UW Gets Grant for $41 Million

By David Wahlberg, The Wisconsin State Journal

Sep. 19–Many patients don ‘t do what science says they should, from people at risk for heart disease taking aspirin to prevent heart attacks to men taking drugs to stave off osteoporosis, a bone disease.

A $41 million federal grant awarded to UW-Madison aims to bridge such gaps by improving the way campus discoveries are spread to the public.

“We are not as effective as we might be in moving knowledge from the university to the community, ” said Dr. Marc Drezner, director of the university ‘s new Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. “We want to do better. “

The National Institutes of Health announced Tuesday that it awarded the UW-Madison institute a $41 million grant over five years. It is thought to be the second largest grant ever received by the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. A $56 million grant received a few years ago funded asthma research.

UW-Madison was one of 12 institutions selected for the grants in the second year of a federal effort to improve the way medical research findings are disseminated to the public. Another 12 centers received grants last year, and the NIH plans to include 60 organizations within five years.

Research suggests much work needs to be done. A New England Journal of Medicine study in 2003 said only 55 percent of American patients get the recommended treatments for their conditions.

Another study found that only about 60 percent of people who could lower their risk of heart attacks by taking aspirin do so, Drezner said. Yet another study said few men with hip fractures had taken drugs to slow the progression of osteoporosis because the condition is often considered a women ‘s disease.

UW-Madison and the other centers receiving the NIH grants plan to conduct broader studies of potentially beneficial treatments before they are approved. They plan to carry out more of the studies in doctor ‘s offices throughout their regions instead of only at their academic hospitals, Drezner said.

He said the UW-Madison institute hopes to get more ideas for studies from community groups, such as an ongoing effort by campus researcher Alexandra Adams to study obesity prevention in Native American children in northern Wisconsin. The program was launched partly in response to a request from tribal leaders, he said.

The newly formed Wisconsin Network for Health Research is a related project. The network hopes to develop more clinical trials among the state ‘s four major health systems: UW Health, Marshfield Clinic, La Crosse-based Gundersen Lutheran and Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care.

Such efforts should better identify the obstacles that prevent recommended treatments from being used more widely, Drezner said.

The Institute for Clinical and Translational Research was started this year with support from a $6.8 million grant over two years from the Wisconsin Partnership Program. That program is spending the $300 million UW-Madison received from the for-profit conversion of insurer Blue Cross and Blue Shield United of Wisconsin.

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