This month’s message celebrates the efforts of our clinical researchers and the Office of Clinical Research at the Morsani College of Medicine.  As basic and translational science uncover fundamental causes of disease and new pathways for treatment, the ultimate test of their usefulness to improve human health is the clinical trial.  Performing studies on human beings with a new drug or device can be a difficult and daunting task.

I congratulate our USF Health physicians who dedicate time to performing these trials.

Clinical trial activity at the College of Medicine has increased from $5.14 million a year in 2013 to $6.94 million a year in 2015, representing a 35 percent increase.  There are currently 239 active clinical trials, which is a 45 percent increase from two years ago.  (This data does not include trials performed by our Moffitt Cancer Center affiliate).  The turnaround time from receipt of a potential clinical trial contract to final approval has been cut in half from three years ago.  The number of executed clinical trial contracts increased 12 percent from last year.  The College of Medicine has 15 new faculty members participating in clinical trials compared to a year ago.  We have also developed a clinical research center, which provides intensive studies over an 8 to 12-hour day.  This center generated $2.3 million in revenue this year.

The success of our clinical research enterprise is due to the untiring efforts of our faculty and staff, and has occurred despite increased regulatory burdens, increased costs, decreased margins, and increased growth of for-profit clinical research organizations.

Sincerely,

Stephen Liggett, MD
Vice Dean for Research
Professor of Medicine, Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine