Department of Medicine - Surgery - University of Minnesota

Research funding in medicineservice has increased substantiallyover the past fiveyears, with medicine serviceresearch funding representingmore than 50 percentof all research funding atthe VA. Not infrequently,students, residents, and fellowswill elect to spend sometime working with a researchmentor at the VA on one ormore research projects. TheVA is recognized not only forthe strength of its individualresearchers, but also for anumber of its interdisciplinaryresearch programs.The Center for ChronicDisease Outcomes Research(CCDOR), headed by HannaBloomfield, M.D., M.P.H. ingeneral medicine, was establishedin April 1998. It is anationally funded healthservices research unit with22 core investigators, 22 affiliateinvestigators, 18 core supportstaff, and 18 project staff.Among its areas of focus aretwo of ten nationally fundedquality enhancement researchinitiatives (QUERIs) withinthe VA—one in colorectalcancer and a newly fundedone in polytrauma. TheseQUERIs provide multi-yearOver the past few years, demand forclinical care at the medical center hasresulted in substantial growth in thenumbers of patients.funding to promote thetranslation of research intoimproved clinical care systemsand ultimately improvedclinical care.The Minneapolis Center forEpidemiological and ClinicalResearch (CECR) is a VAClinical Research Center ofExcellence headed by FrankLederle, M.D. in general medicineand established in October2004 to provide salarysupport and mentoring forfive clinical scholars who arepursuing advanced training(e.g., M.P.H.) and additionalexperience in clinicalresearch. The current scholarsinclude junior faculty fromcardiology, GI, renal, rheumatology,and psychiatry.The Hepatitis C ResourceCenter headed by Sam Ho,M.D. in GI is one of four VAbasedcenters in the UnitedStates dedicated to optimizingtreatment of veteranswith Hepatitis C. The centerscollaborate to improve screening,testing, clinical care,and education for HepatitisC patients. The MinneapolisHCRC team is developing,testing, and disseminatingbest-practices care modelsfor integrating medical,psychiatric, and addictiontreatment for patients withHCV. Clinical researchinvestigating HCV-relatedquestions, dissemination,translation of research intopractice, and patient educationissues are all potentialareas for investigation.The National Center forPatient Safety has receivedfunding from the VA CentralOffice under the direction ofAnna Schorer, M.D. (Heme-Onc) to analyze opportunitiesfor enhancing chemotherapysafety. The project hasinvolved evaluation of workprocesses, establishmentof core clinical content, anddevelopment and implementationof computer chemotherapyordering programs. Thisproject includes three VAs(Minneapolis, Cincinnati,and Iowa City).An integrated obesity treatmentprogram under thedirection of Charles Billington,M.D. (endocrine) combinesclinical treatment withbasic and clinical research inthe field of obesity. Endocrinefellows, residents, and studentsmay participate in theevaluation and treatment ofpatients with obesity includingthe center’s two-week residentialprogram, outpatientclinics, and group sessions.Research activities focus onclinical treatment and brainmechanisms for appetiteregulation.35