Leveraging Team Science and Collaboration to Cultivate Patient Hope

UH Research & Education Update | June 2024

Research has the power to transform lives, providing hope for all patients, especially those with few if any treatment options. It drives the development of novel drugs, devices, therapies, and leading-edge technologies, to elevate standard of care, reduce mortality, and improve health and wellbeing.

At University Hospitals, strides in the full spectrum of research (bench to bedside and beyond) are integral to continue delivering state-of-the-art care and contribute to medical progress worldwide. Throughout the health system, research thrives on team science, inter-disciplinary collaborative efforts that yield scientific discoveries, insightful clinical research, and innovative technologies. Such endeavors pave the way for new cures, to save lives, boost quality of life, and potentially lower health care expenditures with more effective disease prevention, detection, and treatment strategies.

“Science plays a critical role in our vision of advancing the science of health and the art of compassion,” Daniel Simon, MD, said in his 2024 State of UH Research Address on April 16. “We’re an academic health system that is dedicated to accelerating discovery and innovation in the translation of scientific breakthroughs in order to address unmet clinical needs and enhance the lives of our patients, our community, and hopefully the world.”

Dan Simon, MD addresses a full room during the 2024 State of UH Research Address.

Long term, research not only fuels scientific and clinical innovation, but also catalyzes economic development. It helps with health system differentiation, attracts top talent, produces profitable intellectual property, and cultivates philanthropic opportunities, with an enormous biomedical system and community impact.

A Banner Year for Research at University Hospitals

Research and innovation at University Hospitals have grown to unprecedented levels, with 2023 marking the best year, yet. The health system obtained $197 million in total research portfolio last year. Total sponsored research expenses reached $105 million in 2023, up 69.3% from $62.2 million in 2019.

The health system received $9.4 million in grant indirect last year, an increase of 27% from $7.4 million in 2022. Grant indirect is essential for sustaining key research infrastructure, developing new research activities, and supporting the transition of junior investigators from mentored to independent scientific investigators.

Overall, in 2023, University Hospitals invested $270 million in academic mission, infusing capital into education, faculty support, research talent recruitment and retention, academic affiliations, and distinctive programs. The investments reflect the health system’s deep-seated commitment to academic research and medicine.

Last year, University Hospitals reported 100 invention disclosures. Likewise, there were more than 3,450 active clinical research studies underway across the health system, the largest number reported by any Northeast Ohio institution on ClinicalTrials.gov. In tandem, University Hospitals’ faculty and trainees produced over 1,500 peer-reviewed manuscripts in 2023.

Multi-disciplinary Collaborations Yield Strong Research and Spark Innovation

Promising research discoveries at University Hospitals have notably included the identification of a potential target for a new class of diabetes drugs (Jonathan Stamler, MD), repurposing a FDA approved drug for HPV+ cancers (Quintin Pan, PhD), accelerated CAR-T cell therapy (David Wald, MD, PhD), use of artificial intelligence in new diagnostic technologies for prostate cancer (Daniel Spratt, MD), and the development of BAFF CAR therapy for B-cell cancers and autoimmune diseases (Reshmi Parameswaran, PhD). The advances are the product of fruitful collaborations that tackle complex problems with shared resources and diverse scientific expertise, a vital approach for innovating medical care through robust research.

Partnerships, such as the University Hospitals’ long-term affiliation with Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), which encompasses the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Cleveland Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and the Clinical Translational Science Collaborative, among others, have expanded scientific capacity within the health system, as have newer collaborations with Northeast Ohio Medical University and JobsOhio.

Growing national and international collaborations will further accelerate translation of scientific discoveries. In October 2023, the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals and Oxford University launched the Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre Therapeutics Accelerator to identify, fund, and advance innovative projects, with the aim of delivering 40 new potentially life-changing therapies for rare diseases into clinical trials over the next ten years. University Hospitals also collaborates internationally with Technion-Israeli Institute of Technology, Morgan Stanley Gift Cures, and National Taiwan University College of Medicine.

Team Science Builds Research Excellence, Maximizes Impact

Team science breeds new opportunities for exploration and investment. In 2023, transformative and collaborative grants led to more than $37 million in pediatric research. Likewise, fast-growing radiology research team drew $7.8 million in new grants in 2023, bringing the total amount of grant support received by radiology since 2021 to $49.4 million, propelled largely by collaborative magnetic resonance (MR) research. The rapidly growing MR field combines magnetic resonance finger printing technology with artificial intelligence (AI) to help diagnose and follow disease response in cancer patients.

Academically, radiology oncology research saw a 22% surge in clinical trial accruals and an eight-fold increase in peer-reviewed publications in 2023, with grant funding expected to exceed $12 million in 2024. In a rapidly changing field, grant support “is very important,” says Dr. Simon. “It brings to us the latest in radiotherapy and radiation treatments for patients with cancer.”

New Centers Capitalize on Prospective Growth to Take Research to the Next Level

The proliferation of research and the opportunity to achieve greater clinical impact have spurred the development of several new centers, amplifying opportunities for breakthrough discoveries and enhanced patient care.

• The Health Services Research Center, led by Samudragupta Bora, PhD, and in collaboration with the CWRU, seeks to catalyze excellence and national leadership in the development, evaluation, and translation of evidence and policies to enhance the efficacy, efficiency, and equity of health care delivery to improve health and wellbeing outcomes at the individual and population levels
• The University Hospitals Radiology AI & Diagnostic Innovation Collaborative (RadiCLE), led by Leonardo Kayat Bittencourt, MD, PhD, leverages UH radiologists’ research expertise in artificial intelligence applications and collaborates with start-ups worldwide to validate emerging AI radiology technologies. In 2023, collaboration between RadiCLE and the French company AZmed led to FDA approval of AI detection software to boost the speed and accuracy of fracture diagnosis in emergency rooms.
• Launched with a $20 million gift from Dee and Jimmy Haslam, the UH Haslam Sports Innovation Center, led by James Voos, MD, will accelerate the development of new techniques to promote healing and healthy lifestyles among athletes and general patients. Advancements in wearable sensors, regenerative medicine and genomics are providing novel opportunities for personalized treatment, rehabilitation, and performance enhancement.

Individual Research Achievements Were Among the Many Accomplishments in 2023

Jonathan Stamler, MD, co-founder, and president of Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals, was named a 2023 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, nationally recognized as the highest professional distinction awarded to academic inventors. Dr. Stamler discovered the protein S-nitrosylation, microscopic markers on proteins that play a role in the body’s normal function. The global post-translational modification of proteins is widely involved in both disease and physiology.

Clinical research studies led by Mehdi Shishehbor, DO, MPH, PhD (The PROMISE II U.S. Pivotal Clinical Trial), and Amrou Sarraj, MD (SELECT2: A Randomized Controlled Trial to Optimize Patient's Selection for Endovascular Treatment in Acute Ischemic Stroke), each received a 2024 Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement Award by the Clinical Research Forum. University Hospitals was the only system to have two honorees acknowledged by the national research consortium, which recognized the 10 most significant clinical advancements impacting the health and wellness of humanity.

These achievements set a positive tone for wider institutional advancements. Moving forward, research priorities for University Hospitals include recruiting diverse faculty to promote team science through collaborative interdisciplinary efforts, expanding and diversifying research revenue streams for academic activities, and strengthening academic partnerships, locally, statewide, and globally. Efforts big and small will contribute to continued development of the health system as a research powerhouse.