St. Vincent's Cystic Fibrosis Center Named a Therapeutic Development Center (TDC) by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
05/06/2009
Contact: Mary Mooney
(212) 604-2675
NEW YORK, NY, March 25, 2009 - St. Vincent's Cystic Fibrosis Center has been named as one of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's (CFF) Therapeutic Development Centers. St. Vincent's CF Center was evaluated as part of a competitive review of applications, and selected based on an excellent record of previous participation in clinical trials and large patient population, as well as the institution's long-standing commitment to advancing research that could ultimately lead to a cure for CF. The accompanying $75,000 grant funding will help further the center's participation in CFF and industry-sponsored clinical trials, as well as to develop new treatments.
'This is an exciting development for our center, as we anticipate this award will provide our patients and families with many more opportunities to partake in a wider range of research,' said Dr. Maria Berdella, MD and co-director of St. Vincent's Cystic Fibrosis Center. 'The average life expectancy of CF patients has been increasing steadily for the past three decades and we would like to keep the momentum going. Now, more than ever before, there are exciting new drugs in the pipeline.'
St. Vincent's Cystic Fibrosis Center currently has thirteen active Institutional Review Board approved studies. Four of the studies are clinical trials for CF drug therapies, while the other protocols include: descriptive, psychological, quality of life, and genetic studies. Many of these are multicenter cooperative studies, allowing researchers at St. Vincent's to collaborate with researchers at Johns Hopkins, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Children's Hospital of Boston, NIH, and other national organizations.
'This grant strengthens the efforts of the scientific and medical communities to work together with patients and families toward our common goal - finding a cure for CF. Through continued vigilance, we can one day beat this disease,' said Dr. Patricia Walker MD and co- director of St. Vincent's Cystic Fibrosis Center.
St. Vincent's Cystic Fibrosis Center has been working for more than 30 years to help improve the lives of people living with CF, and is one of only 114 cystic fibrosis centers in the country that meet the rigorous accreditation standards established by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and one of only four centers in New York City.
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About Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers
Saint Vincent's is anchored by St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan, an academic medical center located in Greenwich Village; St. Vincent's Westchester, a behavioral health hospital in Westchester County; and continuing care services that include two skilled nursing facilities in Brooklyn, another on Staten Island, a hospice, and a home health agency serving the Metropolitan New York area. Its behavioral health services also provide supportive housing programs for people with mental illness throughout the Metropolitan area. The system became affiliated with St. Vincent's Midtown Hospital (formerly St. Clare's) in 2003. Saint Vincent's is the designated provider for the New York and New Jersey region of the US Family Health Plan sponsored by the US Department of Defense.
Saint Vincent's serves as the academic medical center of New York Medical College in New York City. The healthcare organization is sponsored by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn and the president of the Sisters of Charity of New York.
