Winter 2011

 

The best reasons to volunteer are all around you.

Some you love.
Some you miss.
Some you’ll never know.

Clinical Center receives Lasker~Bloomberg Award

Dr. John I. Gallin, CC director (second, from left) accepted the 2011 Lasker~Bloomberg award on behalf of the CC from (from left) Maria Freire, Lasker Foundation president; Michael Bloomberg, New York City Mayor; and Alfred Sommer, Lasker Foundation chair.

The NIH Clinical Center received the 2011 Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award given by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. The award honors the CC for serving as a model research institution that has transformed scientific advances into innovative therapies and provided high-quality care to patients. The award also recognizes the CC’s rich history of medical discovery through clinical research since the hospital opened in 1953.

"The Clinical Center's work has always depended on patients and healthy individuals from around the world who volunteer for clinical research here," said CC Director Dr. John I. Gallin. "Our patients include those with rare diseases, common disorders, and undiagnosed conditions ... the patients and healthy volunteers who participate in them are true partners in research."

The award also acknowledges the CC and the NIH for allowing researchers to quickly translate laboratory research and observations into innovative approaches for diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease. Another basis of the award was the CC’s commitment to training the next generation of clinical researchers.

The scientific accomplishments of investigators at the CC have led to medical breakthroughs across the spectrum of human diseases. Many major medical achievements have occurred at the CC including: the development of chemotherapy for cancer; identification of the genes that cause kidney cancer; the demonstration that lithium helps depression; the first gene therapy; the first treatment of AIDS (with AZT); and the development of tests to detect AIDS/HIV and hepatitis viruses in blood, which led to a safer blood supply.

Since 1953 nearly half a million clinical research volunteers have participated in clinical research at the CC. These partners in research and discovery have helped to develop tomorrow’s medicine. Dr. Bradford Wood, CC chief of Interventional Radiology described why clinical research is the key to medical advances. "Without today’s research we don’t get tomorrow’s cures. That’s why the role of our research volunteers is so incredibly critical."

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Who are the members of your research team?

Health matters: Health-care teams and you

When you take part in a clinical study at the NIH Clinical Center, you will receive care from a multidisciplinary team of caregivers and researchers. Each member of this team brings expertise into play to ensure outstanding patient care and clinical research.  As a CC patient, you may see different members of this team, all of whom work together closely to assure that you get the highest quality care and personalized services during your stay.

The CC’s health-care teams are usually led by an attending physician or principal investigator. This person is responsible for conducting the study (or protocol) and for the overall quality of care. Many CC patients will also see a clinical fellow. Fellows are doctors who come to NIH to learn more about medical research.

CC patients will often interact with research nurse coordinators. These staff members do the overall study coordination and data management, and they are often the main contact for patients. These nurses usually report to a principal investigator and support a specific study or group of studies.
Clinical nurses (on inpatient units or outpatient clinics) take care of the patient’s day-to-day needs. Clinical nurses are often assigned to a specific unit, and they support your principal investigator and clinical fellow.

Your health-care team may include other health professionals such as pharmacists, social workers, dietitians, and recreation therapists.

Although each health-care team has many members, they all work together with one goal in mind: our patients’ safety and overall wellbeing.

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Connect with researchers using ResearchMatch

News and information from the NIH Clinical Center

The outcomes of clinical research affect much of our everyday lives, from the medicine we take to our understanding of illness. ResearchMatch is a new tool that supports clinical research and the quest to improve human health and save lives.

ResearchMatch is an online registry of volunteers who are interested in learning more about research studies. This site’s goal is to connect volunteers with researchers searching for appropriate volunteers interested in learning more about their studies.

ResearchMatch is a not-for-profit activity and is free to join. All ages and backgrounds are welcome. A parent, legal guardian, or caretaker may register someone under the age of 19 or an adult who may not be able to enter his or her own information.

Once you join, ResearchMatch adds your profile to a secure, central database that will store your information if you wish to be matched with research studies, now or in the future.

ResearchMatch is a collaborative effort of the national network of medical research institutions that are part of the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards program.

To learn more about ResearchMatch or to register, visit www.researchmatch.org [disclaimer].

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Information for patient volunteers	Information for healthy volunteers
SmartPill® study Study number: 08-DK-0138 This study will measure stomach acid secretions using the SmartPill® in order to compare other measurement methods. This is an outpatient study that will last approximately four days. Participants must be 18 or older and have been diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux, peptic ulcer or gastric hypersecretion disease. Overweight women Study number: 11-CH-0208 This study is for women ages 45-70 who have had menopause, are overweight, have abnormal glucose and triglyceride (form of ‘bad’ cholesterol) levels, and are not on any estrogen-containing hormone therapy. After an initial screening visit for general health assessment, participants will undergo treatment with a cortisolblocking medication or a non-active pill for seven days. Each participant will take both study agents with a gap of 6-8 weeks between the two. Testing before and after treatment with the study medications will include blood drawing over 24 hours, urine collection, an intravenous glucose tolerance test, and 1-2 day overnight inpatient stay. Severe cancer pain Study number: 09-D-0039 Adults 18 years and older who experience severe cancer pain may be eligible to participate in a study that uses spinal injection of a research drug, resiniferatoxin, that may reduce pain or the need for pain medication in patients with severe advanced cancer. This study involves one inpatient visit that will last 2-3 days, the rest will be outpatient visits lasting 4-6 hours. There will be a screening visit, a treatment visit, and four follow-up visits that occur beginning seven days after treatment. Participants will also be followed by phone after the study. Girls at risk of type 2 diabetes Study number: 11-CH-0239 This study is for girls ages 12-17 who feel sad and have a family member with type 2 diabetes. This study will test if improving mood decreases girls’ risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and involves two screening visits, random assignment to a six-week group program, and three follow-up visits within a year. Epilepsy study Study number: 11-N-0051 This study is for individuals 8 years of age and older who have seizures that cannot be controlled with medication. This epilepsy study will use surgery as a treatment for the seizures. Participation requires an inpatient stay of up to four weeks, plus three outpatient visits within two years after surgery.	Healthy normal weight men Study number: 11-CH-0078 This study is for healthy, normal weight men ages 18-30 who run more than 28 miles a week or exercise for less than one hour a week. Participants will provide urine, saliva, and blood samples as outpatients. They will also take study medication on four afternoons and come for additional testing that evening. Healthy volunteers who smoke Study number: 09-M-0040 This study is seeking healthy volunteers to participate in research studies on mood and anxiety disorders. If you smoke cigarettes, and do not have any medical conditions, consider participating in these studies. Participation may include a physical exam, lab work, brain imaging, medication and/or psychological interviews during a minimum of three outpatient visits. Participants may be eligible if they are between 18-65, medically healthy, not taking any medication, do not have a current or past history of psychiatric illness, and have no history of head trauma with loss of consciousness. Healthy volunteers and caregivers Study number: 11-CC-0265 A study for individuals 18 and older will explore the physical and emotional health of individuals serving as caregivers for a family member or friend undergoing an allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplant. Healthy volunteers will be matched to the caregiver participants by age, gender, and race/ethnicity. The results of this study may help in the development of programs that support caregivers in coping with the demands of caring for someone undergoing a transplant.
All studies are conducted at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. There is no charge for study-related tests, medications, or treatments. Some studies listed in this newsletter may be closed to enrollment at later dates. Contact PRPL for more information at prpl@cc.nih.gov. Compensation may be provided for healthy volunteers. For more information about any of the studies listed above, please call: 1-866-444-6676 TTY: 1-866-411-1010 Se habla español

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