GENERAL CLINICAL RESEARCH CENTER

This is an application to establish a new General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine-Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (HMC), Hershey, PA with satellite Outpatient facilities at the Noll Physiologic Research Center (NPRC) of the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine was established in 1963, graduated its first class of medical students in 1967 and the University Hospital accepted its first patients in 1970. The NPRC was established in 1963. In 1987, the newly recruited Senior Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the College of Medicine, Dr. C. McCollister Evarts, Principal Investigator, embarked on a program of expansion of resources for research and for patient care. This has resulted in the construction of new hospital facilities and of a new biomedical research building as well as the recruitment of new faculty and a substantial increase in biomedical research grant support. There are currently 485 full time faculty members (including 6 librarians), 432 medical students, 145 graduate students, 378 residents and 62 post-doctoral fellows at Penn State/HMC. In addition to the M.D. program, there is also a Ph.D. program and an M.D./Ph.D. program, as well as an M.S. program in laboratory animal science. There are currently 504 hospital beds (excluding bassinets) with an 80.9% occupancy for the fiscal year 92-93. There is $40 million per year in financial support for sponsored activities at Penn State/HMC; $28 million in NIH support and $2 million in support from other federal agencies. New faculty with active NIH-supported clinical research programs, including the proposed GCRC Program Director and the Director of the NPRC, have recently been recruited to Penn State. The existing institutional strengths in clinical investigation, the marked expansion of patient resources and the presence of these new clinical investigators has led to a profound institutional need for a GCRC. This application contains 38 protocols from investigators in 16 different Departments and Centers. The major areas of investigation include cardiovascular physiology, gait disorders, insulin resistance, growth factor signaling, the effects of aging on muscle function and thermoregulation, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, epidemiology of cardiac risk factors, diabetic retinopathy, sleep disorders, pulmonary physiology, gastrointestinal motility, sex steroids and behavior, polycystic ovary syndrome and nutrition. We are requesting support to renovate space for a discrete outpatient GCRC at HMC as well as for minor renovations of the space to be used for the GCRC satellite at NPRC, University Park. We are requesting approximately 3,500 outpatient visits and 175 per diem inpatient days for the GCRC-HMC and approximately 6,000 outpatient visits for the GCRC-University Park.