GENERAL CLINICAL RESEARCH CENTER

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This grant proposal requests the funds necessary for continued support of the General Clinical Research Center of the School of Medicine of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This facility, which was one of the very earliest GCRCs to receive federal support, has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for over 30 years. The goals of the Clinical Research Center of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill mirror the guidelines that have been set forth by the national GCRC program. These are: a) to create an optimal setting for investigation of both normal and abnormal body function; b) to provide a facility where the cause and the natural history of human illness can be defined and where disease progression, prevention, control, and cure can be studied; c) to facilitate the rapid translation of advances in basic scientific knowledge into new or improved methods for patient care; and d) to serve as a focal point and an institutional resource where health professionals of all types can receive training in the many aspects of clinical investigation. This application contains a summary of the clinical research that has been carried out on this GCRC since its last review in 1985, and then presents the proposed research activities for the upcoming five year cycle. In addition, we have described in some detail the importance of the Clinical Research Center not just to the School of Medicine, but to the entire research community that encompasses the University of North Carolina Hospitals and all five schools of the health affairs campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and to such federal agencies as the NIEHS and the EPA, both of which are located in close proximity to the Medical Center. Finally, we have emphasized in this application not only the clinical investigation that takes place on the GCRC, but also the vital role played by the Center in the education and training of current and future clinical investigators.