NUMC RECEIVES $220,000 ECRIP CLINICAL 2 YEAR GRANT FOR THE EVALUATION AND TREATMENT OF ASTHMA IN HISPANIC AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN PATIENTS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 12, 2011
PRESS CONTACT:
Shelley Lotenberg
shelley@numc.edu
516-572-6055
NUMC RECEIVES $220,000 ECRIP CLINICAL 2 YEAR GRANT FOR THE EVALUATION AND TREATMENT OF ASTHMA IN HISPANIC AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN PATIENTS
SECOND EMPIRE CLINICAL RESEARCH INVESTIGATION PROGRAM FOR NUMC
East Meadow, New York….Arthur A. Gianelli, President/CEO of the Nassau Health Care Corporation announced that Nassau University Medical Center has been awarded its second $220,000 Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program (ECRIP) grant for asthma clinical research for an interdisciplinary patient centered approach to the evaluation and treatment of asthma in Hispanic and African American patients.
“This is very good news and we are delighted that Marianne Frieri, M.D, Ph.D., chief of allergy immunology in the department of medicine, with her extensive experience in allergy and immunology, will serve as a mentor for the ECRIP physician or junior faculty member who will be conducting this clinical patient-oriented and research study. This is the second clinical research award that NUMC has received since 2008 and we look forward to this two-year cutting edge clinical research to evaluate and treat Hispanic and African American patients suffering from asthma,” said Mr. Gianelli.
The ECRIP program encourages teaching hospitals and Graduate Medical Education (GME) consortia to train physicians as clinical researchers to advance biomedical research in New York’s academic health centers. Funds from the GME Reform Incentive Pool in each region are dedicated for this program to fund clinical research positions.
Patients will be referred from the emergency department, pulmonary division and community health centers for asthma evaluation, major triggers using inhalant, food allergen skin testing or sIgE levels, cotinine levels for tobacco smoke, allergen immunotherapy, possible exhaled nitric oxide, and QOL using a validated asthma instrument within the Allergy Division, assessment of PFT’s through the pulmonary division. Dr. Frieri and the ECRIP physician will develop a GME curriculum designed to raise resident awareness of the cultural and spiritual needs of asthma patients in the context of their medical care and develop strategies to manage poorly-controlled asthma. The coursework will be enriched by attendance at selected lectures in allergy immunology and pulmonary medicine related to asthma, and journal clubs. Critical reading and discussion of current scientific literature will enhance the ECRIP physician’s abilities to evaluate and present clinical research data, present results at local seminars, national scientific meetings, and prepare the results for publication in peer-reviewed journals.
GME incentive pool program rewards teaching hospitals for achievement of and progress toward state GME policy goals.
“Dr. Frieri is a nationally recognized leader in allergy and immunology. This is another accomplishment in her long career that will benefit Nassau University Medical Center and the community,” said Steven J. Walerstein, MD, FACP, senior vice president for medical affairs and medical director of the NuHealth System.
ABOUT NUHEALTH
NuHealth is a Long Island health care organization delivering essential medical care and disease and lifestyle management to everyone at every stage of life. Also known as Nassau Health Care Corporation, NuHealth is a public benefit corporation managing the operations of Nassau Medical Center, A. Holly Patterson Extended Care and a network of Family Health Centers that bring primary and specialty care out into the community. By emphasizing wellness, cultural sensitivity and collaborative efforts with the North Shore-LIJ Health System, NuHealth is working to make good care more affordable and easier to access.
For more information about NuHealth or its Centers of Care, visit www.nuhealth.net.