By Dr. Mike Shim
COPD specialty clinic at the University of Virginia has been designated as a Joint Commission certified center of excellence for advanced COPD care since 2007. UVA was the first academic center in the US to earn this distinction, and has successfully undergone five recertification processes. This program is highly clinically integrated to provide multidisciplinary interventions while maintaining the latest standard of care. The team includes UVA pulmonary physicians, COPD RN care coordinator, RT, pharmacy, social work, PT, OT, and home care. The quality of patient care was acknowledged by American College of Chest Physician when our center was awarded as a center of excellence for COPD care. Out center has also assisted to establish new COPD programs in a number of other academic and private healthcare systems for Joint Commission such as University of Texas and Yale University. The latest focus of this outpatient program is to integrate our outpatient experience to streamline the care of high risk COPD patients in inpatient setting during frequent COPD exacerbation. This has involved a multidisciplinary team with their care plans specifically tailored toward these high risk patients in order to prevent readmission related to COPD exacerbation.
COPD Translational Research Program: Highly integrated translational research program is active between the division of pulmonary medicine and department of radiology. Leveraging on unique expertise at UVA to conduct in vivo lung imaging, hyperpolarized gas MRI has been developed to become the next generation diagnostic modality to achieve high resolution phenotyping of COPD patients. Collaborative NIH funded R01 is currently ongoing to determine in vivo physiologic responses in patients with COPD during bronchodilator and inhaled corticosteroid interventions. This study targets to recruit 100 subjects over 5 years and is anticipated to yield a number of clinically highly significant findings such as defining previously under-appreciated vasculopathic COPD phenotypes. This research program will also leverage on the newly acquired strength of the division, transcriptomic interrogation of these highly phenotyped subjects, provided by our new section chief, Dr. Imre Noth.
COPD Basic Science Research Program: Highly integrated, multi-institute research program is ongoing to discover new molecular mechanisms underpinning development of COPD. This program involves active NIH funded R01 and DOD funding to develop new therapeutic agents to treat COPD by George Mason University (medicinal chemistry component) and Walter Reed Hospital (x-ray crystallography component) with University of Virginia (murine in vivo characterization). This program has already developed a novel compound (4MDM), and the IP associated with this development has been officially patented by USPTO, EU, and Japan under UVA licensing and venture group. This program is envisioned to develop next generation molecules to continue to advance development of novel small molecule therapeutics for patients with COPD and other lung diseases. One of the benefits of this program is simultaneous development of other therapeutic opportunities. Most recently a new composition of matter has been developed to potentially treat fibrotic lung tissue remodeling. This IP has been again declared by George Mason and University of Virginia, and led to funding from NIH R43 to determine its proof-of-concept and efficacy in vivo. This drug discovery program is also being supported by George Mason University to be developed into an inter-institutionally streamlined Center of Drug Discovery for which UVA Pulmonary division will be an active participant with in vivo component.
Filed Under: Clinical Research, News and Notes, Top News
Tags: March 2019 Newsletter