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The
AIDS Research Institute is
without walls, encompassing a dozen existing research centers
and institutes at UCSF and about a thousand investigators working
in geographically dispersed locations in San Francisco. Together
this group represents the largest AIDS initiative anywhere outside
of the National Institutes of Health. It also represents one of
the single biggest efforts on campus, accounting for nearly 30
percent of UCSF’s $200 million in extramural funding. ARI
provides the mechanism for meetings of the scientific minds through
town hall forums, peer review sessions, focus groups and “targeted
action groups” in which several researchers come together
to design a new multidisciplinary studies.
The major goals of
the NIH-industry funded Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging
Initiative (ADNI) are to: 1) Develop improved methods, which will
lead to uniform standards for acquiring longitudinal, multi-site
MRI and PET data on patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD),
mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and elderly controls. 2) Acquire
a generally accessible data repository, which describes longitudinal
changes in brain structure and metabolism. In parallel, acquire
clinical, cognitive and biomarker data for validation of imaging
surrogates. 3) Determine those methods, which provide maximum
power to determine treatment effects in trials involving these
patient groups.
The Alzheimer’s
Disease Program provides services to persons with Alzheimer’s
disease and related disorders and their families through the Alzheimer’s
Disease Research Centers of California. The mission of the Program
is to reduce the human burden and economic cost associated with
Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders, and assist in
ultimately discovering the cause and cure of these diseases. Since
1985, the Alzheimer’s Disease Program has awarded over $10
million to 80 scientists engaged in the study of Alzheimer’s
disease and related disorders. This research, which has encompassed
the areas of basic science, diagnosis, treatment, epidemiology,
behavioral management, and care giving, has been supported by
both the State of General Fund and by the Alzheimer’s Disease
and Related Disorders Research Fund.
The Alzheimer’s
Disease Program established and administers ten Alzheimer’s
Disease Research Centers of California (ARCCs) at university medical
centers throughout California. These Centers are dedicated to
improving the quality of the life of persons affected with Alzheimer’s
disease and their families. Services are provided by multi-disciplinary
teams which may include neurologists, psychiatrists, physician
assistants, psychologists, nurse specialists, neuropsychologists
and social workers.
UCSF Medical Center
is recognized as one of the top 10 hospitals in the nation in
rheumatology. The renowned orthopedic surgeons and rheumatologists
at our Arthritis and Joint Replacement Center specialize in treating
a wide variety of diseases affecting muscles, bones and joints.
There are more than 100 different types of arthritis conditions.
Their team of experts work together to diagnose and treat the
full spectrum of these disorders, including autoimmune diseases,
such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis,
as well as other forms of arthritis, such as osteoarthritis, gout
and ankylosing spondylitis. They also offer the latest advancements
in joint replacement surgery, including minimally invasive surgical
techniques, computer assisted surgery, and advance implant options.
Currently, the center is helping to support the work of nine leading
scientists as well as young faculty members and fellows. These
teams are asking many of the fundamental questions that must be
answered to find the causes of arthritis.
The UCSF Bariatric Surgery Center offers comprehensive evaluations
before surgery and follow-up care after surgery including groups,
dietitian services and continuing education. The center has performed
surgical weight-loss procedures since 1996 and has a team of experts
which includes dieticians, gastroenterologists, nurses, and surgeons.
UCSF serves as lead
institution for this Center in partnership with Kaiser Permanent
of Northern California and Marin Breast Cancer Watch. Collaborative
partners also include Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the
California Department of Health Services, the San Francisco Department
of Public Health, and the Marin County Department of Health and
Human Services. Headquartered at UCSF, the Bay Area Research Center
is organized as a “center without walls” with research
and community activities performed at several sites. It is one
of four centers across the country funded through a new initiative
of the NIH that studies the impact of prenatal-to-adult environmental
exposures that may predispose women to breast cancer. The National
Institute of Environment Health Sciences and the National Cancer
Institute, both institutes within the NIH, support the centers
as a group.
The NCI established
Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPOREs) to promote
interdisciplinary research and to speed the bi-directional exchange
between basic and clinical science to move basic research findings
from the laboratory to applied settings involving patients and
populations. The goal of the Breast Cancer SPORE is to bring to
clinical care settings novel ideas that have the potential to
reduce breast cancer incidence and mortality and to improve survival
and quality of life. Laboratory and clinical scientists work collaboratively
to plan, design and implement research programs that impact breast
cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and control.
The Breast Oncology
Program at UCSF is a longstanding program that has served as a
model for other translational research programs within the Cancer
Center. Involving nearly 60 faculty scientists, the program supports
and stimulates basic, clinical, and population research in breast
cancer and facilitates translation of these findings into improved
cancer management and control. Program research is supported by
major grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the U.S.
Department of Defense, and other agencies.
The California Institute
for Quantitative Research (QB3), a cooperative effort among three
campuses of the University of California and private industry,
harnesses the quantitative sciences to integrate our understanding
of biological systems at all levels of complexity – from
atoms and protein molecules to cells, tissues, organs, and the
entire organism. This long-sought integration allows scientists
to attack the problems that have been simply unapproachable before,
setting the stage for fundamental new discoveries, new products,
and new technologies for the benefit of human health. The Institute
builds on strengths in the engineering and physical sciences at
UC Berkeley, engineering and mathematical sciences at UC Santa
Cruz, and the medical sciences at UC San Francisco, as well as
strong biology programs at the three campuses. In addition to
the creation of fundamental new knowledge and potent new technologies,
a major goal of the Institute is to train a new generation of
students able to fully integrate the quantitative sciences with
biomedical research.
Approximately 50 principal
investigators, both laboratory and clinical researchers, including
molecular biologists, immunologists, pharmacologists, biochemists,
physicists, epidemiologists, behavioral scientists, biostatisticians,
and computer scientists work within the Research Institute and
the Medical Center. Biomedical research is conducted in such diverse
areas as aging, arthritis, epilepsy, diabetes, neurobiology of
pain, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, organ transplantation,
neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. amyotrophic lateral sclerosis),
cancer, AIDS, hepatitis and other infectious diseases. Some of
these scientists are engaged in research that will help us understand
the function of certain human cells, genes, proteins and other
fundamental structures within our bodies. Over 300 clinical trials,
primarily funded by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies,
are currently conducted at the Medical Center. California Pacific
also has one of the few medical center based programs in the United
States in which complementary or alternative medicine approaches
to treatment for specific health problems are studies.
The The
Cardiovascular Research Institute is an organized research
institute at UCSF directed by Shaun Coughlin, MD. The CVRI is
made up of faculty holding appointments in a variety of departments,
both basic and clinical. CVRI clinical investigation programs
are mainly centered around CVRI-operated diagnostic laboratories.
These labs are heavily used for postdoctoral clinical and research
training, as well as for clinical investigations related to multidisciplinary
CVRI research programs. At present there are eleven programmatic
awards for CVRI multidisciplinary research and five training programs
supported by NIH. There are 122 grants for individual research
projects to members of the CVRI that support research and training
in the Institute.
CAPS
is an AIDS prevention research center funded by the National Institute
of Mental Health. It was established in 1986 to conduct local,
national, and international interdisciplinary research on methods
to prevent HIV infection and its consequences. Now in its 13th
year, research funded by CAPS includes: collaborative HIV prevention
research in developing countries; collaborative HIV prevention
research in U.S. minority communities; technology and information
exchange; antivirals and prevention; and health care policy research.
The University of California,
San Francisco – Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology
(GIVI) Center for AIDS Research leverages the scientific strengths
of each institute to provide a central, strategic program focused
on novel, interdisciplinary research in HIV disease. Over 400
member investigators utilize our administrative and scientific
cores for translational, collaborative projects occurring at the
intersection between basic, clinical population sciences research.
The center is supported by a grant from the National Institute
of Health/National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases.
The Center for Molecular
and Functional Imaging comes into being at a time when their colleagues
in molecular biology have deciphered the human genome and began
to unravel both its biological manifestations and the exciting
medical implications of this knowledge. The fundamental discoveries
compel them to explore and innovate new noninvasive imaging tools
that allow them to discern processes at the cellular, molecular,
and genetic level, tools that use imaging to gain new insights
into fundamental biological principles, as well as the disease
process, and to enable and monitor new therapies. The CMFI was
conceived to coordinate and integrate these activities under one
umbrella.
The CMFI includes 32,000 square feet of laboratory and office
space for approximately 130 faculty, research scientists, post-doctoral
fellows, graduate students, and staff. Located on the third floor,
with a view of the Mission Bay campus, the Center includes spacious
physics, chemistry, nuclear medicine, tissue culture, and instrumentation
development laboratories. Shared resources include state-of-the-art
instrumentation including: high-resolution microCt, a high field
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) tissue scanner, a Fourier Transform
Infrared (FTIR) microscope, a small-animal SPECT/CT dual-modality
imaging system, specimen storage and an animal housing and surgical
suite.
The mission of the
Center for Obesity Assessment, Study & Treatment is to reduce
the prevalence and adverse consequences of obesity. This will
be accomplished through innovative interdisciplinary research,
education, clinical care, and community interventions. These efforts
span from biological to socio-cultural and environmental contexts,
from children to adults and from prevention to treatment.
The Northern California
Kaiser-Permanente Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
Research Group is an affiliation of researchers and clinician-investigators
who share an interest in furthering the scientific study of non-conventional
therapeutic approaches to wellness and disease management. The
Group meets quarterly (and on an ad hoc basis) to assess the status
of ongoing CAM research initiatives within NCKP and to offer support
and advice to individual investigators planning or conducting
relevant studies.
The UCSF Comprehensive
Cancer Center is an interdisciplinary initiative that combines
basic science, clinical research, epidemiology/cancer control,
and patient care throughout the University of California, San
Francisco. The Center's mission is the discovery and evolution
of new ideas and information about cancer, from the research to
the clinical implementation phases of cancer control.
Completed in November 2000, the five-story, 88,000-square-foot
building (above, left and center) at the corner of Divisadero
and Sutter Streets includes clinical services relating to radiation
oncology; breast care, including diagnostic mammography; infusion;
gastrointestinal cancers; melanoma; thoracic oncology; and gynecological
oncology.
In 1997, the Cancer Center inaugurated a 110,000-square-foot
laboratory research building at 2340 Sutter Street (above, right).
This state-of-the-art facility includes more than 250 lab work
stations (60,000 square feet), offices for 48 principal investigators,
and a 10,000-square-foot, high-tech animal care facility
The UCSF CC specializes
in coordinating multicenter studies in women’s health, osteoporosis,
heart disease, and aging. Led by Dr. Cummings, the UCSF CC coordinates
large, multicenter cohort studies and clinical trials. Scholars
will have access to the data sets and repositories of biological
specimens for all of these studies. Fellows and trainees are encouraged
to use the data for analysis and writing projects. For example,
fellows in our training programs have written 22 papers and presented
over 50 abstracts from the Study of Osteoporotic (SOF) database
alone. These publications by trainees have addressed osteoporosis,
breast cancer, depression, dementia, and cardiovascular disease,
and many have been in high-impact journals.
The General Clinical
Research Center is an inpatient and outpatient research facility
funded by the NIH National Center for Research Resources. The
mission of the GCRC is to provide the clinical and translational
research infrastructure for UCSF investigators with peer-reviewed
protocols to study pathogenesis and treatment spanning the spectrum
of human disease. Among the many resources offered by the GCRC
are inpatient and outpatient space, nursing services, dietary
services, biostatistical consultation, core laboratory services,
and computer database design/management. In addition to the above,
the GCRC plays an important role in education and training of
investigators at UCSF.
UCSF has two GCRCs that provide skilled research nursing, nutritional,
and laboratory support for investigator-initiated peer-reviewed
protocols designed to study human pathophysiology and to evaluate
innovative therapies. The GRCR
at Moffitt Hospital includes 11 inpatient beds, outpatient
facilities, core laboratories, a research kitchen, biostatistical
support, and a computerized data management facility. The GCRC
at San Francisco General Hospital(SFGH) has similar amenities,
as well as an integrated clinical database of all patients cared
for at SFGH and its associated primary care clinics that can be
used for clinical trials and outcomes research. An example of
the collaborative research and training potential with the GCRCs
is the recent NIDDK funding for a multicenter trial of growth
hormone or thalidomide to prevent wasting in AIDS patients with
acute infection; Dr. Schambelan (Director of the GCRC at SFGH)
is PI, Dr. Hulley is Director of the Coordinating Center, and
Dr. Kirsten Johansen, a past fellow from our Advanced Training
in Clinical Research Program who was subsequently recruited to
the UCSF faculty in the Division of Nephrology, is project director.
The J. David Gladstone
Institutes include the Gladstone
Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, the Gladstone
Institute of Virology and Immunology, and the Gladstone
Institute on Pathogenesis of Major neurological Diseases.
The Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease was established
in 1978 and now includes more than 100 investigators, fellows,
students, and research associates. Gladstone scientists have published
over 750 manuscripts contributing to understanding the basic mechanisms
of atherogenesis. The main areas of investigation are lipoprotein
biochemistry and metabolism, cell biology, molecular biology,
vascular and myocardial biology, and clinical molecular genetics.
The Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology was dedicated
in 1993; this premier center, with state of the art laboratories
is dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of the AIDS virus.
The Gladstone Institute
of Virology and Immunology (GIVI) is a research institute dedicated
to the study of virology and immunology with a focus on HIV and
AIDS. Built by the State of California on the campus of San Francisco
General Hospital (SFGH) and dedicated in April of 1993, GIVI conducts
a full range of basic and clinical research on HIV and AIDS. In
October of 2004, GIVI expanded to the J. David Gladstone Institutes’
new research facility on the Mission Bay Campus of the University
of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
The MIRECC is a Veterans
Administration-funded center to promote the research and care
of veterans with mental illness. In VISN21, the MIRECC is primarily
based at the UCSF-affiliated San Francisco VA and the Stanford-affiliated
Palo Alto VA. The focus of the VISN 21 MIRECC is on clinical research
and translational research of dementia and post-traumatic stress
disorder. As part of the MIRECC, there is a research database
on patients with dementia that includes information on neuroimaging,
neuropsychological test scores, medical history, functional status
and outcomes.
The UCSF
National Center of Excellence in Women's Health(COE) is one
of the six vanguard national centers designated by the PHS Office
on Women's Health. The Director of the UCSF COE is Nancy Milliken,
MD, a member of the BIRCWH Advisory Board. The UCSF COE is committed
to developing partnerships with individuals and organizations
to foster and support activities geared toward improving the health
and well-being of women and girls across diverse communities.
A goal of the UCSF COE research unit is to forge strong partnerships
with the community which will: 1) ensure that research addresses
issues of relevance to the community; 2) facilitate the development
and implementation of strategies for the recruitment of diverse
women into research studies; and 3) enhance the dissemination
of information.
Recognizing the importance of multidisciplinary research, the
COE developed a Women's Health Researchers' Directory.
Approximately 400 women's health researchers from UCSF, as well
as other research institutions in the San Francisco Bay Area,
comprise this directory. The directory can be utilized by BIRCWH
scholars to identify potential collaborators for new or ongoing
research projects. BIRCWH scholars will also be invited to attend
the Bench-to-Bedside
forums sponsored by the COE which serve as a mechanism for researchers
to engage in dialogue with one another about a given topic and
to allow for an in-depth evaluation of the most up-to-date information.
The Northern California
Cancer Center (NCCC) is dedicated to preventing cancer through
population-based research and community education. An independent
organization, the NCCC NCCC works with scientists, educators,
patients, clinicians, community leaders, and other individuals
from many organizations and community groups. They have been working
successfully with hundreds of agencies and individuals since 1974.
This collaborative approach enables them to "play to the
strengths" of the organizations they work with, and allows
them to focus specialized expertise from numerous sources on a
variety problems. We don't have to have all the skills under one
roof; what we need is to know where they are and how to bring
them together.
The Division of Research
is the research department of The Permanente Medical Group, a
3500 member multispecialty medical group which is the exclusive
provider of clinical services to the 2.9 million members of the
Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Northern California.
The DOR was founded in 1961 and has conducted externally funded
epidemiologic, clinical and health services research continuously
since that time. Approximately half of the DOR's annual budget
of $21 million comes from NIH funding. Additional support is derived
from the CDC, AHCPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, numerous
disease-oriented foundations, from industry sources, and from
core funding by the medical group. Currently, more than 40 full-time
scientists, including both MD's and Ph.D.'s comprise the DOR investigator
staff, a number of who devote all or large parts of their research
careers to the study of women's health.
The Osher
Center was established in 1997. Its mission is to search for
the most effective treatments for patients by combining non-traditional
and traditional approaches that address all aspects of health
and wellness--biological, psychological, social and spiritual.
Through scientific research, the Center's faculty will document
the value of non-traditional treatments and integrate approaches
of proven value into patient care.
The UCSF Positive Health
Program is recognized throughout the medical community as a world
leader in the areas of clinical care and basic clinical research.
Founded in 1983, the Program arose from the vision of three pioneers
in AIDS treatment and research; oncologists Paul Volberding MD
and Donald Abrams MD, and the late Dr. Constance Wofsy, an infectious
disease specialist. The program has been ranked as the top facility
in the country for AIDS care by US News and World Report for several
consecutive years. The program has grown to encompass a network
of specialty clinics, a system of research and clinical trials,
an HIV Education Unit and a community forum for doctors and researchers.
It not only provides care to HIV/AIDS, but also provides Oncology
and Hematology services.
The Positive Health Program represents an extraordinary collaboration
between UCSF and the San Francisco Department of Public Health
at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH), where faculty, nurses,
and health professionals work together to fight the AIDS epidemic.
The REC is composed
of 22 basic scientists representing diverse fields of reproductive
biology who have joined forces with physician scientists to increase
understanding of the mechanisms responsible for normal reproduction
in animals and humans. The underlying premise is that only by
elucidation of the intricacies of the cellular and molecular facets
of normal reproductive processes can clinicians provide new methods
of contraception and treatment of reproductive disorders. There
is a strong commitment in the Center to utilize contemporary techniques
to extend the understanding, and ultimately treatment, of reproductive
disorders and hormone-dependent cancers..
The SF Mammography
Registry is a population-based, computerized database containing
demographic, clinical and risk factor information, mammographic
interpretations and cancer outcomes on a cohort of women obtaining
mammograms in San Francisco. The registry contains information
on 178,887 women and 361,884 mammograms, and is expected to increase
to 210,000 women and 800,000 mammograms within 5 years. The database
is a valuable resource for addressing issues related to mammography
performance, for identifying factors that optimize the quality
of mammography, for biologic studies of screen-detected compared
with other cancers, for developing clinical guidelines, and for
future studies of emergent screening technologies and clinical
interventions to improve screening outcomes.
This program project
grant, the UCSF SCOR on Lower Urinary Tract Function in Women
(http://www.ucsf.edu/scor/)
provides the organizational structure to further develop and support
multi-disciplinary, collaborative research projects from basic
and clinical investigators. The UCSF SCOR includes researchers
from the Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive
Sciences, Urology, Epidemiology, and Family Medicine. This “bench
to bedside” collaborative research paradigm facilitates
direct translation of scientific results to improved patient care.
The clinic brings together
doctors, nutritionists, exercise physiologists, and psychologists
with expertise diagnosing and treating childhood obesity. The
team of experts evaluates patients and their families both behaviorally
and biochemically, paying close attention to the links between
biochemistry and behavior, especially as they apply to energy
balance. The clinic assists with weight management while also
treating other diseases the child may have associated to weight,
such as asthma, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.
The clinic’s research efforts examine the causes and treatments
of obesity.
The WCC,
directed by Jeanette Brown MD, offers a full range of diagnostic
and treatment options for women with lower urinary tract problems
and pelvic floor prolapse. The WCC is part of the UCSF Women's
Health which offers primary, obstetric and gynecologic care designed
to meet the unique physical and psychological needs of women.
Women seeking care at the WCC are actively involved in clinical
trials about new medications and treatment options for urinary
incontinence.
The UCSF
Women's Health Clinical Research Center (WHCRC) was established
in 2001 and is a major component of the UCSF
National Center of Excellence in Women's Health(COE) at the
Mount Zion Campus. The Research Center provides a vibrant and
growing focus for clinical research activities and significantly
strengthens clinical and teaching programs in women's health through
3 key activities: 1) interdisciplinary research
programs; 2) junior
faculty training in clinical research, and 3) a fellowship
in clinical research methods.
The American woman's life expectancy has increased from 48 years
in 1900 to more than 79 years in 2000. Historical failure to include
women in research studies has led to inadequate attention to sex
differences in health and disease.
Under the direction of Deborah
Grady, MD, MPH and Jeanette
S. Brown, MD the researchers at the WHCRC are exploring the
ways that appropriate screening, prevention, and treatment of
disease differ by sex. One special focus of investigation is how
aging affects women and their quality of life. Faculty members
are actively researching breast health, dementia, HIV in women,
osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, urinary incontinence, polycystic
ovarian disease, and other topics
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