in collaboration with our academic partners at Georgetown University and colleagues at Howard University, was renewed with the NIH. This is our third 5-year award (which brought in $65M of funding over the past 10 years to Georgetown, Howard, MHRI and others), and is critically important to our national standing among NIH funded organizations and as the Georgetown-MedStar Academic Health System. The CTSA provides key infrastructure support and training opportunities, such as the KL2 and TL1 training grants. Learn more.
- Established an MOU with the intramural branch of the NIH to develop joint research collaborations, training programs, and joint faculty positions.
- And if that was not enough, in the last 4 months we have:
- Initiated 41 new industry or federally sponsored clinical trials across a wide spectrum of key service lines.
- Activated over 65 'human subject' research studies investigating some aspect of COVID-19 pathophysiology, diagnosis, or treatment.
- Submitted over 60 new grant proposals across 6 scientific areas and to more than 10 different funding agencies.
- Developed more than a dozen research studies (and associated grant submissions) to address the disparities in health care and strive for health equity.
It is with tremendous pride that I share with you this 'data'. We have a remarkable team of dedicated scientists, research associates and administrative leaders that are so incredibly committed to our vision of advancing health. There is clearly a lot of positivity despite the pandemic!
It is through the recognition of these positive events that we will have the resilience to move forward. More importantly, these positive events will ultimately prove to be more meaningful in defining our future - an even brighter future for us all. When we look back at the spring/summer of 2020 at MHRI, it is these milestones we will remember.
I hope everyone had a nice and safe holiday weekend and look forward to the next academic year.
Neil
