Cleveland Clinic, Rutgers To Lead Newly Formed Institute For War Wounded
Cleveland
Clinic and Rutgers University are leading one of two civilian research consortia
to develop innovative medical therapies for the treatment of wounded service
members. Cleveland Clinic will receive more than $10 million from a total
of $42.5 million awarded over 5 years to create a new institute called the
Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM).
George Muschler, MD, Biomedical Engineering and a Cleveland
Clinic orthopaedic surgeon, is AFIRM's Co-Director, in collaboration with
AFIRM Director Joachim Kohn, PhD, of Rutgers University .
Together Drs. Muschler and Kohn will lead a collaborative network of leading
clinician scientists drawn from 15 premier institutions and more than 20 commercial
partners nationwide.
“The AFIRM team is deeply committed to offering new recovery options for the
brave men and women who have served our country,” Dr. Muschler said. “Our
collaborative mission is to translate opportunities that are now available
in regenerative biology as quickly as possible into practical tools that can
be used on the front lines or here at home.”
The mission of AFIRM is to accelerate the development of new technologies
in the field of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering to effectively
serve the needs of injured service members. The research and development of
new therapies will focus on the regeneration of bone, muscle, tendon, nerve
and blood vessels, as well as new methods for transplantation of limb and
facial tissue and the treatment of burns.
Cleveland Clinic President and CEO Delos “Toby” Cosgrove , MD, has
experienced the devastation of war firsthand and commends the AFIRM project.
"Early in my career, I served as an Air Force surgeon in Vietnam where
I saw military casualties firsthand and witnessed the impact of combat injuries
on the fine men and women of our Armed Forces,” Dr. Cosgrove said. “I am honored
that Cleveland Clinic is part of the team awarded this opportunity to serve
these heroes and potentially help several thousands of others who suffer from
similar injuries."
AFIRM is a national effort to address the healthcare challenges of severely
injured service members returning from Afghanistan and Iraq , said Dr. Kohn
of Rutgers .
“Our foremost goal is to alleviate the human suffering associated with debilitating
blast injuries and to enable our injured men and women to return to productive
lives,” Dr. Kohn said.
The AFIRM will be a collaborative virtual institution working in conjunction
with the US Army Institute of Surgical Research (ISR). A second AFIRM consortium
will be managed by Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and the University
of Pittsburgh who will receive another $42.5 million in funding.
Successful inter-institutional and commercial partnerships like AFIRM have
become a hallmark of biotechnology in Ohio , thanks to investments made by
the Ohio 's Third Frontier Project (TFP), which is working to expand biotech
research and business in the state. In 2005 the state initiative funded the
Clinical Tissue Engineering Center (CTEC), a collaboration among Cleveland
Clinic, Case Western Reserve University , University Hospitals Case Medical
Center (who are also part of the Rutgers-Cleveland Clinic AFIRM team) and
several other Ohio institutions and companies.
CTEC is a key partner in the larger National Center for Regenerative Medicine
(NCRM), which integrates several regional programs and an international education
effort focused on the development of therapies based on non-embryonic stem
cells and regenerative medicine strategies.
Regenerative medicine in Ohio enjoys broad support from Ohio Governor Ted
Strickland and federal government officials, including Ohio Senators
George Voinovich and Sherrod Brown, Congresswoman
Stephanie Tubbs Jones, and Congressman Ralph Regula.
“This extraordinary grant is a testament to the outstanding work being conducted
among the partners and the Department of Defense's recognition of this work,”
Congressman Regula said. “I am pleased to have been an early supporter of
this initiative, as I believe it will profoundly improve the lives of our
service members and their families.”
The core academic partners in the Rutgers-Cleveland Clinic consortium are:
Case Western Reserve University, Carnegie Mellon University, Stony Brook University,
Dartmouth College, MIT, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School,
Mayo Clinic, Northwestern University, University Hospitals Case Medical Center,
University of Cincinnati, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey,
University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University.