CINEMA Extends Strategies to Advance Clinical Care of Diabetic Patients

UH Research & Education Update | July 2020

 Sanjay Rajagopalan, MD

Diabetic patients often receive fragmented health care due to the nature of the disease. Diabetes affects multiple organs within our bodies resulting in patients seeking treatment from multiple specialty physicians, including cardiologists. In fact, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for diabetic patients. This fragmented health care makes it difficult for diabetic patients to receive timely, personal and appropriate care. Sanjay Rajagopalan, MD, Division Chief, Cardiovascular Medicine, UH Cleveland Medical Center, and Professor, Case
Western Reserve University School of Medicine, understands the need to improve health care for diabetic patients. His long-standing interest and successful research in Type 2 Diabetes, compelled him to establish the Center for Integrated Novel Approaches in Vascular-Medicine Disease (CINEMA). In addition to Dr. Rajagopalan, CINEMA is co-directed by Sadeer Al-Kindi, MD and will be joined in August by Ian Neeland, MD.

CINEMA will extend strategies to advance the clinical care of diabetic patients; increase research throughout the UH community; educate and train the next generation of cardiovascular physicians the novel approaches of care for diabetic patients, and educate and provide tools to patients allowing them to play an active part in their treatment.

The CINEMA virtual clinics will provide patients with resources (family practice physicians, endocrinologists, cardiologists and researchers) that will transform the perceptions of diabetic care by facilitating a “One-Stop” shop for diabetic patient care. This model is expected to increase the participation rate of research studies and utilization of new therapies as well as offer patients the chance to take control of the management of their disease.

The establishment of CINEMA also creates a unique research opportunity for UH and allows new approaches to answer unanswered questions in diabetes research, such as, which treatments work best, how new treatments can be used, and can barriers be eliminated. If new resources and tools are provided to patients, will patients take the treatment into their own hands? Partnering with industry and large pharmaceutical companies, CINEMA would like to provide diagnostic and treatment tools and analyze the results to understand whether behaviors and perceptions of health care change in response to our interventions. The goal is to transform this landscape and the treatment paradigms.

The new research studies, continuation and increase in enrollment of existing studies and new interdisciplinary clinics will naturally result in educating the next generation of cardiovascular physicians treating diabetic patients. CINEMA will leverage the talents at UH, both from a departmental perspective and from the multiple UH institutes (i.e. Digestive, Primary Care, Neurological) as well as unite the institutes and departments in the treatment of diabetes.

Advisory boards and patient advocacy panel are formed to ensure CINEMA’s success. The advisory boards are composed of multidisciplinary experts and leaders from respective partner institutes who will help provide direction and counsel. The patient advocacy panel will help motivate patients to come present their ideas and thoughts on how best to design CINEMA programs. CINEMA also seeks national alliances with other cardiovascular initiatives to give University Hospitals a national presence and drive UH to be an international leader in the advancement of cardiometabolic treatment and research.

The CINEMA initiatives, goals and partnerships will help the center reach their vision to create a unique North American Center for advancing personalized health care and treatment of the high-risk cardiometabolic patient.

For more information or to refer a patient, call 216-844-1357 or Email: CINEMA@UHhospitals.org.